Effects of Body Size and Melanism on the Thermal Biology of Garter Snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis)

Bittner, Tonya D.; King, Richard B.; Kerfin, James M.

doi:10.1643/0045-8511(2002)002[0477:eobsam]2.0.co;2

Cited by 102 publications

(94 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Although different to an experiment conducted under natural conditions, this setting allowed us to standardize the measurements, making them comparable between species. On the contrary, a natural conditions experiment would introduce more noise into the data (Bittner et al, 2002). Body temperature of individuals at the beginning of both experiments was 15±0.2°C (mean±s.e.m.…”

Section: Experimental Temperature Determinations Heating Rate Measurementioning

confidence: 96%

“…The thermal melanism hypothesis (TMH) proposes that individuals with low reflectance (dark coloration) will gain heat faster than those with high reflectance (light coloration) at the same body size (Norris, 1967;Watt, 1968;Kettlewell, 1973;Gates, 1980), favoring darker organisms in cold environments. The effect of melanistic coloration on heating rates was verified for vipers (Bittner et al, 2002) and Cordylus lizards (Clusella-Trullas et al, 2009). However, the importance of heat balance as a selection force contributing to geographic variation in body size and melanism in lizards is not well understood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

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Effect of body mass and melanism on heat balance inLiolaemuslizards of thegoetschiclade

Azócar

Bonino

Perotti

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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The body temperature of ectotherms depends on the environmental temperatures and behavioral adjustments, but morphology may also have an effect. For example, in colder environments, animals tend to be larger and to show higher thermal inertia, as proposed by Bergmann's rule and the heat balance hypothesis (HBH). Additionally, dark coloration increases solar radiation absorption and should accelerate heat gain (thermal melanism hypothesis, TMH). We tested Bergmann's rule, the HBH and the TMH within the Liolaemus goetschi lizard clade, which shows variability in body size and melanic coloration. We measured heating and cooling rates of live and euthanized animals, and tested how morphology and color affect these rates. Live organisms show less variable and faster heating rates compared with cooling rates, suggesting behavioral and/or physiological adjustments. Our results support Bergmann's rule and the HBH, as larger species show slower heating and cooling rates. However, we did not find a clear pattern to support the TMH. The influence of dorsal melanism on heating by radiation was masked by the body size effect in live animals, and results from euthanized individuals also showed no clear effects of melanism on heating rates. Comparison among three groups of live individuals with different degrees of melanism did not clarify the influence of melanism on heating rates. However, when euthanized animals from the same three groups were compared, we observed that darker euthanized animals actually heat faster than lighter ones, favoring the TMH. Although unresolved aspects remain, body size and coloration influenced heat exchange, suggesting complex thermoregulatory strategies in these lizards, probably regulated through physiology and behavior, which may allow these small lizards to inhabit harsh weather environments.

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Section: Experimental Temperature Determinations Heating Rate Measurementioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Effect of body mass and melanism on heat balance inLiolaemuslizards of thegoetschiclade

Azócar

Bonino

Perotti

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…If coloration can itself play a key role in thermoregulation in ectotherms (e.g. Heath 1975;Gibson and Falls 1979;Bittner et al 2002;Pereboom and Biesmeijer 2003) and endotherms (Ellis 1980;Wunderle 1981; but see Beasley and Ankney 1988), morphs may also differ with respect to physiological processes associated with thermoregulation. For example, in snails, morph-dependent thermoregulation is not only due to physical differences in shell reflectivity and absorption of solar energy, and to variations in the activity and habitat selection by the various genotypes (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxygen consumption in offspring tawny owls Strix aluco is associated with colour morph of foster mother

et al. 2005

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In several colour polymorphic species, morphs differ in thermoregulation either because dark and pale surfaces absorb solar radiation to a different extent and/or because morphs differ in key metabolic processes. Morph-specific thermoregulation may potentially account for the observation that differently coloured individuals are frequently not randomly distributed among habitats, and differ in many respects, including behaviour, morphology, survival and reproductive success. In a wild population of the colour polymorphic tawny owl Strix aluco, a recent crossfostering experiment showed that offspring raised and born from red mothers were heavier than those from grey mothers. In the present study, we tested in the same individuals whether these morph-specific offspring growth patterns were associated with a difference in metabolic rate between offspring of red and grey mothers. For this purpose, we measured nestling oxygen consumption under two different temperatures (laboratory measurements: 4 and 20°C), and examined the relationships between these data sets and the colour morph of foster and biological mothers. After controlling for nestling body mass, oxygen consumption at 20°C was greater in foster offspring raised by grey foster mothers. No relationship was found between nestling oxygen consumption and coloration of their biological mother. Therefore, our study indicates that in our experiment offspring raised by grey foster mothers showed not only a lower body mass than offspring raised by red foster mothers, but also consumed more oxygen under warm temperature. This further indicates that rearing conditions in nests of grey mothers were more stressful than in nests of red mothers.

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“…Although Z. virens is widely accepted as a sexually monomorphic species (Hockey et al, 2005;Oatley, 2011;Skead, 1967), male Cape white-eyes were slightly heavier and had significantly lower wholeanimal RMR than females. Thermal PIT tags have been used in physiological studies on reptiles (Bittner et al, 2002;Roark and Dorcas, 2000) and small mammals (Cory Toussaint and McKechnie, 2012) but to our knowledge this is the first study in which these PIT tags have been successfully used for a long-term study in small birds. Mean hourly intraperitoneal T b of Cape white-eyes showed a marked circadian rhythm typical of small diurnal avian insectivores and nectarivores (Clarke and Rothery, 2008;McKechnie and Lovegrove, 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The potential effects of climate change-associated temperature increases on the metabolic rate of a small Afrotropical bird

Thompson

Brown

Downs

2015

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Studies have only recently begun to underline the importance of including data on the physiological flexibility of a species when modelling its vulnerability to extinction from climate change. We investigated the effects of a 4°C increase in ambient temperature (T a ), similar to that predicted for southern Africa by the year 2080, on certain physiological variables of a 10-12 g passerine bird endemic to southern Africa, the Cape white-eye Zosterops virens. There was no significant difference in resting metabolism, body mass and intraperitoneal body temperature between birds housed indoors at 4°C above outside ambient temperature and those housed indoors at outside ambient temperature. We conclude that the physiological flexibility of Cape white-eyes will aid them in coping with the 4°C increase predicted for their range by 2080.

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Effects of Body Size and Melanism on the Thermal Biology of Garter Snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis)

Cited by 102 publications

References 10 publications

Effect of body mass and melanism on heat balance inLiolaemuslizards of thegoetschiclade

Effect of body mass and melanism on heat balance inLiolaemuslizards of thegoetschiclade

Oxygen consumption in offspring tawny owls Strix aluco is associated with colour morph of foster mother

The potential effects of climate change-associated temperature increases on the metabolic rate of a small Afrotropical bird

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