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Ultradian rhythms of activity in a wild subterranean rodent
Univ Pretoria, South Africa.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-3119-9510
Linnaeus University, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Department of Biology and Environmental Science. (Ctr Ecol & Evolut Microbial Model Syst EEMiS)
Univ Pretoria, South Africa.ORCID iD: 0000-0001-9748-2947
Linnaeus University, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Department of Biology and Environmental Science. Linnaeus University, Linnaeus Knowledge Environments, Water. (Ctr Ecol & Evolut Microbial Model Syst EEMiS)ORCID iD: 0000-0002-5582-2306
2024 (English)In: Biology Letters, ISSN 1744-9561, E-ISSN 1744-957X, Vol. 20, no 10, article id 20240401Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Many animals adapt their activity patterns to the best environmental conditions using daily rhythms. African mole-rats are among the mammals that have become models for studying how these rhythms can be entrained by light or temperature in experimental laboratory studies. However, it is unclear whether they exhibit similar circadian rhythms in their natural lightless, subterranean environment. In this study, we used biologging to investigate the activity rhythms of wild, highveld mole-rats. We show that their activity cycle exhibited an ultradian rhythm with a length between 4 and 8 h. On an individual level, mole-rats displayed about five activity bouts per day, occurring at various times during the day and night. On a population level, activity peaked in the afternoon, coinciding with the peak in ambient temperature. Our research suggests that wild subterranean mammals, which experience reduced environmental variation, are unlikely to show clear circadian rhythmicity in activity patterns. Instead, activity periods are distributed over several bouts throughout the day and night, and activity coincides with the peak in daily temperature. We propose that ultradian rhythms in activity may be more common than previously thought and discuss how physiological processes may generate differences in periodicity between laboratory and wild populations.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Royal Society, 2024. Vol. 20, no 10, article id 20240401
Keywords [en]
locomotor activity, behaviour, circadian clock, mole-rat, polyphasic activity
National Category
Ecology
Research subject
Natural Science, Ecology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-133460DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0401ISI: 001340058600005PubMedID: 39439358Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85207167696OAI: oai:DiVA.org:lnu-133460DiVA, id: diva2:1914390
Available from: 2024-11-19 Created: 2024-11-19 Last updated: 2025-04-10Bibliographically approved

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Zöttl, Markus

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