Individual mechanical energy expenditure regimens vary seasonally with weather, sex, age and body condition in a generalist carnivore population: support for inter-individual tactical diversity

Bright Ross, Julius G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2454-1592; Markham, Andrew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5716-3941; Noonan, Michael J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4512-0535; Buesching, Christina D.; Connolly, Erin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3230-8061; Pallett, Denise W. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3981-6547; Malhi, Yadvinder; Macdonald, David W.; Newman, Chris. 2025 Individual mechanical energy expenditure regimens vary seasonally with weather, sex, age and body condition in a generalist carnivore population: support for inter-individual tactical diversity. Animals, 15 (11), 1560. 24, pp. 10.3390/ani15111560

Before downloading, please read NORA policies.

Preview

Text
N539577JA.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.
Download (3MB) | Preview

Official URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15111560

Abstract/Summary

Diverse individual energy-budgeting tactics within wild populations provide resilience to natural fluctuations in food availability and expenditure costs. Although substantial heterogeneity in activity-related energy expenditure has been documented, few studies differentiate between responses to the environment and inter-individual differences stemming from life history, allometry, or somatic stores. Using tri-axial accelerometry, complemented by diet analysis, we investigated inter-individual within-season variation in overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA; activity intensity measure) and “Activity” (above an ODBA threshold) in a high-density population of European badgers (Meles meles). Weather (including wind speed) affected ODBA and activity according to predictors of earthworm (food) availability and cooling potential. In spring, maximal ODBA expenditure at intermediate rainfall and temperature values suggested that badgers traded foraging success against thermoregulatory losses, where lower-condition badgers maintained higher spring ODBA irrespective of temperature while badgers in better body condition reduced ODBA at colder temperatures. Conversely, in summer, lower-condition badgers modulated ODBA according to temperature, likely in response to super-abundant food supply. Between 35% (spring, summer) and 57% (autumn) of residual total daily ODBA variance related to inter-individual differences unexplained by seasonal predictors, suggesting within-season tactical activity typologies. We propose that this heterogeneity among individual energy-expenditure profiles may contribute to population resilience under rapid environmental change.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.3390/ani15111560
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Environmental Pressures and Responses (2025-)
ISSN:	2076-2615
Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:	Open Access paper - full text available via Official URL link.
Additional Keywords:	activity profiles, age differences, behavioral plasticity, behavioral thermoregulation, dynamic heterogeneity, tri-axial accelerometry
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment Meteorology and Climatology
Related URLs:	Dataset
Date made live:	12 Jun 2025 13:56 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/539577

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.3390/ani15111560

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

Environmental Pressures and Responses (2025-)

ISSN:

2076-2615

Additional Information. Not used in RCUK Gateway to Research.:

Open Access paper - full text available via Official URL link.

Additional Keywords:

activity profiles, age differences, behavioral plasticity, behavioral thermoregulation, dynamic heterogeneity, tri-axial accelerometry