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Fine scale behaviour and time-budget in the cryptic ectotherm European pond turtle Emys orbicularis
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 10, p e0256549 (2021), PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Public Library of Science, 2021, HAL, PLoS ONE, Vol 16, Iss 10 (2021)
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2021.
-
Abstract
- For ectotherms, behaviour and associated energetic costs are directly related to thermal conditions. In the present context of global change, estimating time-budget for these species is relevant to assess and predict their capacity to adapt to near future. We tested the hypothesis that in ectotherms where reproduction is highly energy consuming, energy expenditure should vary throughout the breeding season with a maximum around nesting events. To test this hypothesis, we assessed the fine-scale behaviour, time-budget and estimated energetic costs in eight adult female European pond turtles Emys orbicularis equipped with data-loggers recording ambient temperature, pressure, light and the animals’ 3-axis acceleration. Deployments occurred over four months throughout the nesting season 2017 in semi-natural captive conditions in Alsace, France. All study turtles showed a clear daily pattern over the 24h cycle, with four distinct phases (referred to as Night, Morning, Midday and Evening), associated with different behaviours and activity levels. Before oviposition, turtles were mostly active during Morning, and activity was positively driven by ambient temperature. Activity levels doubled during the nesting period, mostly due to the increased activity in the Evening, when nesting events occurred. Throughout the active season, basking occurrence at Midday was related to air temperature but cloud coverage was an even more important factor. Our results are a first step in predicting the seasonal time and energy budgets of the European pond turtle, and demonstrate the usefulness of animal-borne accelerometers to study free living freshwater turtles over extended periods of time.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Atmospheric Science
Periodicity
Physiology
Oviposition
[SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]
Marine and Aquatic Sciences
Social Sciences
Fresh Water
01 natural sciences
Biochemistry
law.invention
Nesting Behavior
Sexual Behavior, Animal
law
Accelerometry
Seasonal breeder
Psychology
Turtle (robot)
ComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUS
Morning
0303 health sciences
Multidisciplinary
biology
Animal Behavior
Ecology
Respiration
Eukaryota
Adaptation, Physiological
Turtles
VeDBA
Breathing
Ectotherm
Vertebrates
Medicine
Female
France
Seasons
Research Article
Freshwater Environments
Evening
Climate Change
Emys orbicularis
Science
Context (language use)
Bioenergetics
cloud coverage
010603 evolutionary biology
03 medical and health sciences
Meteorology
Clouds
Animals
Nesting season
Ponds
Ecosystem
030304 developmental biology
Behavior
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Organisms
Biology and Life Sciences
Reptiles
Aquatic Environments
temperature
Bodies of Water
nesting behaviour
biology.organism_classification
Testudines
Amniotes
Earth Sciences
Physiological Processes
Energy Metabolism
Zoology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 16
- Issue :
- 10
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....d825b52bf2df7b6184d70b7c61c43968