Tr. Nagy, EFFECTS OF PHOTOPERIOD HISTORY AND TEMPERATURE ON MALE COLLARED LEMMINGS, DICROSTONYX-GROENLANDICUS, Journal of mammalogy, 74(4), 1993, pp. 990-998
Adult collared lemmings, Dicrostonyx groenlandicus (87 days of age), t
ransferred from long (20L:4D) to short (8L:16D) photoperiod showed an
increase in body mass, while those transferred from 8L:16D to 20L:4D s
howed a decrease in body mass. Exposure to short photoperiod resulted
in an increase in length of body relative to exposure to long photoper
iod. Temperature affected body mass only under 20L:4D with animals hou
sed at 5-degrees-C being significantly heavier than lemmings housed at
18-degrees-C. Temperature did not affect length of body. Changes in b
ody mass in response to photoperiod exposure primarily were due to the
deposition or loss of fat-free dry mass and water. The mass of the re
productive organs (testes and seminal vesicles) was significantly incr
eased in lemmings maintained at 5-degrees-C relative to animals house
at 18-degrees-C. Mass of reproductive organs at 87 days of age was not
affected by the photoperiod experienced during the subadult stage. Ho
wever, at 167 days of age, lemmings originally housed under 8L:16D con
ditions (from weaning to 87 days of age) had significantly heavier mas
s of reproductive organs than did lemmings maintained on 20L: 4D from
weaning to 87 days of age, regardless of secondary photoperiod exposur
e (87-167 days of age). Photoperiod conditions seen early in life may
have long-term effects on mass of reproductive tissues in this species
.