RESULTS
The time series of the dormice’s body temperature suggested flickering,
rather than a critical slowing down (Fig. 1). The female entered the
hibernation period 24 days earlier than the male (November 22 versus
December 16, respectively), whereas the two dormice awoke from
hibernation on the same day (May 29). During the activity period,Te remained rather constant (with torpor bouts
starting around mid-summer), with independence of the trends in air
temperature, first increasing from the termination of hibernation to
mid-summer and then decreasing to the onset of the next hibernation. On
the contrary, during hibernation, Th tracked air
temperature very well, although several bouts toTe occurred with increasing frequency as the
transition to activity approached (Fig. 1). In the following sections,
we show the results of hibernation dynamics by the use of indicators
developed by Dakos et al. (2012).