Knowledge Resource Center for Ecological Environment in Arid Area
DOI | 10.1098/rsbl.2017.0301 |
Drought-induced starvation of aardvarks in the Kalahari: an indirect effect of climate change | |
Rey, Benjamin1,2; Fuller, Andrea1; Mitchell, Duncan1; Meyer, Leith C. R.1,3; Hetem, Robyn S.1,4 | |
通讯作者 | Rey, Benjamin |
来源期刊 | BIOLOGY LETTERS
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ISSN | 1744-9561 |
EISSN | 1744-957X |
出版年 | 2017 |
卷号 | 13期号:7 |
英文摘要 | Aardvarks (Orycteropus afer) are elusive burrowing mammals, predominantly nocturnal and distributed widely throughout Africa except for arid deserts. Their survival may be threatened by climate change via direct and indirect effects of increasing heat and aridity. To measure their current physiological plasticity, we implanted biologgers into six adult aardvarks resident in the semi-arid Kalahari. Following a particularly dry and hot summer, five of the study aardvarks and 11 other aardvarks at the study site died. Body temperature records revealed homeothermy (35.4-37.2 degrees C) initially, but heterothermy increased progressively through the summer, with declining troughs in the nychthemeral rhythm of body temperature reaching as low as 25 degrees C before death, likely due to starvation. Activity patterns shifted from the normal nocturnal to a diurnal mode. Our results do not bode well for the future of aardvarks facing climate change. Extirpation of aardvarks, which play a key role as ecosystem engineers, may disrupt stability of African ecosystems. |
英文关键词 | climate change body temperature physiological flexibility |
类型 | Article |
语种 | 英语 |
国家 | South Africa ; France |
收录类别 | SCI-E |
WOS记录号 | WOS:000409400700008 |
WOS关键词 | ORYCTEROPUS-AFER ; ECOSYSTEM ENGINEERS ; ACTIVITY PATTERNS ; KAROO |
WOS类目 | Biology ; Ecology ; Evolutionary Biology |
WOS研究方向 | Life Sciences & Biomedicine - Other Topics ; Environmental Sciences & Ecology ; Evolutionary Biology |
资源类型 | 期刊论文 |
条目标识符 | http://119.78.100.177/qdio/handle/2XILL650/197867 |
作者单位 | 1.Univ Witwatersrand, Sch Physiol, Brain Funct Res Grp, Fac Hlth Sci, 7 York Rd, ZA-2193 Johannesburg, South Africa; 2.Univ Lyon 1, CNRS, UMR5558, Lab Biometrie & Biol Evolut, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France; 3.Univ Pretoria, Dept Paraclin Sci, Fac Vet Sci, Soutpan Rd, ZA-0110 Pretoria, South Africa; 4.Univ Witwatersrand, Sch Anim Plant & Environm Sci, Fac Sci, 1 Jan Smuts Ave, ZA-2000 Johannesburg, South Africa |
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714 | Rey, Benjamin,Fuller, Andrea,Mitchell, Duncan,et al. Drought-induced starvation of aardvarks in the Kalahari: an indirect effect of climate change[J],2017,13(7). |
APA | Rey, Benjamin,Fuller, Andrea,Mitchell, Duncan,Meyer, Leith C. R.,&Hetem, Robyn S..(2017).Drought-induced starvation of aardvarks in the Kalahari: an indirect effect of climate change.BIOLOGY LETTERS,13(7). |
MLA | Rey, Benjamin,et al."Drought-induced starvation of aardvarks in the Kalahari: an indirect effect of climate change".BIOLOGY LETTERS 13.7(2017). |
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