Physiological and behavioral variations in the face of seasonal climatic oscillations

• Grant number: 23/00852-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: April 01, 2023
• End date: March 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Physiology of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Kênia Cardoso Bícego
• Grantee: Derek Felipe de Campos
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/10910-0 - Physiological capacities and resilience facing climate change: exploring the functional dimension in ectothermic vertebrates, AP.TEM

Abstract

The comparison of physiological and behavioral cycles between semi-natural conditions in the laboratory with those occurring in the wild, without shelter and food, may indicate whether there are biases related to the interference of captivity in the phenology of a species, and in the seasonal cycles. In this context, ecological conflicts are more pressing in the natural world than in the protected environment of captivity or laboratory. This has implications for interpretations of data acquired in captivity x free-living conditions, of great interest to mathematical models built to predict vulnerability x resilience in the face of anthropic climate changes. Such models depend on specific and monitored data, which reflect the reality and the regulatory and environmental variability (phenotypic plasticity, influence of the environment) of the species for the best accuracy of the model predictions. In the present subproject, the presence of natural tegus juveniles on the UNESP-Jaboticabal campus will be taken advantage of, to investigate whether seasonal metabolic, behavioral and endocrine variations in free-living influence the same pattern of habitats kept in captivity already studied. The hypothesis is that the seasonal cycle of activity and reproduction of this species is robust enough to remain independent of the semi-natural or free-living condition, but the energy reserves used will fluctuate more in the free-living population due to the lack of regularity of feeding. Seasonal measurements will be taken, in the same free-living individuals, of body temperature (intra-abdominal implantation of temperature biologgers), motor activity, behavior and spatial displacement (attachment of vest with accelerometers + GPS for localization), plasmatic hormone pattern ( Blood sample for estrogen, testosterone, corticosterone and T3) and body composition (DEXA scan). The data acquired in the free-living population will be compared with those felt for the semi-natural condition population in our laboratory.