The reproductive period of tarantulas is constrained by their thermal preferences (Araneae,Theraphosidae) |
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| Institution: | 1. Université de Rennes 1, UMR CNRS 6553, 263 Avenue du Gal Leclerc, CS 74205, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France;2. Université de Rennes 1, EA 7316, 263 Avenue du Général Leclerc, CS 74205, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France;3. Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Ghent University, K. L. Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Ghent, Belgium;4. Université de Lyon, UMR CNRS 5023 LEHNA, 6 rue Raphaël Dubois, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France;5. Université de Rennes 1, UMR INRA IGEPP, Campus de Beaulieu, 263 Avenue du Gal Leclerc, CS 74205, 25042 Rennes Cedex, France;1. Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53711, USA;2. Museum of Comparative Zoology, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA;1. College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, China;2. State Key Laboratory of Biocatalysis and Enzyme Engineering, Centre for Behavioural Ecology and Evolution, School of Life Sciences, Hubei University, Wuhan, Hubei, China;3. Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore;4. College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China |
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| Abstract: | Locomotor and physiological performance of ectotherms are affected by temperature. Thermoregulation is achieved by changes in behavior and the selection of micro-habitats with adequate temperatures to maintain the body temperature (Tb) within a range of preference. Apart from this temperature dependence at spatial scales, ectotherms are also affected by temperature at temporal scale. For instance, ectotherms can only be active some months of the year, particularly in temperate environments. Tarantulas are ectotherms that live in burrows most of their life. Nevertheless, after the sexual maturation molt, males leave their refugia and start a wandering life searching for females to mate. The reproductive period varies among species. In some species walking males are seen in late spring or early summer, while in other species males are only seen during fall or winter. Apart from the differences in lifestyles after maturation, tarantulas exhibit sexual dimorphisms in longevity and body mass, having smaller, shorter-lived males. Thus, to optimize energetic budgets, decreasing thermoregulation costs, we hypothesize and examine a putative correlation between an individual's preferred body temperature (Tpref) and the environmental temperature during the reproductive period. Hence, we characterize Tpref in seven tarantula species and analyze which factors (i.e., time of day, body mass, and sex) correlated with it. Furthermore, we assess putative correlated evolution of Tpref with ambient temperature (minima, mean, and maxima) during the reproductive period by means of phylogenetic independent contrasts. We did not find differences in thermal preferences between sexes; and only one species, Acanthoscurria suina, exhibited diel differences in Tpref. We found evidence of correlated evolution between Tpref and minimum temperature during the reproductive period among all seven species studied herein. Our results show that the reproductive period is constrained by thermal preferences, dictating when males can start their wandering life to mate. |
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| Keywords: | Preferred body temperature Environmental temperature Correlated evolution Phylogenetic independent contrasts |
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