The seasonal variation of basal metabolic rate is related to the expression of torpor among small mammals

Abstract

A variety of responses to climate seasonality have evolved by small mammals, including adjustments of the basal rate of metabolism (BMR) and the use of daily or seasonal torpor (here referred to as short-bout and long-bout torpor). The seasonal variation of their BMR is known to depend mainly on the concurrent variation of body mass, but it should also be affected by structural and functional changes occurring within the body that could depend on the expression of torpor. Thus it was hypothesized that BMR seasonality is related to the expression of torpor at an interspecific level. Seasonal BMR and body mass data were gathered from the literature and phylogenetic comparative analyses were done to test this hypothesis among mammals of less than 1 kg. BMR seasonality (dBMR) was quantified as the log-transformed ratio of the mean whole-animal BMR reported for the period P2 (autumn-winter) over that for the period P1 (spring-summer). Predictors were the seasonal body mass adjustment (dm), mean body mass (m) and torpor expression (TO, a three-level factor: no torpor, short-bout torpor, long-bout torpor). The seasonal variation of BMR was significantly related to dm but also to TO. Accounting for dm, species expressing long-bout torpor, but not those entering short-bout torpor, collectively exhibited a lower dBMR than species not entering torpor. Fat storage and use by species entering long-bout torpor, alone, could not explain their lower dBMR, as the TO:dm interaction was not significant. The low dBMR of species entering long-bout torpor may result from their collective tendency to down-regulate more strongly costly visceral organs during P2. The dBMR of the different TO categories overlapped appreciably, which highlights our still limited knowledge of the BMR seasonality among small mammals.