We used thermal imaging to show that two environmental factors—acute stress and diet—influence thermoregulatory performance of a known thermal window, the avian bill. The bill plays important roles in thermoregulation and water balance. Given that heat loss through the bill is adjustable through vasoconstriction and vasodilation, and acute stress can cause vasoconstriction in peripheral body surfaces, we hypothesized that stress may influence the bill's role as a thermal window. We further hypothesized that diet influences heat dissipation from the bill given that body condition influences the surface temperature of another body region (the eye region). We measured the surface temperature of the bills of song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) before, during, and after handling by an observer at 37°C ambient temperature. We fed five birds a restricted diet intended to maintain bodyweights typical of wild birds, and we fed six birds an unrestricted diet for five months prior to experiments. Acute stress caused a decrease in the surface temperature of the bill, resulting in a 32.4% decrease in heat dissipation immediately following acute stress, before recovering over approximately 2.3 minutes. The initial reduction and subsequent recovery provide partial support for the haemoprotective and thermoprotective hypotheses, which predict a reduction or increase in peripheral blood flow, respectively. Birds with unrestricted diets had larger bills and dissipated more heat, indicating that diet and body condition influence bill-mediated heat dissipation and thermoregulation. These results indicate that stress-induced vascular changes and diet can influence mechanisms of heat loss and potentially inhibit optimal thermoregulation.
El objetivo de esta investigación es evaluar la influencia de aumentar el número de estaciones del sistema de bicicletas públicas de Manizales (Colombia) aplicando modelos de oferta del transporte e identificando los sectores beneficiados en términos de tiempo medio de viaje. A partir de la red peatonal, cargada con la velocidad operativa de caminata, se aplican modelos geoestadísticos para el cálculo de las curvas isócronas en tres escenarios, el actual y dos propuestas de nuevas estaciones; luego se realiza un análisis de cobertura geoespacial al relacionar las curvas obtenidas para cada escenario con la capa de información sociodemográfica y de estrato socioeconómico. Ambas propuestas resultaron en un aumento de la cobertura de la población de menor ingreso, contribuyendo a generar mayor equidad. Se concluye que la planeación de la implementación y expansión de los sistemas de bicicletas públicas es crucial para ofertar a un mayor porcentaje de población otras opciones de movilidad eficiente.
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