Biology subjects

Mohanty, N. P.

Publications and source records attributed to Mohanty, N. P..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

How variable and stress-sensitive is sleep expression in lizards?

Sleep expression in wild animals is regulated by their ecological context. Yet, how populations of a species differ in their sleep in response to environmental challenges such as urbanization, remains to be fully understood. Robust quantification of sleep in small animals, such as lizards, has so far been methodologically difficult, limiting population-level assessments. Using recently developed miniature loggers, we recorded sleep in 19 wild-caught individuals of the Peninsular rock agama lizard (Psammophilus dorsalis). We compared individuals from urban and rural environments and measured electro-oculogram (EOG)-derived sleep parameters: sleep duration, bout frequency, bout duration, and interval between bouts. We then subjected all individuals to an acute stressor (handling-restraint) and examined changes in sleep expression. We found that this species slept mostly at night, with an average total sleep time of 11h 10min. EOG-derived sleep characteristics did not differ substantially between populations, although daytime sleep bouts were more consolidated (shorter interval between bouts) in urban lizards. Contrary to evidence from mammals, acute restraint stress did not impact sleep, overall or for either population. To complement these measures, we also measured the latency to arousal after exposure to vibration stimuli in a separate set of urban and rural lizards (n = 12 each), and found that urban individuals responded marginally quicker at night compared rural individuals, demonstrating greater vigilance and/or more fragmented sleep. Overall, we show that sleep characteristics of wild animals in a common garden condition can be conserved within a species, with limited context-dependent variation between populations.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2020

The gut microbiome facilitates ecological adaptation in an invasive vertebrate

Gut microbial communities regulate host physiology and health of humans and laboratory animals. The functional significance of these collective bacterial genomes (i.e. the microbiome) to the adaptive potential of wildlife hosts is still unknown. Studies demonstrating convincing examples of microbial flexibility to environmental change so far lack the experimental approaches to demonstrate the effect on host physiology. Invasive species provide natural experiments to tease apart these host-microbe relationships. However, no studies have investigated how microbial symbionts might mediate responses of invasive hosts physiology to environmental change. In this study, we examine whether invasive gut microbiomes have significantly diverged in their ability to respond to novel environmental change (i.e. a dietary challenge) compared to native gut microbiomes by performing reciprocal faecal microbial transplant (FMT) experiments in native and invasive guttural toad (Sclerophrys gutturalis) populations. Subsequently, we determine how the microbiome regulates host physiological changes in response to a dietary challenge. We show that invasive gut microbiomes exhibit higher microbial compositional and predicted functional flexibility to novel dietary change, compared to native gut microbiomes. This increased microbial flexibility is coupled with significant flexibility in energy harvesting. Furthermore, our results indicate that overall invasive gut microbiomes significantly upregulate energy harvesting and physiological performance of hosts, compared to native microbiomes. Our study is the first identifying gut microbiota as the sole factor contributing to the adaptive physiology of a vertebrate using a unique study design. These findings provide novel insights into the key role of gut microbial symbionts in increasing the invasive potential of its vertebrate host.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2019

TAXONOMIC BIAS AND TRAITS OF THE GLOBAL AMPHIBIAN PET-TRADE

The pet-trade is recognized as the major pathway for amphibian introductions worldwide, yet our understanding of the trade is limited. In this study, we systematically assess amphibian species in the pet-trade, i) characterising taxonomic bias and ii) evaluating species-traits as predictors of traded species and trade volume. We collated a global list of 443 traded amphibians and a regional dataset on trade volume. Species-traits (body size, native range size, clutch size, and breeding type) and conservation status, were considered as predictors of traded species and volume. We found a strong bias for certain Families, along with a preference for large-bodied and widely distributed species with a larval phase, in the pet-trade. However, species-traits performed poorly in predicting trade volume of pet amphibians in the USA. The identified species-traits and taxonomic bias of the trade is used to predict species likely to be traded as pets in the future.

ecology↗