Cool birds: first evidence of energy-saving nocturnal torpor in free-living common swifts Apus apus resting in their nests
Result description
Daily torpor is a means of saving energy by controlled lowering of the metabolic rate (MR) during resting, usually coupled with a decrease in body temperature. We studied nocturnal daily torpor under natural conditions in free-living common swifts Apus apus resting in their nests as a family using two non-invasive approaches. First, we monitored nest temperature (T-nest) in up to 50 occupied nests per breeding season in 2010-2015. Drops in T-nest were the first indication of torpor. Among 16 673 observations, we detected 423 events of substantial drops in T-nest of on average 8.6 degrees C. Second, we measured MR of the families inside nest-boxes prepared for calorimetric measurements during cold periods in the breeding seasons of 2017 and 2018. We measured oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production using a mobile indirect respirometer and calculated the percentage reduction in MR. During six torpor events observed, MR was gradually reduced by on average 56% from the reference value followed by a decrease in T-nest of on average 7.6 degrees C. By contrast, MR only decreased by about 33% on nights without torpor. Our field data gave an indication of daily torpor, which is used as a strategy for energy saving in free-living common swifts.
Keywords
nest temperaturemetabolic ratefield studyCaloBox (TM)hypometabolismnon-invasive methods
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
Result on the web
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2021.0675
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Cool birds: first evidence of energy-saving nocturnal torpor in free-living common swifts Apus apus resting in their nests
Original language description
Daily torpor is a means of saving energy by controlled lowering of the metabolic rate (MR) during resting, usually coupled with a decrease in body temperature. We studied nocturnal daily torpor under natural conditions in free-living common swifts Apus apus resting in their nests as a family using two non-invasive approaches. First, we monitored nest temperature (T-nest) in up to 50 occupied nests per breeding season in 2010-2015. Drops in T-nest were the first indication of torpor. Among 16 673 observations, we detected 423 events of substantial drops in T-nest of on average 8.6 degrees C. Second, we measured MR of the families inside nest-boxes prepared for calorimetric measurements during cold periods in the breeding seasons of 2017 and 2018. We measured oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production using a mobile indirect respirometer and calculated the percentage reduction in MR. During six torpor events observed, MR was gradually reduced by on average 56% from the reference value followed by a decrease in T-nest of on average 7.6 degrees C. By contrast, MR only decreased by about 33% on nights without torpor. Our field data gave an indication of daily torpor, which is used as a strategy for energy saving in free-living common swifts.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
Jimp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
10601 - Cell biology
Result continuities
Project
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Continuities
I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace
Others
Publication year
2022
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Biology Letters
ISSN
1744-9561
e-ISSN
1744-957X
Volume of the periodical
18
Issue of the periodical within the volume
4
Country of publishing house
GB - UNITED KINGDOM
Number of pages
6
Pages from-to
20210675
UT code for WoS article
000790847100004
EID of the result in the Scopus database
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Basic information
Result type
Jimp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
OECD FORD
Cell biology
Year of implementation
2022