Metabolic Flexibility in Response to Within-Season Temperature Variability in House Sparrows.

ABSTRACT: The climatic variability hypothesis (CVH) posits that more flexible phenotypes should provide a fitness advantage for organisms experiencing more variable climates. While typically applied across geographically separated populations, whether this principle applies across seasons or other conditions (e.g., open vs. sheltered habitats) which differ in climatic variability remains essentially unstudied. In north-temperate climates, climatic variability in winter usually exceeds that in summer, so extending the CVH to within-population seasonal variation predicts that winter phenotypes should be more flexible than summer phenotypes. We tested this prediction of the within-season extension of the CVH by acclimating summer and winter-collected house sparrows (Passer domesticus) to 24, 5,

SUBMITTER: Swanson DL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7810579 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature