Behavioral thermoregulation of Bulla gouldiana (Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia: Cephalaspidea)

1. 1. The preferred temperature of Bulla gouldiana is 26.7–28.7°C.

2. 2. In constant scotophase, photophase, and light and dark photoperiod the organisms do not have a diel cycle of thermoregulation.

3. 3. It takes the animal 6–16 h to reach the preferred temperature.

4. 4. The lowest and highest temperatures visited were 11 and 33°C.

5. 5. Spawning of the species occurred in the thermal gradient between 27 and 28.5°C.

     

Biological rhythms in birds — development, insights and perspectives

The aim of this review is to show that probably the internal clock of precocial birds is imprinted in the prenatal period by exogenous factors (zeitgeber). The activity of organ functions occurs early during embryonic development, before this function is ultimately necessary to ensure the survival of the embryo. Prenatal activation of some functional systems may have a training effect on the postnatal efficiency.The development of physiological control systems is influenced by endogenous and exogenous factors during the late prenatal and early postnatal period: epigenetic adaptation processes play an important role in the development of animals; they have acquired characteristics which are innated but not genetically fixed. As a rule, the actual value during the determination period has a very strong influence on the set-point of the system. This will be explained using the example of thermoregulation.It is shown in detail that it seems to be possible to imprint the prenatal development of circadian rhythms by periodic changes of the light-dark cycle but not by rhythmic influence of acoustic signals.Altogether, there are more questions open than solved concerning the perinatal genesis of circadian rhythms in birds. Topics are given for the future research.     

Blockage errors in studies of the effect of wind on thermoregulatory responses

1. 1.The presence of an animal in a wind tunnel increases the effective wind velocity, and so increases heat transfer rates.

2. 2.Potentially significant errors in thermal conductance and thermoregulatory metabolism measurements may result.

3. 3.In a given wind tunnel metabolism chamber, these errors are size dependent and thus may lead to invalid allometric or adaptive interpretations of data.

4. 4.The errors are also sensitive to the shape, orientation, and characteristics of the fur or feather insulation of the animal. Thus, only approximate guidelines can be given for choosing correction factors.

Exotic grass invasion impacts fitness of an endangered prairie butterfly, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Icaricia icarioides fenderi</Emphasis>

Fender’s blue butterfly is an endangered species restricted to fragmented, grassland remnants that are becoming increasingly dominated by tall, invasive grasses in western Oregon, USA. I performed a removal experiment to assess the impacts of structural degradation accompanying the invasion of Arrhenatherum elatius, tall oat grass, on butterfly fitness and fitness related behaviors. Clipping of A. elatius to native grass sward height resulted in 2.5–5 times as many eggs laid per leaf of host plant. Both male and female butterflies basked more frequently in areas removed of A. elatius inflorescences and upon encountering the treatment edge butterflies had a high rate of return into a large area removed of the grass inflorescences. Although butterfly behavior appeared to be affected by the change in sward height on the treatment edge, there was no evidence for the edge causing a disproportionate egg load. Invasion and dominance by A. elatius appeared to diminish host plant apparency which may result in overloading of eggs on conspicuous host plants, increased incidence of emigration, and a decrease in the likelihood of colonization because female butterflies appeared indifferent to larval resources beneath A. elatius inflorescences. Dominance of natural shortgrass prairies by tall stature grasses like A. elatius may be an insidious form of habitat degradation for grassland Lepidoptera worldwide, but it may go largely unnoticed because larval and adult resources can persist under the unnaturally tall grass canopy.     

Effect of stride frequency on thermoregulatory responses during endurance running in distance runners

Changing stride frequency may influence oxygen uptake and heart rate during running as a function of running economy and central command. This study investigated the influence of stride frequency manipulation on thermoregulatory responses during endurance running. Seven healthy endurance runners ran on a treadmill at a velocity of 15 km/h for 60 min in a controlled environmental chamber (ambient temperature 27 °C and relative humidity 50%), and stride frequency was manipulated. Stride frequency was intermittently manipulated by increasing and decreasing frequency by 10% from the pre-determined preferred frequency. These periods of increase or decrease were separated by free frequency running in the order of free stride frequency, stride frequency manipulation (increase or decrease), free stride frequency, and stride frequency manipulation (increase or decrease) for 15 min each. The increased and decreased stride frequencies were 110% and 91% of the free running frequency, respectively (196±6, 162±5, and 178±5 steps/min, respectively, P<0.01). Compared to the control, stride frequency manipulation did not affect rectal temperature, heart rate, or the rate of perceived exhaustion during running. Whole-body sweat loss increased significantly when stride frequency was manipulated (1.48±0.11 and 1.57±0.11 kg for control and manipulated stride frequencies, respectively, P<0.05), but stride frequency had a small effect on sweat loss overall (Cohen's d=0.31). A higher mean skin temperature was also observed under mixed frequency conditions compared to that in the control (P<0.05). While the precise mechanisms underlying these changes remain unknown (e.g. running economy or central command), our results suggest that manipulation of stride frequency does not have a large effect on sweat loss or other physiological variables, but does increase mean skin temperature during endurance running.     

