Fig. 2

Oxygen consumption changes of flea-infested and flea-free juvenile and adult rodent hosts. Mean (±SE) standardized changes between post- and pre-experimental days in oxygen consumption of flea-infested (solid line) and flea-free (dashed line) Meriones crassus juveniles (a, N = 18) and adults (b, N = 24) per hour (main figures) and at 12-hour scales (four inserts). Standardized changes are measured as the proportion of differences in oxygen consumption rate (ml O₂ ⋅ g^− 1 ⋅ min^− 1 per g of rodent) between post- and pre-experimental days (each is a mean of 48 h) to the consumption rate in the two pre-experimental days. The grey background corresponds to the dark hours