A songbird adjusts its heart rate and body temperature in response to season and fluctuating daily conditions.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences
Nils LinekJesko Partecke

Abstract

In a seasonal world, organisms are continuously adjusting physiological processes relative to local environmental conditions. Owing to their limited heat and fat storage capacities, small animals, such as songbirds, must rapidly modulate their metabolism in response to weather extremes and changing seasons to ensure survival. As a consequence of previous technical limitations, most of our existing knowledge about how animals respond to changing environmental conditions comes from laboratory studies or field studies over short temporal scales. Here, we expanded beyond previous studies by outfitting 71 free-ranging Eurasian blackbirds (Turdus merula) with novel heart rate and body temperature loggers coupled with radio transmitters, and followed individuals in the wild from autumn to spring. Across seasons, blackbirds thermoconformed at night, i.e. their body temperature decreased with decreasing ambient temperature, but not so during daytime. By contrast, during all seasons blackbirds increased their heart rate when ambient temperatures became colder. However, the temperature setpoint at which heart rate was increased differed between seasons and between day and night. In our study, blackbirds showed an overall seasonal reductio...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jun 15, 2021·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·L A HawkesK Sato
Jun 29, 2021·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·L Monica TrondrudLeif Egil Loe
Jun 29, 2021·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Claudia A F Wascher

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