Adaptation to the temporal environment: evolutionary ecology of mammalian phenologies

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Energy acquired from the environment must exceed that which is expended in its acquisition. Any trait that yields a greater energy surplus will permit greater allocation to survival and/or reproduction and, hence, represent an adaptation. In this way, phenologies (i.e., timing of annual life history events) can be viewed as adaptations to the temporal environment. Achieving proper synchrony between energetically expensive events (e.g., reproduction) and periods of resource abundance is especially consequential for birds and mammals. Endothermy has enabled these taxa to colonize some of the coldest areas on the globe, but it entails substantial energetic costs. Slight asynchrony will thus have severe energetic (and thus, fitness) consequences. While avian phenologies have attracted scientific and public interest for centuries, our understanding of mammalian phenologies is comparatively poor. I propose to investigate phenological variation in three powerful wild mammal study systems. Red squirrels (