Table 1.
List of the other functions of torpor that were already listed in Geiser and Brigham 2012 including additional supporting references that were published after 2012
| Function/challenge | Benefits of torpor | References |
|---|---|---|
| Migration | Increases fat storage prior to migration | Carpenter and Hixon (1988); Hiebert (1993); Körtner et al. (2000) |
| Allows maintenance of year round home range | ||
| Reproduction | Enhances sperm storage | Morton (1978); Racey and Swift (1981); Audet and Fenton (1988); Birkhead and Møller (1993); Geiser and Masters (1994); Grinevitch et al. (1995); Willis et al. (2006); Körtner et al. (2008); Wang et al. (2008); Morrow and Nicol (2009); Canale et al. (2012); McAllan and Geiser (2014); Stawski and Rojas (2016) |
| Delays parturition | ||
| Enhances body condition prior to lactation | ||
| Water/energy conservation | ||
| Permits reproduction on limited resources | ||
| Development | Permits and enhances development and growth on limited food resources | Nagel (1977); Geiser et al. (2006); Giroud et al. (2012); Giroud et al. (2014) |
| Water conservation | Reduces water loss | MacMillen (1965); Buffenstein and Jarvis (1985); Withers et al. (1990); Hosken and Withers (1997); Cooper et al. (2005); Schmid and Speakman (2009) |
| Drought | Survival of long periods of reduced water availability | Doucette et al. (2012) |
| Parasites/disease | Removal of parasites | Callait and Gauthier (2000); Fietz et al. (2014) Chute (1964); Lourenço and Palmeirim (2008); Fietz et al. (2016) |
| Removal of spirochaetes | ||
| Inter-specific competition | Allows co-existence of competing species during periods of resource limitation and high energetic requirements | Levy et al. (2011) |
| Extinction | Allows long-term survival even under adverse environmental conditions | Bieber and Ruf (2009); Geiser and Turbill (2009); Liow et al. (2009); Stawski and Geiser (2010); Turbill et al. (2011); Hanna and Cardillo (2014); Hoelzl et al. (2015) |
| Predator avoidance |