Effect of season on thermoregulation, metabolism and ventilation of the southern brown bandicoot Isoodon obesulus (Marsupialia: Peramelidae)

Abstract

Seasonal variation in various thermoregulatory, metabolic and ventilatory parameters was examined for southern brown bandicoots (Isoodon obesulus fusciventer) from a Mediterranean climate near Perth, Western Australia. There was significant seasonal variation over the four annual seasons at thermoneutrality (Ta=30 degrees C) in body temperature, oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production, respiratory exchange ratio, total evaporative water loss, wet and dry thermal conductance and tidal volume but not mass, ventilatory frequency, minute volume or oxygen extraction efficiency. Only carbon dioxide production and respiratory exchange ratio showed an annual pattern that was significantly related to season, with both being significantly higher in winter, presumably as a result of greater and higher quality food availability.

Does season or captivity influence the physiology of an endangered marsupial, the numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus)?

“…Solar heat gain is potentially important for numbats to conserve energy otherwise needed for thermoregulation (Cooper et al 2003a). As for southern brown bandicoots (Larcombe and Withers 2008), there was also no seasonal effect on standard EWL for numbats, although western barred bandicoots (Perameles bougainville) from the same study site had higher rates of EWL during summer (Larcombe and Withers 2006).…”