ArticleBiology letters2019
Always a price to pay: hibernation at low temperatures comes with a trade-off between energy savings and telomere damage.
Article in Biology letters, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed.
- Huddling and food availability shape seasonal torpor and energetics of juvenile garden dormice.iScience · 2026Article
- Unpredictable warm spells in winter increase blood cortisol level but lengthen telomeres in a seasonal rodentProceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Torpor expression and patterns in 3 sympatric rodents from Inner Mongolia.Current zoology · 2025Article
- Food deprivation is associated with telomere elongation during hibernation in a primate.Biology letters · 2025Article
- Microbial urea-nitrogen recycling in arctic ground squirrels: the effect of ambient temperature of hibernation.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2024Article
- Telomere dynamics during hibernation in a tropical primate.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2024Article
- Comparative transcriptomics of the garden dormouse hypothalamus during hibernation.FEBS open bio · 2024Article
- Hibernation telomere dynamics in a shifting climate: insights from wild greater horseshoe bats.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Food availability positively affects the survival and somatic maintenance of hibernating garden dormice (Eliomys quercinus).Frontiers in zoology · 2023Article
- Seasonal variation in telomerase activity and telomere dynamics in a hibernating rodent, the garden dormouse (Frontiers in physiology · 2023Article
- Why hibernate? Predator avoidance in the edible dormouse.Mammal research · 2023Review
- Mitochondrial polymorphism m.3017C>T of SHLP6 relates to heterothermy.Frontiers in physiology · 2023Article
- Translating PUFA omega 6:3 ratios from wild to captive hibernators (Urocitellus parryii) enhances sex-dependent mass-gain without increasing physiological stress indicators.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2022Article
- Disparate roost sites drive intraspecific physiological variation in a Malagasy bat.Oecologia · 2022Article
- Hypothesis and Theory: A Two-Process Model of Torpor-Arousal Regulation in Hibernators.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Article
- Body mass and hibernation microclimate may predict bat susceptibility to white-nose syndrome.Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Seasonal variation in telomere dynamics in African striped mice.Oecologia · 2020Article
- Seasonal Expression of Avian and Mammalian Daily Torpor and Hibernation: Not a Simple Summer-Winter AffairFrontiers in physiology · 2020Review
- The Torpid State: Recent Advances in Metabolic Adaptations and Protective MechanismsFrontiers in physiology · 2020Review
- Regulation of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Pathway During Torpor in the Garden Dormouse,Frontiers in physiology · 2020Article
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6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
We experimentally tested the costs of deep torpor at low temperatures by comparing telomere dynamics in two species of rodents hibernating at either 3 or 14°C. Our data show that hibernators kept at the warmer temperature had higher arousal frequencies, but maintained longer telomeres than individuals hibernating at the colder temperature. We suggest that the high-energy demand of frequent arousals is counteracted by a lower temperature differential between torpid and euthermic body temperature and that telomere length is restored during arousals when the body temperature is returned to normothermic values. Taken together, our study shows that hibernation at low body temperatures comes with costs on a cellular level and that hibernators need to actively counterbalance the shortening of telomeres.
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