Fig. 6: Mid-hibernation warming alters TH signaling.

a Schematic of experiment testing effects of two-week mid-hibernation warming on activation of TH signaling pathways and the reproductive axis. Filled circles represent the sampling timepoints for control animals sampled at an environmental temperature of 2 °C (top) and experimentally warmed animals sampled at a temperature of 30 °C (bottom). Thin gray lines present expected changes in body temperature across hibernation under temperature treatments; temperature traces are a schematic. The top-colored bar indicates the photoperiodic regime experienced by study subjects (LD = long day, 24D = continuous darkness). The lower colored bar indicates the hibernaculum temperature. Panels b–i present results for control (blue) and experimentally warmed (red) animals. The center line in the box plot represents the median, box boundaries represent the 25th and 75th percentiles, and error bars represent the 25th and 75th percentiles ± 1.5 times the interquartile range. An additional boxplot (white) shows results for animals 15 days post-hibernation (15D; from the preceding repeated cross-sectional study). Stars indicate significant differences between control and experimental animals (p < 0.05) using a linear mixed effects model. For sample sizes, see “Methods”. See also Supplementary Fig. S5.