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How to budget metabolic energy: torpor in a small Neotropical mammal

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Abstract

Neotropical nectar-feeding bats (Glossophaginae) are highly specialized in the exploitation of floral nectar and have one of the highest mass-specific metabolic rates among mammals. Nevertheless, they are distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics over a wide elevational range, and thus encounter many extreme and energetically challenging environmental conditions. Depressing their otherwise high metabolic rate, e.g., in situations of food restriction, might be an important adaptive physiological strategy in these dietary specialists. We investigated the thermoregulatory behavior of captive 10-g nectar feeding bats (Glossophaga soricina; Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae) under variable ambient temperatures (T a) and feeding regimes and predicted that bats would use torpor as an energy-conserving behavior under energetic constraints. All tested animals entered torpor in response to energetic restrictions and the depth of torpor was dependent on the body condition of the animals and hence on their degree of physiological constraints. Periods of torpor with body temperatures (T b) below 34°C were precisely adjusted to the photoperiod. The median length of diurnal torpor was 11.43 h. The lowest T b measured was 21°C at a T a of 19°C. Estimated energy savings due to torpor were considerable, with reductions in metabolic rate to as low as 5% of the metabolic rate of normothermic bats at the same T a. However, contrary to temperate zone bats that also employ diurnal torpor, G. soricina regulated their T b to the highest possible levels given the present energetic supplies. To summarize, G. soricina is a precise thermoregulator, which strategically employs thermoregulatory behavior in order to decrease its energy expenditure when under energetic restrictions. This adaptation may play a crucial role in the distribution and the assembly of communities of nectar-feeding bats and may point to a general capacity for torpor in tropical bats.

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Abbreviations

bm:

Body mass

T a :

Ambient temperature

T b :

Body temperature

MR:

Metabolic rate

TMR:

Torpor metabolic rate

\( \ifmmode\expandafter\dot\else\expandafter\.\fi{V}{\text{O}}_{{\text{2}}} \) :

Rate of oxygen production

\( \ifmmode\expandafter\dot\else\expandafter\.\fi{V}{\text{CO}}_{{\text{2}}} \) :

Rate of carbon dioxide production

RQ:

Respiratory quotient

DEE:

Daily energy expenditure

E :

Energy

P f :

Costs of forward flight

P hov :

Cost of hovering

MET:

Costs of thermoregulation and maintenance of body functions

t :

Time

SD:

Standard deviation

n :

Sample size

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Christian Voigt and York Winter for valuable advice, Sylvia Ortmann and two anonymous reviewers for comments on the manuscript and Mirkka Jones for proofreading. The experiments complied with the German laws on animal experimentation and were performed under the approval of the Animal Ethics Committee of the Bavarian District Court.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, Leibniz-Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, PF 601103, 10252, Berlin, Germany

    Detlev H. Kelm

  2. University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Lehrstuhl für Zoologie 2, Staudtstr. 5, 91058, Erlangen, Germany

    Detlev H. Kelm & Otto von Helversen

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  1. Detlev H. Kelm
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  2. Otto von Helversen
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Correspondence to Detlev H. Kelm.

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Communicated by G. Heldmaier.

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Kelm, D.H., von Helversen, O. How to budget metabolic energy: torpor in a small Neotropical mammal. J Comp Physiol B 177, 667–677 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-007-0164-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-007-0164-5

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