Surviving winter on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau: Pikas suppress energy demands and exploit yak feces to survive winter.

The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, with low precipitation, low oxygen partial pressure, and temperatures routinely dropping below -30 °C in winter, presents several physiological challenges to its fauna. Yet it is home to many endemic mammalian species, including the plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae). How these small animals that are incapable of hibernation survive the winter is an enigma. Measurements of daily energy expenditure (DEE) using the doubly labeled water method show that pikas suppress their DEE during winter. At the same body weight, pikas in winter expend 29.7% less than in summer, despite ambient temperatures being approximately 25 °C lower. Combined with resting metabolic rates (RMRs), this gives them an exceptionally low metabolic scope in winter (DEE/RMRt = 1.60 ± 0.30; RMRt is resting metabolic rate at thermoneutrality). Using implanted body temperature loggers and filming in the wild, we show that this is achieved by reducing body temperature and physical activity. Thyroid hormone (T3 and T4) measurements indicate this metabolic suppression is probably mediated via the thyroid axis. Winter activity was lower at sites where domestic yak (Bos grunniens) densities were higher. Pikas supplement their food intake at these sites by eating yak feces, demonstrated by direct observation, identification of yak DNA in pika stomach contents, and greater convergence in the yak/pika microbiotas in winter. This interspecific coprophagy allows pikas to thrive where yak are abundant and partially explains why pika densities are higher where domestic yak, their supposed direct competitors for food, are more abundant.

Oxidative damage and antioxidant defense are assay and tissue-dependent both in captive and wild-caught bank voles (Myodes glareolus) before and after reproduction.

Reproduction is costly and life-history theory predicts that current parental investment will result in lower survival or decreased future reproduction. The physiological mechanisms mediating the link between reproduction and survival are still under debate and elevated oxidative damage during reproduction has been proposed as a plausible candidate. Previous studies of oxidative stress during reproduction in animals under natural conditions have been restricted to analyses of blood. Herein, we measured the level of oxidative damage to lipids (tiobarbituric-acid-reactive substances) and proteins (carbonyls) in the liver, kidneys, heart and skeletal muscles in free-living bank vole females from spring and autumn generations, before and after reproduction. Antioxidant defense in the liver and kidneys was also determined. We expected oxidative damage to tissues and hypothesized that the damage would be more uniform between tissues in wild animals compared to those breeding under laboratory conditions. Considering all combinations of markers/tissues/generations, oxidative damage in females did not differ before and after reproduction in 12 comparisons, was lower after reproduction in three comparisons, and was higher after breeding in one comparison. The total glutathione was significantly increased after reproduction only in the liver of the autumn generation and there was no change in catalase activity. Our results confirm-for the first time in the field-previous observations from laboratory studies that there is no simple link between oxidative stress and reproduction and that patterns depend on the tissue and marker being studied. Overall, however, our study does not support the hypothesis that the cost of reproduction in bank voles is mediated by oxidative stress in these tissues.

Reproduction is not costly in terms of oxidative stress.

One of the core assumptions of life-history theory is the negative trade-off between current and future reproduction. Investment in current reproduction is expected to decrease future reproductive success or survival, but the physiological mechanisms underlying these costs are still obscure. To test for a role of oxidative stress, we measured oxidative damage to lipids and proteins in liver, heart, kidneys and muscles, as well as the level of antioxidants (total glutathione and catalase), in breeding and non-breeding bank voles. We used females from lines selected for high aerobic metabolism and non-selected control lines and manipulated their reproductive investment by decreasing or increasing litter size. Unlike in most previous studies, the females reared four consecutive litters (the maximum possible during a breeding season). Contrary to predictions, oxidative damage in reproducing females was decreased or not changed, and did not differ between the selected and control lines. Oxidative damage to lipids and proteins in the liver was lower in females that weaned enlarged litters than in non-breeding ones, and was intermediate in those with reduced litters. Oxidative damage to proteins in the heart also tended to be lower in breeding females than in non-breeding ones. A negative relationship between the level of oxidative damage and activity of catalase in kidneys indicated a protective action of antioxidants. In conclusion, our study falsified the hypothesis that oxidative stress is a part of the proximate physiological mechanism underlying the fundamental life-history trade-off between current and future reproduction.

High basal metabolic rate does not elevate oxidative stress during reproduction in laboratory mice.

Increased oxidative stress (OS) has been suggested as a physiological cost of reproduction. However, previous studies reported ambiguous results, with some even showing a reduction of oxidative damage during reproduction. We tested whether the link between reproduction and OS is mediated by basal metabolic rate (BMR), which has been hypothesized to affect both the rate of radical oxygen species production and antioxidative capacity. We studied the effect of reproduction on OS in females of laboratory mice divergently selected for high (H-BMR) and low (L-BMR) BMR, previously shown to differ with respect to parental investment. Non-reproducing L-BMR females showed higher oxidative damage to lipids (quantified as the level of malondialdehyde in internal organ tissues) and DNA (quantified as the level of 8-oxodG in blood serum) than H-BMR females. Reproduction did not affect oxidative damage to lipids in either line; however, it reduced damage to DNA in L-BMR females. Reproduction increased catalase activity in liver (significantly stronger in L-BMR females) and decreased it in kidneys. We conclude that the effect of reproduction on OS depends on the initial variation in BMR and varies between studied internal organs and markers of OS.

Is reproduction costly? No increase of oxidative damage in breeding bank voles.

According to life-history theory, investment in reproduction is associated with costs, which should appear as decreased survival to the next reproduction or lower future reproductive success. It has been suggested that oxidative stress may be the proximate mechanism of these trade-offs. Despite numerous studies of the defense against reactive oxygen species (ROS) during reproduction, very little is known about the damage caused by ROS to the tissues of wild breeding animals. We measured oxidative damage to lipids and proteins in breeding bank vole (Myodes glareolus) females after rearing one and two litters, and in non-breeding females. We used bank voles from lines selected for high maximum aerobic metabolic rates (which also had high resting metabolic rates and food intake) and non-selected control lines. The oxidative damage was determined in heart, kidneys and skeletal muscles by measuring the concentration of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances, as markers of lipid peroxidation, and carbonyl groups in proteins, as markers of protein oxidation. Surprisingly, we found that the oxidative damage to lipids in kidneys and muscles was actually lower in breeding than in non-breeding voles, and it did not differ between animals from the selected and control lines. Thus, contrary to our predictions, females that bred suffered lower levels of oxidative stress than those that did not reproduce. Elevated production of antioxidant enzymes and the protective role of sex hormones may explain the results. The results of the present study do not support the hypothesis that oxidative damage to tissues is the proximate mechanism of reproduction costs.