Leeches run cold, then hot

Petersen, Ann M.; Chin, Wendy; Feilich, Kara; Jung, Grace; Quist, Jessica L.; Wang, Jasmine; Ellerby, David J.

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.0320

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The higher amount of saliva secretion recorded at 37ºC may be due to the simulation of the temperature of the phagostimulatory solution to that of body temperature of the host. This result corroborated with one study that shows leeches prefer feeding at warmer temperatures (Peterson et al 2011) [12] . Hence, our trial also revealed that the Indian cattle leeches usually bite repeatedly upon warm parafilm surfaces.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Effect of environmental and physiological variables on saliva production in Hirudinaria granulosa (Indian cattle leech)

Haq¹,

Malik²,

Nabi³

et al. 2021

Pharma Innovation

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Rhythmicity in the saliva production of leech Hirudinaria granulosa has not been evaluated. This is, possibly, the first effort to evaluate the amount of saliva production under different environmental and physiological variables. A total of 90 leeches were divided into six groups (n=15) to elucidate the variation in saliva production based on temperature, body weight, and time period. Significantly (P≤0.01) higher volume of saliva was produced (2.23±0.10) at a temperature of 37 ºC compared to that at 25 ºC (1.53±0.11). Based on body weight, a significantly (P≤0.01) higher amount of saliva (2.52±0.05) was produced by the leeches of the large group (≥0.4g weight) as compared to the smaller group (1.66±0.08) with a bodyweight of (≤0.3g weight). In addition, the Pre-feeding and post feeding body weight of leeches (n=30) with saliva production revealed significantly high correlation of 0.962 and 0.870. Evaluation based on periodicity revealed a significantly higher amount of saliva production in the morning hours (2.32 ±0.09) compared to evening hours (2.01±0.10). Thus, our study concluded a relatively more elevated amount of saliva production in the morning hours at a temperature of 37 ºC with higher body weight. Therefore, our study infers biological rhythms in the leech Hirudinaria granulosa.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Effect of environmental and physiological variables on saliva production in Hirudinaria granulosa (Indian cattle leech)

Haq¹,

Malik²,

Nabi³

et al. 2021

Pharma Innovation

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“…Whilst the association between some herbivorous diets and a warmer body is clear, the precise physiological mechanism is not. It has long been argued that herbivores require a warmer body to support fermentation by gut microbes, but all digestive processes will proceed faster in a warmer body (Wang et al ., ) and many ectotherms select a warmer microenvironment when digesting food (Lang, ; Petersen et al ., ). The intriguing question is why the trade‐off between enhanced rates of energy acquisition and the associated increased metabolic costs should be at different temperatures for different diets.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Diet and body temperature in mammals and birds

Clarke

O’Connor

2014

Global Ecology and Biogeography

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AimWe test the hypothesis that endotherm body temperature varies with diet. Location Global terrestrial ecosystemsMethods We compile data from the literature on diet and body temperature in mammals and birds. We analyse these and demonstrate global macrophysiological patterns. ResultsIn mammals, carnivores overall have a lower mean body temperature (T b ) than either herbivores or omnivores. However within carnivores, those taking vertebrate prey have a higher mean T b than predators of invertebrates. Among herbivores, species eating grass, leaves or seeds have the highest mean T b , those taking fruit an intermediate mean T b and those taking flowers or nectar the lowest mean T b . These patterns are robust to the influence of body mass and phylogenetic non-independence. In birds the relationship between T b and diet is complicated by a significant inverse relationship between body mass and T b and strong dietary niche conservation within lineages. After allowing for body mass, herbivores show an identical qualitative pattern to mammals, whereas carnivores show the opposite trend to mammals: those taking invertebrate prey have a higher mean T b than those taking vertebrates.Main conclusions There is a relationship between diet and T b in mammals that is statistically and phylogenetically robust. Published studies show that in reptiles and fish herbivory is largely confined to species that can maintain a relatively high T b either through living in warm environments or through behavioural thermoregulation. We therefore propose a general relationship for all vertebrates: herbivory requires a warmer body than carnivory. Basal metabolic rate (BMR) will then be higher in herbivores because of the universal relationship between BMR and T b , together with the higher maintenance costs of their longer guts. We suggest that the evolution of endothermy was a key factor in the widespread incidence of herbivory in mammals.

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“…The relationship between host size and leech recruitment is consistent with previous findings, in that in some instances behavioural heterogeneity can be attributed to social and territorial conflicts between individual crabs of the same gender ( Wada, 1993; Milner et al, 2010; Smith et al, 2010 ). Finally, since leeches are known to have well-developed sensory systems that allow them to respond to specific situations ( Gaudry et al, 2010; Petersen et al, 2011 ), the differences observed between male and female hosts might also arise from an ability of the leech to recognize the gender of the host crab.This ability has not been demonstrated, however, and appears unlikely.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%