South American subterranean rodents (Ctenomys aff. knighti), commonly known as tuco-tucos, display nocturnal, wheel-running behavior under light-dark (LD) conditions, and free-running periods >24 h in constant darkness (DD). However, several reports in the field suggested that a substantial amount of activity occurs during daylight hours, leading us to question whether circadian entrainment in the laboratory accurately reflects behavior in natural conditions. We compared circadian patterns of locomotor activity in DD of animals previously entrained to full laboratory LD cycles (LD12∶12) with those of animals that were trapped directly from the field. In both cases, activity onsets in DD immediately reflected the previous dark onset or sundown. Furthermore, freerunning periods upon release into DD were close to 24 h indicating aftereffects of prior entrainment, similarly in both conditions. No difference was detected in the phase of activity measured with and without access to a running wheel. However, when individuals were observed continuously during daylight hours in a semi-natural enclosure, they emerged above-ground on a daily basis. These day-time activities consisted of foraging and burrow maintenance, suggesting that the designation of this species as nocturnal might be inaccurate in the field. Our study of a solitary subterranean species suggests that the circadian clock is entrained similarly under field and laboratory conditions and that day-time activity expressed only in the field is required for foraging and may not be time-dictated by the circadian pacemaker.

Subterranean rodents spend most of the day inside underground tunnels, where there is little daily change in environmental variables. Our observations of tuco-tucos (Ctenomys aff. knighti) in a field enclosure indicated that these animals perceive the aboveground light-dark cycle by several bouts of light-exposure at irregular times during the light hours of the day. To assess whether such light-dark pattern acts as an entraining agent of the circadian clock, we first constructed in laboratory the Phase Response Curve for 1 h light-pulses (1000lux). Its shape is qualitatively similar to other curves reported in the literature and to our knowledge it is the first Phase Response Curve of a subterranean rodent. Computer simulations were performed with a non-linear limit-cycle oscillator subjected to a simple model of the light regimen experienced by tuco-tucos. Results showed that synchronization is achieved even by a simple regimen of a single daily light pulse scattered uniformly along the light hours of the day. Natural entrainment studies benefit from integrated laboratory, field and computational approaches.

Maximising survival requires animals to balance the competing demands of maintaining energy balance and avoiding predation. Here, quantitative modelling shows that optimising the daily timing of activity and rest based on the encountered environmental conditions enables small mammals to maximise survival. Our model shows that nocturnality is typically beneficial when predation risk is higher during the day than during the night, but this is reversed by the energetic benefit of diurnality when food becomes scarce. Empirical testing under semi‐natural conditions revealed that the daily timing of activity and rest in mice exposed to manipulations in energy availability and perceived predation risk is in line with the model’s predictions. Low food availability and decreased perceived daytime predation risk promote diurnal activity patterns. Overall, our results identify temporal niche switching in small mammals as a strategy to maximise survival in response to environmental changes in food availability and perceived predation risk.

The tuco-tuco Ctenomys aff. knighti is a subterranean rodent which inhabits a semi-arid area in Northwestern Argentina. Although they live in underground burrows where environmental cycles are attenuated, they display robust, 24 h locomotor activity rhythms that are synchronized by light/dark cycles, both in laboratory and field conditions. The underground environment also poses energetic challenges (e.g. high-energy demands of digging, hypoxia, high humidity, low food availability) that have motivated thermoregulation studies in several subterranean rodent species. By using chronobiological protocols, the present work aims to contribute towards these studies by exploring day-night variations of thermoregulatory functions in tuco-tucos, starting with body temperature and its temporal relationship to locomotor activity. Animals showed daily, 24 h body temperature rhythms that persisted even in constant darkness and temperature, synchronizing to a daily light/dark cycle, with highest values occurring during darkness hours. The range of oscillation of body temperature was slightly lower than those reported for similar-sized and dark-active rodents. Most rhythmic parameters, such as period and phase, did not change upon removal of the running wheel. Body temperature and locomotor activity rhythms were robustly associated in time. The former persisted even after removal of the acute effects of intense activity on body temperature by a statistical method. Finally, regression gradients between body temperature and activity were higher in the beginning of the night, suggesting day-night variation in thermal conductance and heat production. Consideration of these day-night variations in thermoregulatory processes is beneficial for further studies on thermoregulation and energetics of subterranean rodents.