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Field-Based Thermal Physiology Assay: Cold Shock Recovery under Ambient Conditions
Published on: March 9, 2021
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Development of behavioral responses to thermal challenges
Delia S Shelton1,2,3, Jeffrey R Alberts4
1Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany.
Developmental Psychobiology
|November 21, 2017
Summary
Young mammals develop better defenses against cold than heat, making them vulnerable to warming. This impacts physiological, neural, and behavioral development.
Area of Science:
- Developmental biology
- Thermoregulation
- Behavioral science
Background:
- Body temperature regulation is crucial for offspring survival.
- Understanding thermoregulation development in response to both cold and warm challenges is incomplete.
- Maternal behavior significantly influences offspring thermal regulation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To enhance understanding of the ontogeny of thermoregulation by matching knowledge of responses to warm challenges with cold challenges.
- To investigate developmental processes in mammals, particularly behavioral aspects related to thermoregulation.
- To present new empirical data on rodent responses to thermal challenges.
Main Methods:
- Selective review of existing literature on mammalian thermoregulation and maternal behavior.
- Analysis of new empirical data on individual and group responses in developing rodents to warm and cool ambient temperatures.
- Focus on responses to high temperatures and their effects on maternal behavior.
Main Results:
- Mammalian development shows earlier appearance of abilities to combat heat loss compared to protection from hyperthermia.
- Young mammals exhibit greater vulnerability to environmental warming due to delayed compensatory defenses against heat.
- Warming elicits cascading consequences across physiological, neural, and behavioral development.
Conclusions:
- There are distinct adaptive specializations in the development of thermoregulation.
- Relative delays in developing defenses against hyperthermia render young mammals susceptible to warming.
- Environmental warming has complex, cascading effects on developing mammals.
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