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Video data to accompany manuscript: Toe-biting in captive Pogona vitticeps
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Tattersall, Glenn; Denommé Stauder, Melanie — 2023-10-24 In this note, we describe the rare behaviour of toe-biting observed in captive Pogona vitticeps. This behaviour occurred in individually-housed lizards in both juveniles and adults, and in rare instances, resulted in the loss of several toes. Toe-biting was associated with loose substrates, hot substrates, and periods of ecdysis. In form, this behaviour is similar to grooming behaviours noted in other lizards. However, the function of toe-biting is difficult to discern, as it is not consistently related to any particular stimulus, occurs rarely and quickly, and occasionally resulted in significant injury. We therefore suggest that toe-biting may function to clean the back toes, but may also have no function or be maladaptive.
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Data to accompany manuscript "Sub-zero temperatures during early spring migration in Blue-spotted Salamanders"
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Tattersall, Glenn; Giacometti, Danilo; Moldowan, Patrick — 2024-01-15 Abstract from the paper for which the data apply provided: Amphibians that reproduce in early spring at northern latitudes may encounter environmental ice while migrating to their breeding sites. Due to the nucleation properties of ice, contact with environmental ice may induce rapid freezing of body tissues, which can cause irreversible damage to cells and lead to death. Although some species of salamanders are known to move over ice during early spring migration, freeze-intolerant species are expected to avoid physical contact with ice crystals to minimise the risk of freezing. Here, we documented the thermal biology of the freeze-intolerant Blue-spotted Salamander (Ambystoma laterale) migrating at sub-zero temperatures in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada. During our surveys, we found sheltered, inactive, and migrating individuals; some in direct contact with ice. Our field measurements of skin temperature using high resolution thermal imaging suggest that the Blue-spotted Salamander can sustain activity in a supercooled state (i.e., chilled below the freezing point of body fluids but not frozen). By migrating in a supercooled state, these salamanders may overcome the risk of freezing while simultaneously prolonging their breeding season and potentially avoiding predators.
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Dataset to accompany manuscript: Seasonal variation of behavioural thermoregulation in a fossorial salamander (Ambystoma maculatum)
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Tattersall, Glenn; Giacometti, Danilo — 2024-03-21 Temperature seasonality plays a pivotal role in shaping the thermal biology of ectotherms. However, we still have a limited understanding of how amphibians maintain thermal balance in the face of varying temperatures, especially in fossorial species. Due to thermal buffering underground, thermal ecology theory predicts relaxed selection pressure over thermoregulation in fossorial ectotherms. As a result, fossorial ectotherms typically show low thermoregulatory precision and low evidence of thermotactic behaviours in laboratory thermal gradients. Here, we evaluated how temperature selection (Tsel) and associated behaviours differed between seasons in a fossorial amphibian, the Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum). By comparing thermoregulatory parameters between the active and overwintering seasons, we show that A. maculatum engages in active behavioural thermoregulation despite being fossorial. In both seasons, Tsel was consistently offset higher than acclimatisation temperatures. Thermoregulation differed between seasons, with salamanders having higher Tsel and showing greater evidence of thermophilic behaviours in the active compared to the overwintering season. Additionally, our work lends support to experimental assumptions commonly made but seldom tested in thermal biology studies. Ultimately, our study demonstrates that the combination of careful behavioural and thermal biology measurements is a necessary step to better understand the mechanisms that underlie body temperature control in amphibians.
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Dataset to accompany manuscript: "Ups and downs of fossorial life: migration restlessness and geotaxis may explain overwintering emergence in the Spotted Salamander"
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Giacometti, Danilo; Tattersall, Glenn — 2024-07-23 To decide whether to remain underground or to emerge from overwintering, fossorial ectotherms simultaneously process environmental, gravitational, and circannual migratory cues. Here, we provide an experimental framework to study the behaviour of fossorial ectotherms during soil temperature inversion—a phenomenon that marks the transition between winter and spring in the temperate zone—in light of three non-mutually exclusive hypotheses (i.e., thermoregulatory, negative geotaxis, and migration restlessness). Using a vertical thermal gradient mimicking a burrow, we evaluated how temperature selection (Tsel), activity, and vertical position selection differed under simulated soil temperature inversion (contrasting the active vs. overwintering thermal gradients) in the Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum). Salamanders had different Tsel and activity levels between gradients, but selected similar heights regardless of thermal gradient orientation. Our results suggest that negative geotaxis may explain responses to changes in vertical thermal gradient orientation, with a possible role for migratory restlessness contributing to differences in activity levels. Our work provides behavioural information in an ecologically relevant context, and will benefit those who aim to better understand the biology of fossorial ectotherms.
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Data set to accompany manuscript "Seasonal plasticity in the thermal sensitivity of metabolism but not water loss in a fossorial ectotherm"
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Giacometti, Danilo; Tattersall, Glenn — 2024-10-09 1. Ectotherms from highly seasonal habitats should have enhanced potential for physiological plasticity to cope with climatic variability. However, whether this pattern is applicable to fossorial ectotherms, who are potentially buffered from thermal variability, is still unclear. 2. Here, we evaluated how seasonal acclimatisation (spring vs. autumn) affected the thermal sensitivity of standard metabolic rates (SMR), rates of evaporative water loss (EWL), and skin resistance to water loss (Rs) in the Spotted Salamander (Ambystoma maculatum). We hypothesised that temperature would have both short- and long-term effects over traits (i.e., acute exposure to test temperatures and seasonal acclimatisation, respectively). 3. After accounting for body mass and sex, we found that short-term changes in temperature led to an increase in SMR, EWL, and Rs. Additionally, SMR and Rs differed between seasons, but EWL did not. 4. Sustaining low SMR and high Rs in the spring may allow salamanders to allocate energy toward overwintering emergence and breeding while simultaneously maximising water conservation. By contrast, maintaining high SMR and low Rs in the autumn may allow salamanders to forage aboveground on rainy nights to replenish energy reserves in preparation for the winter. 5. Despite the common assumption that fossorial ectotherms are buffered from thermal effects, our study shows that functional differences between seasons (i.e., breeding in the spring and provisioning in the autumn) are accompanied by seasonal changes in energetic and hydroregulatory requirements.

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(Source Repository: Brock University Dataverse) AND (Author: Tattersall, Glenn)

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