Environmental, ecological and methodological factors of Tonic Immobility (TI) modulation

Modulation of Tonic Immobility (TI) concerns environmental and individual factors. TI is modulated by processes of habituation and sensitization. In poikilotherm frog and lizard, TI duration is much shorter at usual environmental temperatures and is potentiated at higher or lower temperatures, as the last resource for survival. During ontogeny, age may differentially affect TI susceptibility to the induction procedures, as in the case of newborn ectothermic and older endothermic rabbits. TI duration displays a daily rhythm, with longer TI in the night. Its resistance to habituation indicates that in the dark TI is the most prominent defense against nocturnal predators. In all studied species, there is synchronization of the prey's defensive responses with the feeding activity of predators. Ecological factors and exposure to different anthropogenic environmental pressures may alter morphology, behavior and TI in wild populations. TI duration has been associated with a genomic region comprising the dystrophin gene on quail chromosome 1.