Daily patterns of energy expenditure in the subterranean rodent Ctenomys aff. knighti, the tuco-tuco

• Grant number: 12/23393-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: July 01, 2014
• End date: December 07, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Compared Physiology
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Gisele Akemi Oda
• Grantee: Patricia Tachinardi Andrade Silva
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 14/23843-6 - Timing of locomotor activity and body temperature under energetic challenges: a lab and field approach, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

The tuco-tuco Ctenomys aff. knighti is a subterranean rodent which inhabits a semi-arid region of northwestern Argentina. This animal is nocturnal in the lab, showing daily rhythms of locomotor activity and body temperature (Tb). Surprisingly, in the field it is seen, daily, during the daylight hours, foraging and removing soil from its tunnels. The switch between diurnal activity in the field and nocturnal in the lab has been observed in other rodent species and there is evidence that it may be associated with the discrepancy between the ad libitum feeding regimen in the lab and the need to expend energy to obtain food in nature. According to this hypothesis, the large energy demands of foraging causes the circadian system to reestructure, culminating in the switch between nocturnality to diurnality. The diurnal activity counterbalances the high energy expenditure by allowing the animal to mantain lower Tb and rest during the coldest hours of the night , in burrows where the temperature is higher and assuming postures that increase insulation, therefore saving with thermoregulation . The tuco-tucos are an interesting system for investigating this hypothesis, since their foraging involves digging, which demands a lot of energy. The objective of this project is to perform measurements in the field and in the laboratory that may begin to approach the above hypothesis in the tuco-tucos. To this purpose, we will characterize the variation of daily energy expenditure in ad libitum condition, measure energy expenditure at different ambient temperatures (Ta), characterize the Ta on the surface and inside the tuco-tuco's burrow and measure daily Tb rhythm in field. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

TACHINARDI, PATRICIA; VALENTINUZZI, VERONICA S.; ODA, GISELE A.; BUCK, C. LOREN. The Interplay of Energy Balance and Daily Timing of Activity in a Subterranean Rodent: A Laboratory and Field Approach. PHYSIOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL ZOOLOGY, v. 90, n. 5, p. 546-552, SEP-OCT 2017. (12/23393-5, 14/20671-0, 12/15767-2)

TACHINARDI, PATRICIA; TOIEN, OIVIND; VALENTINUZZI, VERONICA S.; BUCK, C. LOREN; ODA, GISELE A.. Nocturnal to Diurnal Switches with Spontaneous Suppression of Wheel-Running Behavior in a Subterranean Rodent. PLoS One, v. 10, n. 10, OCT 13 2015. (12/23393-5, 12/15767-2, 13/50482-1, 12/16362-6)

JANNETTI, MILENE G.; TACHINARDI, PATRICIA; VALENTINUZZI, VERONICA S.; ODA, GISELE A.. Temporal Dissociation Between Activity and Body Temperature Rhythms of a Subterranean Rodent (Ctenomys famosus) in Field Enclosures. JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL RHYTHMS, v. 38, n. 3, p. 12-pg., 2023-03-16. (14/20671-0, 16/25058-0, 17/22973-1, 12/23393-5, 14/09324-6, 17/19680-2, 19/26752-5)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

SILVA, Patricia Tachinardi Andrade. To be diurnal or nocturnal: the interplay of energy balance and time of activity in subterranean rodents (Ctenomys aff. knighti) and laboratory mice (Mus musculus). 2017. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Biociências (IBIOC/SB) São Paulo.