School of Human Sciences, University of Western Australia, Stirling Highway, Crawley 6009, Australia
Brain Function Research Group, School of Physiology, University of the Witwatersrand, Medical School, 7 York Road, Parktown 2193, South Africa.
Biol Lett. 2017 Dec;13(12). doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2017.0521.
An increase in variation in the 24 h pattern of body temperature (heterothermy) in mammals can be induced by energy and water deficits. Since performance traits such as growth and reproduction also are impacted by energy and water balance, we investigated whether the characteristics of the body temperature rhythm provide an indication of the reproductive success of an individual. We show that the amplitude of the daily rhythm of body temperature in wild rabbits () prior to breeding is inversely related to the number of pregnancies in the subsequent seven months, while the minimum daily body temperature is positively correlated to the number of pregnancies. Because reproductive output could be predicted from characteristics of the core body temperature rhythm prior to the breeding season, we propose that the pattern of the 24 h body temperature rhythm could provide an index of animal fitness in a given environment.
哺乳动物的体温 24 小时节律(异温性)的变化可以通过能量和水分的不足来诱导。由于生长和繁殖等性能特征也受到能量和水分平衡的影响,我们研究了体温节律的特征是否能提供个体繁殖成功的指示。我们表明,在繁殖之前,野生兔()的体温昼夜节律的振幅与随后七个月的怀孕次数成反比,而最低日体温与怀孕次数呈正相关。因为繁殖产量可以根据繁殖季节前核心体温节律的特征来预测,所以我们提出 24 小时体温节律模式可以提供特定环境下动物适应性的指标。