Factores que modulan el balance hídrico y energético en pequeños mamíferos de desierto
Biological diversity is reflected by the multiple mechanisms and processes by which species cope with their environment. This is keystone for the persistence of communities in the long term, facing anthropic as well as natural impacts. In deserts, the combination of climate conditions poses signific...
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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| Publicado: |
2019
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| Acceso en línea: | https://bdigital.uncu.edu.ar/fichas.php?idobjeto=14437 |
| Sumario: | Biological diversity is reflected by the multiple mechanisms and processes by which species cope with their environment. This is keystone for the persistence of communities in the long term, facing anthropic as well as natural impacts. In deserts, the combination of climate conditions poses significant challenges to organisms, fundamentally regarding their hydric and energetic homeostasis. For instance, previous research in Southamerican rodents report a remarkable diversity of physiological mechanisms to face the lack of water, as a result of evolutionarily diverse adaptive strategies. In this sense, animals display strategies tending to reduce: (i) the rates of endogenous production of heat, and water loss, and (ii) the energy requirements and expenses in environments where primary productivity is reduced. The diversity of morphological, physiological and behavioral responses is observed at different levels of organization: among species and among populations at spatial and time scales. This genetic and phenotypic variability would be keystone to the resilience of an assembly of organisms, when environmental conditions change in the course of their life. This project attempts to analyze the factors that shape variation in phenotypic traits within and between species, and the ecological consequences of this variation. We propose a comparative study of two species that could be considered at certain points as ecological equivalents: Thylamys pallidior (marsupial) and Akodon dolores (eutheria). Both present similar body mass, insectivorous diet and nocturnal habits, but also show a great evolutionary distance and hence a genetic substrate substantially different, as well as distinctive life history traits. We hypothesize that both species will display peculiar phenotypic landscapes with similarities and differences in accordance to the intrinsic and extrinsic forces that drive their adequation strategies. With the goal of testing the hypothesis, in both species we will assess traits associated to water and energy economy in the Monte Desert, at a seasonal scale. |
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