Wolff Carter L, Demarais Stephen, Brooks Christopher P, Barton Brandon T
Department of Biological Sciences Mississippi State University Mississippi State Mississippi.
Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Mississippi State University Mississippi State Mississippi.
Ecol Evol. 2020 Feb 11;10(5):2579-2587. doi: 10.1002/ece3.6087. eCollection 2020 Mar.
Climate change is expected to create novel environments in which extant species cannot persist, therefore leading to the loss of them and their associated ecological functions within the ecosystem. However, animals may employ behavioral mechanisms in response to warming that could allow them to maintain their functional roles in an ecosystem despite changed temperatures. Specifically, animals may shift their activity in space or time to make use of thermal heterogeneity on the landscape. However, few studies consider the role of behavioral plasticity and spatial or temporal heterogeneity in mitigating the effects of climate change. We conducted experiments to evaluate the potential importance of behavior in mediating the net effects of warming on white-tailed deer (). We used shade structures to manipulate the thermal environment around feeding stations to monitor deer feeding activity and measure total consumption. In individual experiments where deer only had access to unshaded feeders, deer fed less during the day but compensated by increasing feeding during times when temperature was lower. In group experiments where deer had access to both shaded and unshaded feeders, deer often fed during the day but disproportionally preferred the cooler, shaded feeders. Our results suggest that deer can capitalize on temporal and spatial heterogeneity in the thermal environment to meet nutritional and thermal requirements, demonstrating the importance of behavioral plasticity when predicting the net effects of climate change.
气候变化预计会创造出一些新的环境，在这些环境中现存物种无法生存，从而导致它们以及生态系统中与其相关的生态功能丧失。然而，动物可能会采用行为机制来应对气候变暖，这可能使它们在温度变化的情况下仍能在生态系统中维持其功能角色。具体而言，动物可能会在空间或时间上改变其活动，以利用景观上的热异质性。然而，很少有研究考虑行为可塑性以及空间或时间异质性在减轻气候变化影响方面的作用。我们进行了实验，以评估行为在调节气候变暖对白尾鹿的净影响中的潜在重要性。我们使用遮阳结构来操纵喂食站周围的热环境，以监测鹿的进食活动并测量总食量。在单个实验中，鹿只能使用无遮蔽的喂食器，它们在白天进食较少，但通过在温度较低时增加进食量来进行补偿。在群体实验中，鹿可以使用有遮蔽和无遮蔽的喂食器，它们通常在白天进食，但不成比例地更喜欢较凉爽的有遮蔽的喂食器。我们的结果表明，鹿可以利用热环境中的时间和空间异质性来满足营养和热需求，这表明在预测气候变化的净影响时行为可塑性的重要性。
