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    Cool echidnas survive the fire

    239970_239970.pdf (972.3Kb)
    Access Status
    Open access
    Authors
    Nowack, J.
    Cooper, Christine
    Geiser, F.
    Date
    2016
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Nowack, J. and Cooper, C. and Geiser, F. 2016. Cool echidnas survive the fire. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 283 (1828).
    Source Title
    Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
    DOI
    10.1098/rspb.2016.0382
    School
    Department of Environment and Agriculture
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/48272
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    Fires have occurred throughout history, including those associated with the meteoroid impact at the Cretaceous-Palaeogene (K-Pg) boundary that eliminated many vertebrate species. To evaluate the recent hypothesis that the survival of the K-Pg fires by ancestral mammals was dependent on their ability to use energy-conserving torpor, we studied body temperature fluctuations and activity of an egg-laying mammal, the echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus), often considered to be a 'living fossil', before, during and after a prescribed burn. All but one study animal survived the fire in the prescribed burn area and echidnas remained inactive during the day(s) following the fire and substantially reduced body temperature during bouts of torpor. For weeks after the fire, all individuals remained in their original territories and compensated for changes in their habitat with a decrease in mean body temperature and activity. Our data suggest that heterothermy enables mammals to outlast the conditions during and after a fire by reducing energy expenditure, permitting periods of extended inactivity. Therefore, torpor facilitates survival in a fire-scorched landscape and consequently may have been of functional significance for mammalian survival at the K-Pg boundary.

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