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，即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做出调整，可能是在行为和生理上，以应对不断变化的环境。小杆鼠（Tamias speciosus）和高山花栗鼠（T.在优胜美地国家公园，加利福尼亚州是两个密切相关的物种，在过去的一个世纪里，人类引起的气候变化的不同处理：T。alpinus的活动范围有所上升，而T. speciosus的重叠范围并没有明显改变。这项研究探讨了为什么一个物种的范围会转移，而其共同出现的对应范围没有的问题。这项研究很重要，因为确定塑造这些反应的直接机制对于了解正在发生的事情以及预测随着环境变化的进展将会发生什么至关重要。本科现场助理将与研究人员和国家公园服务教育和推广计划在约塞米蒂，在那里研究人员将与游客互动，并讨论正在进行的研究在公园。此外，研究人员将与湾区学校的科学家合作，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，并成为伯克利女性科学小组的联合领导人，该小组致力于增加女性在各级科学领域的代表性。这些推广工作不仅可以提高公众的科学素养，还可以加强政府和学术研究工作之间的联系。这项研究将研究这些物种在不同海拔范围内的应激生理和行为的作用。研究人员假设，海拔范围的边界调整T。alpinus更多的是由内在的生理耐受性，而不是种间相互作用决定的，正如T.美丽的此外，研究人员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，并收集粪便样本以测量糖皮质激素（GC）代谢产物。 此外，每个物种的6只花栗鼠将被贴上遥感装置的标签，遥感装置配备有加速度计陀螺仪、光传感器、压力传感器（可以确定海拔）和温度传感器。&使用半马尔可夫模型将加速度计数据自动转换为行为后，将计算每个人在每个行为上花费的总时间百分比。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、物种共现、温度[每日平均/高/低]、一天中的时间、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数据将用于确定一天中的时间与温度的相关性，并且该信息将被纳入统计模型中，以测试有关每个物种如何相对于温度和异类活动分配其一天中的活动的预测。

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.