Journal article
Importance of the limbs in the physiological control of heat exchange in Iguana iguana and Sceloporus undulatus
Journal of thermal biology, v 29(6)
2004
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Lizards use physiological mechanisms to control warming and cooling. Theoretical studies have predicted that the limbs are a major site for the physiological control of heat exchange via changes in blood flow during warming and cooling. To test this we measured thermal time constants in
Iguana iguana (1
kg) and
Sceloporus undulatus (10
g) warming and cooling in a wind tunnel. We isolated the limbs from the environment by wrapping them in cotton gauze and aluminum foil to test for the importance of the limbs as sites of heat exchange control. We used a physiologically based heat transfer model that included the contribution of blood flow to estimate the thermal time constants. In response to long warming and cooling, the thermal time constants for warming and cooling differed consistently only in
I. iguana. Insulating the limbs with cotton gauze abolished the difference between warming and cooling in
I. iguana. In
S. undulatus, animals with both insulated and uninsulated limbs had warming and cooling thermal time constants that were not significantly different. As predicted, the limbs were a major site for physiological control of heat exchange in 1
kg Iguanas. However, the small lizard was unable to physiologically control warming and cooling and is expected to rely heavily on behavioral thermoregulation.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- Importance of the limbs in the physiological control of heat exchange in Iguana iguana and Sceloporus undulatus
- Creators
- Edward M Dzialowski - Drexel UniversityMichael P O’Connor
- Publication Details
- Journal of thermal biology, v 29(6)
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science (BEES)
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000223734600006
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-4043109859
- Other Identifier
- 991019168547404721
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Biology
- Zoology