The importance of mammalian torpor for survival in a post-fire landscape

Title
The importance of mammalian torpor for survival in a post-fire landscape
Publication Date
2015
Author(s)
Stawski, Clare
Koertner, Gerhard
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8230-0709
Email: gkoertne@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:gkoertne
Nowack, Julia
Geiser, Fritz
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7621-5049
Email: fgeiser@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:fgeiser
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
The Royal Society Publishing
Place of publication
United Kingdom
DOI
10.1098/rsbl.2015.0134
UNE publication id
une:20043
Abstract
Wildfires have increased in frequency and intensity worldwide with climate change as a main driving factor. While a number of studies have focused on population changes in regard to fires, there are essentially no quantitative data on behavioural and physiological adjustments that are vital for the persistence of individuals during and after fires. Here we show that brown antechinus, a small insectivorous marsupial mammal, (i) endured a prescribed fire in situ , (ii) remained in their scorched home range despite unburned areas nearby, and (iii) substantially increased post-fire torpor use and thus reduced foraging requirements and exposure to predators. Hence, torpor is a physiological adaptation that, although not quantified in this context previously, appears to play a key role in post-fire survival for this and other heterothermic species.
Link
Citation
Biology Letters, 11(6), p. 1-5
ISSN
1744-957X
1744-9561
Start page
1
End page
5

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