A Tale of Temperature & Toxins
Mammalian herbivores face challenges at every meal. Plants produce chemical defenses to prevent being eaten by herbivores. It has been well documented that plant toxins impact the dietary strategies and foraging behavior of mammalian herbivores. However, work from pharmacology and agricultural science has documented that toxic compounds become more potent at warmer temperatures. This phenomenon is known as temperature-dependent toxicity, or TDT (link to Dearing 2012 paper), and highlights the interaction between temperature, toxins and the physiological capacity of mammals to deal with these two challenges. TDT could have grave implications for mammalian herbivores in natural system which are faced with both plant toxins at every meal and a warming climate.
For my doctoral thesis, I investigated TDT in the desert woodrat or packrat, which lives in the Mojave Desert of the southwestern United States. There are few food options for these herbivorous woodrats, and the plants that are available are heavily defended by toxins. Specifically, I studied how ambient temperature affects liver function because the liver plays a large role in breaking down plant toxins, and how temperature in turn may also affect foraging behavior of the desert woodrat.
For my doctoral thesis, I investigated TDT in the desert woodrat or packrat, which lives in the Mojave Desert of the southwestern United States. There are few food options for these herbivorous woodrats, and the plants that are available are heavily defended by toxins. Specifically, I studied how ambient temperature affects liver function because the liver plays a large role in breaking down plant toxins, and how temperature in turn may also affect foraging behavior of the desert woodrat.
Extra Extra! Read all about it!
Press release from the University of Utah about our paper published in Molecular Ecology can be found here.
Another paper (Kurnath, Merz and Dearing 2016 under my C.V.) got a lot of press! Read more about it from the New York Times, the Salt Lake Tribune, and IFLScience. Or better yet, listen to it on CBC's Quirks & Quarks or on Park City's Cool Science Radio!
Another paper (Kurnath, Merz and Dearing 2016 under my C.V.) got a lot of press! Read more about it from the New York Times, the Salt Lake Tribune, and IFLScience. Or better yet, listen to it on CBC's Quirks & Quarks or on Park City's Cool Science Radio!
Previous Research with...
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Weighing a desert woodrat in the field, May 2014, photo credit KP Luong
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