High body temperatures in an arid,winter-rainfall environment: Thermal biology of the smallest tortoise |
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| Institution: | 1. U.S. Geological Survey, Oklahoma Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, 007 Agriculture Hall, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA;2. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Biological Sciences, National Wildlife Refuge System, Post Office Box 1306, Albuquerque, NM 87103, USA;3. Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, 1398 Highway 81 N., Calhoun, KY 42327, USA;4. Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, 1 Sportsman’s Lane, Frankfort, KY 40601, USA;5. Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Oklahoma State University, 008 Ag Hall, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA;1. Stony Brook University, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Southampton, NY, 11968, USA;2. Cornell University, College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA;3. Bigelow Analytical Services, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, East Boothbay, ME, 04544, USA;4. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Wildlife Health Unit, Delmar, NY, 12054, USA;5. Hofstra University, Department of Biology, Hempstead, NY, 11549, USA;6. Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation, Riverhead, NY, 11901, USA;1. Graduate Program in Endocrinology and Animal Biosciences, Rutgers University, 84 Lipman Drive, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA;2. Department of Ecology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Vini?ná 7, 128 43 Praha 2, Czech Republic;3. Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, Rutgers University, 14 College Farm Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA;1. Department of Regenerative and Developmental Biology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY 10029, USA;2. Black Family Stem Cell Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY 10029, USA;3. Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vavilova Strasse 32, Moscow 119991, Russia;4. Department of Computational Systems Biology, Vavilov Institute of General Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Gubkina Strasse 3, Moscow 119991, Russia;5. Centre for Human Development, Stem Cells, and Regeneration, Institute of Developmental Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK;6. Department of Pharmacology and System Therapeutics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Systems Biology Center New York, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY 10029, USA |
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| Abstract: | Herbivorous tortoises in arid, winter-rainfall regions need to forage in seasons that provide relatively little heat for their ectothermic metabolism. To help understand how tortoises exploit resources in winter-rainfall areas, I recorded ambient, soil, and body temperatures for Homopus signatus in four spring seasons, and in one summer, autumn, and winter. The spring thermal environment enabled H. signatus to maintain body temperatures that were high compared to other small tortoise species. Mature females had higher spring body temperatures than males and immature individuals, probably because mature females were developing eggs. In summer, autumn, and winter, body temperatures differed between males and females, relating to sexually different activities and retreat uses. The relatively high body temperatures of H. signatus in winter and spring, along with a non-isometric relationship between body temperature and soil temperature, suggest that tortoises thermoregulated and may need considerable time to gain heat. Additional studies should compare body temperatures of H. signatus to operative temperatures, and determine the vulnerability of the taxon to human interferences that affect behavioural time budgets and body temperatures. |
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