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Winter conditions, not resource availability alone, may drive reversible seasonal skull size changes in moles.

ABSTRACT: Seasonal changes in the environment can lead to astonishing adaptations. A few small mammals with exceptionally high metabolisms have evolved a particularly extreme strategy: they shrink before winter and regrow in spring, including changes of greater than 20% in skull and brain size. Whether this process is an adaptation to seasonal climates, resource availability or both remains unclear. We show that European moles (Talpa europaea) also decrease skull size in winter. As resources for closely related Iberian moles (Talpa occidentalis) are lowest in summer, we predicted they should shift the timing of size changes. Instead, they do not change size at all. We conclude that in moles, seasonal decrease and regrowth of skull size is an adaptation to winter climate and not to a changing resource landscape alone. We not only describe this phenomenon in yet another taxon, but take an important step towards a better understanding of this enigmatic cycle.

SUBMITTER: Novakova L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9449468 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Winter conditions, not resource availability alone, may drive reversible seasonal skull size changes in moles.

Nováková Lucie L Lázaro Javier J Muturi Marion M Dullin Christian C Dechmann Dina K N DKN

Royal Society open science 20220907 9

Seasonal changes in the environment can lead to astonishing adaptations. A few small mammals with exceptionally high metabolisms have evolved a particularly extreme strategy: they shrink before winter and regrow in spring, including changes of greater than 20% in skull and brain size. Whether this process is an adaptation to seasonal climates, resource availability or both remains unclear. We show that European moles (<i>Talpa europaea</i>) also decrease skull size in winter. As resources for cl ...[more]

PMID: 36133148

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Dataset Information

Winter conditions, not resource availability alone, may drive reversible seasonal skull size changes in moles.

Publications

Winter conditions, not resource availability alone, may drive reversible seasonal skull size changes in moles.

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