Caching as a Strategy for Surviving Periods of Resource Scarcity; A Comparative Study of Two Species of Neotoma

1. Energy management has been studied in migrators and hibernators but little is know about energy management in cachers. 2. We investigated the energy management behaviour of two species of cachers, Neotoma floridana and Neotoma micropus. We also investigated differences in energy management of these two species that experience different environmental conditions during the period of food scarcity. 3. Results show that both species decrease body mass from autumn to winter and increase mass from winter to spring. Both species decrease body fat from autumn to winter but only TV; floridana increases body fat from winter to spring. Plasma protein follows the same pattern as body mass in N floridana. Plasma lipids decrease from autumn to winter but do not increase from winter to spring. 4. Results indicate that cachers, unlike hibernators or migrators, are able to use the food cache to increase body mass and body fat when new resources are not being produced in the environment. 5. Results suggest that environmental conditions alter resource management and the species that experiences more severe conditions stores more energy as fat.