Role of Soil Temperature in Timing of Emergence from Hibernation in the Jumping Mouse, Zapus hudsonius

Abstract

An elevation in soil temperature at the depth of the winter nest was essential for the termination of hibernation and resumption of surface activity in jumping mice. Captive mice in artificial burrow systems kept at 5 °C did not emerge when only the soil that plugged their burrows at the surface was heated as high as 23 °C, far beyond that which occurs naturally in the spring. In contrast, a uniform rise in soil temperature from 5 °C to 9 °C eventually stimulated emergence in 11 of 12 males but only 2 of 12 females. A more rapid and universal emergence occurred when this 4°C elevation at the depth of the nest was accompanied by an 11 °C rise in surface soil. Males emerged sooner than females, again suggesting that they were more sensitive to temperature change. These laboratory findings are consistent with the soil temperature changes that occurred in nature prior to the dates that males and females emerged.