Abstract
Characterizing traits critical for adaptation to a given environment is an important first step in understanding how phenotypes evolve. How animals adapt to the extreme heat and aridity commonplace to deserts is an exceptionally interesting example of these processes, and has been the focus of study for decades. In contrast to those studies, where experiments are conducted on either wild animals or captive animals held in non‐desert conditions, the study described here leverages a unique environmental chamber that replicates desert conditions for captive Peromyscus eremicus (cactus mouse). Here, we establish baseline values for daily water intake and for serum electrolytes, as well as the response of these variables to acute experimental dehydration. In brief, P. eremicus daily water intake is very low. Its serum electrolytes are distinct from many previously studied animals, and its response to acute dehydration is profound, though not suggestive of renal impairment, which is atypical of mammals.
Highlights
Understanding the evolution of adaptive traits has long been one of the primary goals in evolutionary biology
The study described here, characterizing the physiology and serum biochemistry of Peromyscus eremicus is the first step in a larger study aimed at understanding the genomic architecture of adaptation to desert environments
In contrast to humans and other mammals, desert rodents can survive in extreme environmental conditions and are resistant to the effects of dehydration
Summary
Understanding the evolution of adaptive traits has long been one of the primary goals in evolutionary biology. Systems in which the power of genomics can be combined with an understanding of natural history and physiology are well suited for the study of adaptation (Mullen et al 2009; Bedford and Hoekstra 2015), especially when researchers have the ability to assay the link between genotype and phenotype in wild animals and conduct complementary experiments using representative animals in carefully controlled laboratory environments. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Physiological Society and the American Physiological Society
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