Abstract
Torpor, a controlled reduction in metabolism and body temperature, reduces energy expenditure substantially. However, torpor expression in wild passerines is currently understudied. We show that skin temperature (Ts) of resting White-throated Treecreepers (N=4) fell by ~ 5 °C on average in both summer and winter, independent of ambient temperature, but we could not confirm torpor use (Ts reduction>5 °C). It is possible that roosting in tree hollows provides sufficient insulation to minimise energy loss, or torpor is used only during extreme conditions. Further studies are needed to characterise the physiological flexibilities of species and, therefore, their capability to cope with changing environmental conditions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 241-245 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Journal of Ornithology |
| Volume | 165 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2023, Crown.
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This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.Keywords
- Torpor
- Heterothermy
- Behavioural response
- Passerines
- Thermal energetics
- Metabolism