Seasonally constant field metabolic rates in free-ranging sugar gliders ('Petaurus breviceps')

Abstract

Sugar gliders, 'Petaurus breviceps' (average body mass: 120 g) like other small wild mammals must cope with seasonal changes in food availability and weather and therefore thermoregulatory and energetic challenges. To determine whether free-ranging sugar gliders, an arboreal marsupial, seasonally adjust their energy expenditure and water use, we quantified field metabolic rates (FMR) and water flux at a seasonal cool-temperate site in eastern Australia. Thirty six male and female sugar gliders were labelled with doubly labelled water for this purpose in spring, summer and autumn. The mean FMR was 159 ± 6 kJ d⁻¹ (spring), 155 ± 8 kJ d⁻¹ (summer), and 152 ± 20 kJ d⁻¹ (autumn) and the mean FMR for the three seasons combined was 158 ± 5 kJ d⁻¹ (equivalent to 1.33 kJ g⁻¹ d⁻¹ or 780 kJ kg⁻0.75 d⁻¹). The mean total body water was 83 ± 2 g, equal to 68.5% of body weight. Mean water flux was 29 ± 1 mL day⁻¹. Season, ambient temperature or sex did not affect any of the measured and estimated physiological variables, but body mass and total body water differed significantly between sexes and among seasons. Our study is the first to provide evidence for a constant FMR in a small mammal in three different seasons and despite different thermal conditions. This suggests that seasonal changes in climate are compensated for by behavioural and physiological adjustments such as huddling and torpor known to be employed extensively by sugar gliders in the wild.