Data for Locomotor activity patterns of wild Natal mole-rats suggest entrainment of circadian activity to burrow temperatures

We utilized an RFID reader array (LID650/608, DorsetID, The Netherlands) to monitor mole-rat activity during winter (August - October 2020) and summer (February - April 2021). Mole-rats wree implanted with a subcutaneous transponder and released into their burrow. Animals were weighed, sexed, and assigned a reproductive class upon capture. The array was programed to scan continuously for transponder tags within range with a read delay of 3 seconds and save transponder codes with a time stamp. Thus, if an animal remained in the range of the panel for longer than 3 seconds, it would have multiple entries at 3-second intervals. The reader would then store the transponder code and the date and time. We assumed activity bouts lasted for 1 hour and animals were given an active score of 1 if a reading was detected on the array during a 60-minute period, and a score of 0 if not detected. An animal would not gain a further activity point until detected beyond the activity period. Individuals captured in the group but not recorded by the RFID reader array were assigned activity scores of zero.<br>Hourly air pressure, air temperature, soil temperature, and rainfall for winter 2020 and summer 2021 were obtained from the global atmospheric reanalysis dataset ERA5-Land which is freely available from the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which holds the intellectual property rights of the raw climate data. The results contain modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Soil temperatures in the dataset correspond to the depths of foraging tunnels and the nest of mole-rats. The change in hourly air pressure (ΔP) from hour 1 to hour 2 was calculated to determine whether changes in air pressure predicted activity. These data were then combined with the activity data to determine the environmental effects of daily and seasonal activity patterns.<br>

本研究采用射频识别（RFID）阅读器阵列（型号LID650/608，荷兰DorsetID公司生产），分别于冬季（2020年8月—10月）与夏季（2021年2月—4月）监测裸鼹鼠的活动行为。所有裸鼹鼠均接受皮下植入应答器（transponder）手术，术后被放归至原生洞穴中。捕获个体时，研究人员会对其进行体重测量、性别鉴定，并记录其繁殖等级。该阅读器阵列被预设为持续扫描范围内的应答器标签，读取间隔为3秒，并将应答器编码与时间戳一并存储。因此，若某只裸鼹鼠停留在阅读器阵列的识别范围内超过3秒，则会以3秒为间隔生成多条记录，阅读器将存储对应的应答器编码及日期与时间信息。本研究假设单次活动时段持续1小时：若某60分钟时段内阅读器阵列检测到该个体的读取记录，则记为活动得分1；反之则记为0。仅当该个体在当前活动时段结束后再次被检测到时，方可获得新的活动得分。即便捕获加入研究群体但未被RFID阅读器阵列记录到的个体，其活动得分均记为0。
本研究获取的2020年冬季与2021年夏季逐小时气压、气温、土壤温度与降雨量数据，来自全球大气再分析数据集ERA5-Land，该数据集由哥白尼气候变化服务中心（Copernicus Climate Change Service）免费提供，其原始气候数据的知识产权归该中心所有。本研究结果包含经修改的哥白尼气候变化服务中心相关数据信息。数据集内的土壤温度数据对应裸鼹鼠觅食隧道与巢穴所在的深度。研究通过计算逐小时气压变化量（ΔP），以此分析气压变化是否可预测裸鼹鼠的活动情况。随后将上述环境数据与活动数据进行整合，以探究环境因子对裸鼹鼠日活动与季节活动模式的影响。