Early life experience drives short-term acclimation of metabolic and osmoregulatory traits in the leaf-eared mouse

Abstract

We studied the putative effect of early life experience on the physiological flexibility of metabolic and osmoregulatory traits in the leaf-eared mouse, Phyllotis darwini, an altricial rodent inhabiting seasonal Mediterranean environments. Adult individuals were collected in central Chile and maintained in breeding pairs. Pups were isolated after weaning and acclimated to different temperatures (cold or warm) and water availability (unrestricted and restricted) until adulthood. Subsequently, individuals were re-acclimated to the opposite treatment. Rodents reared in the warm and subjected to water restriction had lower basal metabolic rate (BMR), total evaporative water loss (TEWL) and body mass (M b ) compared with those developing in the cold treatment; nevertheless, individuals subjected to warm temperatures had greater relative medullary thickness (RMT) and urine concentrating ability (UCA). Cold-reared rodents re-acclimated to warm conditions exhibited physiological flexibility of metabolic traits; however, their osmoregulatory attributes did not vary. Conversely, warm-reared rodents re-acclimated to cold had reduced RMT and UCA, but the metabolic traits of these individuals did not change. These results suggest a trade-off between metabolic performance and renal capabilities that might hinder physiological acclimation. Our results support the hypothesis of ontogenetic dependence of short-term acclimation in osmoregulatory and metabolic traits in P. darwini.

Transgenerational and within‐generation plasticity shape thermal performance curves

“…Despite that studies on nongenetic inheritance mechanisms across multiple generations have increased (Donelson et al, 2016;Shama et al, 2016;Thor & Dupont, 2015), it is still unclear the impact and duration of transgenerational effects (see Burggren, 2015). Phenotypic plasticity during early ontogeny may induce the emergence of new phenotypes (Bartheld, Artacho, & Bacigalupe, 2017;Cavieres et al, 2016Cavieres et al, , 2017Kingsolver et al, 2015;Koussoroplis, Pincebourde, & Wacker, 2017). In flies reared at 28 V, more heat tolerant phenotypes.…”

“…Parallelly, it has been reported that the nature of thermal variability shape TPC in ectotherms (Cavieres, Bogdanovich, Toledo, & Bozinovic, ; Kingsolver, Higgins, & Augustine, ; Kingsolver & Woods, ). As such, TPCs differ depending on physiological tolerance to environmental thermal conditions, and the thermal history experienced by each phenotype (Bozinovic, Medina, Alruiz, Cavieres, & Sabat, ; Cavieres, Nuñez‐Villegas, Bozinovic, & Sabat, ; Huey & Berrigan, ; Huey et al, ).…”

“…As such, TPCs differ depending on physiological tolerance to environmental thermal conditions, and the thermal history experienced by each phenotype (Bozinovic, Medina, Alruiz, Cavieres, & Sabat, 2016;Cavieres, Nuñez-Villegas, Bozinovic, & Sabat, 2017;Huey & Berrigan, 1996;Huey et al, 2012).…”

“…Thus, developmental conditions can induce modifications in phenotype and potentially lead to irreversible changes (Burggren, 2018;Cooper, Tharp, Jernberg, & Angilletta, 2012;Dufty, Clobert, & Møller, 2002). In that sense, Cavieres et al (2017) studying the putative effects of early life experience on physiological plasticity, reported an ontogenetic dependence of plastic response in rodents. That is, environmental conditions experienced during the development determined the ability to modify the phenotype during adulthood (see Weinig and Delph (2001)).…”

Phenotypic plasticity in the energy metabolism of a small Andean rodent: Effect of short‐term thermal acclimation and developmental conditions

“…As with many phenotypic traits, these variations in energetic parameters may be accomplished by genetic differentiation, phenotypic flexibility, ontogenetic plasticity, or a combination of these mechanisms (Cavieres et al, 2017;Cheviron et al, 2013;Garland & Adolph, 1991). Phenotypic flexibility (i.e.…”