ArticleDie Naturwissenschaften2010
Coping with chaos: unpredictable food supplies intensify torpor use in an arid-zone marsupial, the fat-tailed dunnart (Sminthopsis crassicaudata).
Article in Die Naturwissenschaften, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 17 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed.
- Breeding fat-tailed dunnarts (Sminthopsis crassicaudata) in captivity: Revised practices to minimize stress whilst maintaining considerations of wild biology.Developmental dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists · 2025Article
- Thermal energetics and behaviour of a small, insectivorous marsupial in response to the interacting risks of starvation and predation.Oecologia · 2019Article
- Torpor reduces predation risk by compensating for the energetic cost of antipredator foraging behaviours.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2018Article
- Dietary protein supplementation and its consequences for intake, digestion, and physical activity of a carnivorous marsupial,Ecology and evolution · 2018Article
- A burning question: what are the risks and benefits of mammalian torpor during and after fires?Conservation physiology · 2018Review
- The influence of natural photoperiod on seasonal torpor expression of two opportunistic marsupial hibernators.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2017Article
- Marsupials don't adjust their thermal energetics for life in an alpine environment.Temperature (Austin, Tex.) · 2016Article
- How to keep cool in a hot desert: Torpor in two species of free-ranging bats in summer.Temperature (Austin, Tex.) · 2016Article
- Intermittent Food Absence Motivates Reallocation of Locomotion and Feeding in Spotted Munia (Lonchura punctulata).Journal of circadian rhythms · 2015Article
- Long-term changes in food availability mediate the effects of temperature on growth, development and survival in striped marsh frog larvae: implications for captive breeding programmes.Conservation physiology · 2015Article
- The influence of reproductive condition and concurrent environmental factors on torpor and foraging patterns in female big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus).Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2014Article
- Field evidence for a proximate role of food shortage in the regulation of hibernation and daily torpor: a review.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2014Review
- Torpor in free-ranging antechinus: does it increase fitness?Die Naturwissenschaften · 2014Article
- Some like it cold: summer torpor by freetail bats in the Australian arid zone.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2013Article
- Torpor in the Patagonian opossum (Lestodelphys halli): implications for the evolution of daily torpor and hibernation.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2013Article
- Article
- Variable ambient temperature promotes song learning and production in zebra finches.Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral EcologyArticle
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The severity, duration and amplitude of extreme weather events are forecast to intensify with current climate trends, over both long (e.g. seasonal) and short (e.g. daily) time-scales. As such, the predictability of food supplies for many small endotherms is likely to become increasingly important. Numerous small mammals and birds combat food shortages using torpor, a controlled reduction in metabolic rate and body temperature that helps lower their daily energy requirements. As such, torpor often has been cited as a key feature allowing some small endotherms to survive highly unpredictable climates, such as tropics or dry deserts, but mensurative demonstrations of this are lacking. We have shown here that when a small desert marsupial, the fat-tailed dunnart (Sminthopsis crassicaudata), is offered unpredictable levels of daily food, they increase frequency of daily torpor and length of bouts compared with animals offered ad libitum food, but this was not found for animals offered a 75% [corrected] food-restricted diet. Our data suggest that simple food restriction may not be sufficient for evaluating the efficacy of torpor as a strategy for managing unpredictable climates.
Indexed as
Identifiers
20442980What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.