Differences in exploration and resting metabolic rates of plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae) at different altitudes

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  • (1 Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Science, Xining 810001, China)
    (2 State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystems SKLGAE, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China)
    (3 Qinghai Province Key Laboratory of Animal Ecological Genomics, Xining 810001, China)

Online published: 2020-01-19

Abstract

Environmental differences affect the evolution of animals’ life history strategies. For animals with wide distributional ranges and the corresponding habitat diversity, life history strategies of different populations can differ notably. Personality, as a part of the life history, reflects the adaptation patterns of animals to the environment. Previous studies showed that there were significant differences in life history strategies of plateau pikas at different altitudes. However, it remains unclear whether there were differences in the personality and the correlations between personality and energy metabolism of plateau pikas at different altitudes. Between September and October 2018, exploration and resting metabolic rates (RMR) of plateau pikas were measured in Guinan County at an altitude of 3268 m and in Maqin County at an altitude of 3980 m, respectively. The results showed that, compared with low altitude pikas, high altitude male pikas had lower exploration while high altitude female pikas had higher mass-corrected RMR. For high altitude plateau pikas, we found significantly positive correlations between exploration and mass-corrected RMR in females, but negative correlations between exploration and body mass in males. However, for low altitude plateau pikas, no significant correlations were detected between exploration and mass-corrected RMR or body mass. The results suggested that, adjusting of personality and energy metabolism and their correlations may be one of the life history strategies of plateau pikas to adapt to the distinct environmental conditions at different altitudes regions.

Cite this article

TAN Chuntao, YU Yibo, JIANG Zhanping, ZHONG Liang, ZHANG Yanming, QU Jiapeng . Differences in exploration and resting metabolic rates of plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae) at different altitudes[J]. ACTA THERIOLOGICA SINICA, 2020 , 40(1) : 27 -36 . DOI: 10.16829/j.slxb.150288

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