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Between-population differences in digestive flexibility in the olivaceous field mouse.

Francisco Bozinovic1, José M Rojas, Karin Maldonado

  • 1Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology & Biodiversity and Departamento de Ecología, Pontifica Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile. fbozinovic@bio.puc.cl

Zoology (Jena, Germany)
|November 2, 2010
PubMed
Summary

Animals show digestive flexibility, adjusting traits like gut mass and length to maximize energy return. Rodents in variable habitats exhibit greater digestive plasticity compared to those in stable environments.

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Area of Science:

  • Physiology
  • Ecology
  • Evolutionary Biology

Background:

  • Physiological flexibility allows animals to adapt to changing environments.
  • Digestive trait flexibility is a key component of physiological flexibility, enabling energy optimization.
  • Understanding digestive plasticity is crucial for predicting species' responses to environmental variability.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the extent of digestive tract mass and length flexibility in field mice.
  • To determine if dietary variability influences digestive flexibility in different habitats.
  • To compare digestive plasticity between populations from semi-arid and temperate rainforest ecosystems.

Main Methods:

  • An intraspecific experimental study was conducted on field mouse populations.

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  • Mice from different habitats (semi-arid and temperate rainforest) were acclimated to varied diets for six months.
  • Digestive tract mass and length were measured to assess flexibility.

    • Main Results:

    • A significant relationship was found between dietary variability and digestive flexibility.
    • Both specific digestive chambers and total digestive tract mass/length showed significant plasticity.
    • Rodents from temperate ecosystems with higher dietary variability displayed greater digestive plasticity than those from semi-arid habitats.

    Conclusions:

    • Digestive trait flexibility is strongly influenced by environmental dietary variability.
    • Habitat-specific dietary regimes drive differential digestive plasticity in rodent populations.
    • These findings support the theory of digestion and highlight the adaptive capacity of animals to fluctuating resources.