Strategies of social wasps for thermal homeostasis in light paper nests

1. With the derived free-run temperature of light paper nests the influence of the thermal capacity of the nest or the nest site, respectively, on thermal homeostasis is quantified.

2. Gravimetric information from the continuous investigation of the nest weight coupled with temperature and humidity measurement allows the correlation of the colonies’ foraging behavior with their heat production inside the nest.

3. Wasps (Vespa crabro) do not regulate their nest environment towards a specific and constant temperature but rather build nests adapted to their foraging behavior and general energy budget.

舟山眼镜蛇对光暗周期加热光源反应所导致的体温变化

用 7条舟山眼镜蛇 (Najaatra)研究动物对光暗周期加热光源反应所导致的体温变化。设计两项实验 ,每项实验历时 9d。实验一光照期覆盖整个白天 ,实验二光照期覆盖整个晚上。眼镜蛇仅在加热光源开启期间进行体温调节 ,但光照期内任何阶段都未发现所有个体同时处于热活动状态。两项实验中热活动个体百分比的时间变化显著 ,实验二热活动个体百分比波动相对大于实验一。在加热光源开启期间 ,实验一热活动眼镜蛇的百分比总体上大于实验二。在两项实验中 ,热活动眼镜蛇体温的时间变化都不显著。实验一热活动眼镜蛇的体温高于实验二 ,而两项实验中不处于热活动状态的眼镜蛇的平均体温无显著差异。实验一热活动眼镜蛇 (31 1±0 8°C)选择的体温上限高于实验二眼镜蛇 (2 6 0± 0 9°C)。在两项实验的任何时间段内 ,眼镜蛇的体温都不低于环境温度。     

Thermal ecology of two sympatric saxicolous lizards of the genus Phymaturus from the Payunia region (Argentina)

We evaluated the thermal biology of two sympatric saxicolous species of the genus Phymaturus, endemic from the Argentine Payunia region. Taking into account that the distributional range of Phymaturus roigorum (the largest species) is greater than the range of P. payuniae, we evaluated the habitat (type of rocks) used by these species. We recorded body temperature and operative temperatures in different habitats, and we determined the preferred body temperature in the laboratory. We compared the thermal quality of habitats occupied and not occupied by Phymaturus payuniae, and the accuracy and effectiveness of thermoregulation between species.     

Thermal responses to feeding in a secretive and specialized predator (Gila monster, Heloderma suspectum)

We investigate how a unique dietary specialist, the Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum), uses behavioral thermoregulation to elevate body temperature (T_b) after feeding. Lizards in a laboratory thermal gradient were fed rodent meals of three different sizes (5, 10, or 20% of body mass), or sham fed (meal of 0% body mass), and T_bs were recorded for three days before feeding and seven days after feeding. Gila monsters selected a mean T_b of 25.2 °C while fasting (set-point range 23.6–27.1), and increased T_bs after feeding. The magnitude and duration of post-prandial T_b increases are positively related to meal size, and Gila monsters selected mean T_bs up to 3.0 °C higher and maintain elevated T_bs for 3–6 days after feeding. Selection of T_b does not appear to differ between day and night time periods, and because the lizards are both diurnal and nocturnal (at different times of year), photoperiod may not be an important influence on T_b selection.     

Thermoregulatory effects of melatonin in relation to sleepiness

Thermoregulatory processes have long been implicated in the initiation of human sleep. In this paper, we review our own studies conducted over the last decade showing a crucial role for melatonin as a mediator between the thermoregulatory and arousal system in humans. Distal heat loss, via increased skin temperature, seems to be intimately coupled with increased sleepiness and sleep induction. Exogenous melatonin administration during the day when melatonin is essentially absent mimics the endogenous thermophysiological processes occurring in the evening and induces sleepiness. Using a cold thermic challenge test, it was shown that melatonin‐induced sleepiness occurs in parallel with reduction in the thermoregulatory set‐point (threshold); thus, melatonin may act as a circadian modulator of the thermoregulatory set‐point. In addition, an orthostatic challenge can partially block the melatonin‐induced effects, suggesting an important role of the sympathetic nervous system as a link between the thermoregulatory and arousal systems. A topographical analysis of finger skin temperature with infrared thermometry revealed that the most distal parts of the fingers, i.e., fingertips, represent the important skin regions for heat loss regulation, most probably via opening the arteriovenous anastomoses, and this is clearly potentiated by melatonin. Taken together, melatonin is involved in the fine‐tuning of vascular tone in selective vascular beds, as circulating melatonin levels rise and fall throughout the night. Besides the role of melatonin as “nature's soporific”, it can also serve as nature's nocturnal vascular modulator.