Holding Matthew L, Owen Dustin A S, Taylor Emily N
Department of Biological Sciences, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California; Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
J Exp Zool A Ecol Genet Physiol. 2014 Oct;321(8):442-9. doi: 10.1002/jez.1876. Epub 2014 Jun 24.
Acute stressors can be costly, often requiring alteration of normal physiological processes to mitigate their effects. Animal translocation may be a very stressful event and result in a reduced ability to maintain homeostasis. The impacts of translocation on the thermal ecology of ectothermic vertebrates, which may rely on preferred habitats for thermoregulation, are currently unknown. In this study, 22 adult male Northern Pacific rattlesnakes (Crotalus oreganus oreganus) were implanted with automated temperature loggers and radio-tracked. Snakes were assigned to one of three treatments: translocation, handling control, and undisturbed control. Short-distance translocation (SDT) and handling treatments were applied weekly for 6 weeks. Hourly body temperature (Tb ) was recorded during the course of the study. Mean Tb was impacted in a time-dependent fashion, where translocated snakes had lower mean Tb than handled controls during the first week of the study only, especially the first 24 hr after translocation. Separating the dataset into day and night revealed that this effect was localized to Tb variation during the day only. Variance in temperature was not impacted by translocation or handling. Snake body mass and time of year were the major factors influencing the thermal profiles of these rattlesnakes. Thermal ecology in male rattlesnakes is resilient to SDT, suggesting that they quickly resume normal behaviors following repeated bouts of acute capture stress and disturbance of their spatial ecology. This study provides support for SDT as a safe measure for mitigating human-snake interactions and facilitating conservation practices regarding male snakes, which are the most frequently encountered sex.
急性应激源可能代价高昂，通常需要改变正常生理过程以减轻其影响。动物迁移可能是一个极具压力的事件，并导致维持体内平衡的能力下降。迁移对变温脊椎动物热生态学的影响目前尚不清楚，因为变温脊椎动物可能依赖适宜栖息地进行体温调节。在本研究中，22条成年雄性北太平洋响尾蛇（Crotalus oreganus oreganus）被植入自动温度记录器并进行无线电追踪。蛇被分配到三种处理方式之一：迁移、处理对照和未受干扰对照。每周进行一次短距离迁移（SDT）和处理，持续6周。在研究过程中记录每小时的体温（Tb）。平均Tb受到时间依赖性影响，仅在研究的第一周，尤其是迁移后的前24小时内，迁移的蛇的平均Tb低于处理对照。将数据集分为白天和黑夜后发现，这种影响仅局限于白天的Tb变化。温度方差不受迁移或处理的影响。蛇的体重和年份是影响这些响尾蛇热特征的主要因素。雄性响尾蛇的热生态学对SDT具有弹性，这表明它们在经历多次急性捕获应激和空间生态干扰后能迅速恢复正常行为。本研究支持将SDT作为减轻人与蛇互动以及促进针对雄性蛇（最常遇到的性别）的保护措施的安全手段。
