Cool birds: first evidence of energy-saving nocturnal torpor in free-living common swifts Apus apus resting in their nests
BIOLOGY LETTERS(2022)
摘要
Daily torpor is a means of saving energy by controlled lowering of the metabolic rate (MR) during resting, usually coupled with a decrease in body temperature. We studied nocturnal daily torpor under natural conditions in free-living common swifts Apus apus resting in their nests as a family using two non-invasive approaches. First, we monitored nest temperature (T-nest) in up to 50 occupied nests per breeding season in 2010-2015. Drops in T-nest were the first indication of torpor. Among 16 673 observations, we detected 423 events of substantial drops in T-nest of on average 8.6 degrees C. Second, we measured MR of the families inside nest-boxes prepared for calorimetric measurements during cold periods in the breeding seasons of 2017 and 2018. We measured oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production using a mobile indirect respirometer and calculated the percentage reduction in MR. During six torpor events observed, MR was gradually reduced by on average 56% from the reference value followed by a decrease in T-nest of on average 7.6 degrees C. By contrast, MR only decreased by about 33% on nights without torpor. Our field data gave an indication of daily torpor, which is used as a strategy for energy saving in free-living common swifts.
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关键词
nest temperature,metabolic rate,field study,CaloBox (TM),hypometabolism,non-invasive methods
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