DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Individual Responses to Environmental Change: Contrasting the Behavior and Physiology of two Chipmunk Species

虽然关注动物的气候变化文献倾向于关注与气候相匹配的范围变化，其中物种在海拔或纬度上向上移动以跟踪其气候生态位，但仍有许多物种保持相同的范围边界。这些物种必须在原地进行调整，可能是在行为和生理上，以应对不断变化的环境。美国加州约塞米蒂国家公园里的斑尾鼠（Tamias speciosus）和高山花栗鼠（T. alpinus）是两个关系密切的物种，它们对过去一个世纪人类引起的气候变化的应对方式不同：斑尾鼠的活动范围向上移动，而斑尾鼠的重叠活动范围没有明显变化。这项研究探讨了为什么一个物种范围会发生变化，而其共同发生的对应范围却不会。这项研究很重要，因为随着环境变化的进展，确定形成这些反应的直接机制对于理解正在发生的事情和预测将要发生的事情至关重要。本科生实地助理将与研究人员以及约塞米蒂国家公园管理局的教育和推广项目合作，研究人员将与游客互动，讨论公园内正在进行的研究。此外，研究人员将与湾区的学校科学家合作，开发和教授小学课程。其中一名研究人员还将在伯克利高中担任导师，并成为伯克利女性参与科学小组的共同领导人，该小组致力于增加女性在各级科学领域的代表性。这些外联工作不仅将提高公众的科学素养，而且还将加强政府与学术研究工作之间的联系。本研究将探讨应激生理和行为在这些物种海拔范围不同部分的作用。研究人员假设，与种间的相互作用不同，高海拔范围的边界调整更多地是由内在的生理耐受性决定的，而不是像人们认为的那样由种间的相互作用决定的。此外，研究还假设应激激素水平与动物的活动预算有关。为了验证这些假设，研究人员将进行植被调查，使用iButton收集温度数据，并收集粪便样本来测量糖皮质激素（GC）代谢物。此外，每个物种的6只花栗鼠将被贴上遥感装置的标签，这些装置配备了加速度计和陀螺仪、光传感器、压力传感器（用于确定海拔高度）和温度传感器。在使用半马尔可夫模型将加速度计数据自动转换为行为之后，将计算每个个体在每个行为上花费的总体时间百分比。然后将使用计算机程序R中的广义线性混合模型来测试不同的环境参数（海拔、物种共生、温度[日平均/高/低]、时间、植被类别、人类影响评分）与行为模式和gc之间的关系。最后，iButton的数据将用于确定一天中的时间与温度的关系，这些信息将被纳入统计模型，以测试关于每个物种如何划分其活动在一天中相对于温度和异种物种的活动的预测。

While climate change literature focused on animals tends to focus on climate-matched range shifts in which species show movement upward in elevation or latitude to track their climatic niches, there are many species that maintain the same range boundaries. These species must be making in situ adjustments, likely in behavior and physiology, to cope with their changing environments. The lodgepole (Tamias speciosus) and alpine chipmunks (T. alpinus) in Yosemite National Park, CA are two closely related species that have dealt with the past century of human-induced climate change differently: T. alpinus's range has moved upwards, while T. speciosus's overlapping range has not significantly shifted. This research explores the question of why one species range would shift while its co-occurring counterparts range does not. This research is important because determining the immediate mechanisms that shape these responses are critical to understanding what is happening, and predicting what will happen, as environmental change progresses. Undergraduate field assistants will work with the researchers and the National Park Service education and outreach program in Yosemite, where the researchers will interact with visitors and discuss ongoing research in the park. Additionally, the researchers will work with Bay Area Scientists in Schools to develop and teach grade-school lessons. One of the researchers will also tutor at Berkeley High School and become a co-leader of the Berkeley Women in Science group, which is devoted to increasing women's representation at all levels of science. These outreach efforts will not only increase scientific literacy in the public, but also will strengthen bonds between government and academic research efforts.This research will examine the roles of stress physiology and behavior in different parts of these species' elevational ranges. The researchers hypothesize that elevational range boundary adjustments for T. alpinus are determined more by intrinsic physiological tolerances than interspecific interactions, as is thought for T. speciosus. Additionally, the researches hypotheize that stress hormone levels are related to the animals activity budgets. To test these hypotheses, the researchers will conduct vegetation surveys, collect temperature data using iButton and collect fecal samples to measure glucocorticoid (GC) metabolites. In addition, 6 chipmunks from each species will be tagged with remote sensing units equipped with an accelerometer & gyrometer, a light sensor, a pressure sensor (which will allow for determination of elevation), and a temperature sensor. After the accelerometer data have been automatically translated into behaviors using a semi-Markov model, the overall percent time spent on each behavior for each individual will be calculated. A generalized linear mixed model in the computer program R will then be used to test how different environmental parameters (elevation, species co-occurrence, temperature [daily average/high/low], time of day, vegetation category, human impact score) are related to behavioral patterns and GCs. Lastly, iButton data will be used to determine how time-of-day is related to temperature and this information will be incorporated in statistical models to test predictions about how each species partitions its activity over the day relative to temperature and activity of the heterospecifics.