Energy costs to Tropidurus torquatus (Squamata, Tropiduridae) to achieve the optimal temperature in a thermal gradient

• Grant number: 11/22987-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2012
• End date: January 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Carlos Arturo Navas Iannini
• Grantee: Luciana Ferreira Leite Leiriao
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Like all ectotherms, amphibians and reptiles obtain the temperature needed for their metabolic processes from the environment. Thermoregulation in lizards is very precise and involves both physiological and behavioral mechanisms. However, controlling body temperature entails some costs. The literature that discusses the determination and quantification of these costs is scarce. The present study intends to estimate the costs of behavioral thermoregulation of twenty lizards of Tropidurus torquatus (Squamata, Tropiduridae) collected in Parque Continental, Sao Paulo while seeking their preferential temperatures in laboratory thermal gradients. It is assumed that lizards search for energy sources more actively when exposed to low environmental temperatures and that adding an extra mass to the animal would constrict locomotion increasing the effort and energy costs. Based on this, the thermoregulation of each animal will be analyzed in three experimental conditions: 1) when the thermal gradient is off, 2) when the thermal gradient is on, and 3) when a thermal gradient is on and an extra mass is tied to the animal.(AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

LEIRIAO, LUCIANA; PIANTONI, CARLA; RIBEIRO, PEDRO L.; NAVAS, CARLOS A.. Independent influence of thermoregulatory cost on the lower and upper set-points of a heliothermic lizard. Behavioural Processes, v. 164, p. 17-24, JUL 2019. (11/22987-6)