Many lizards maintain their body temperature within a fairly narrow range, despite spatial and temporal variation in microclimates. The ability to measure these temperatures is central to studying lizard physiology. Non-intrusive methods are preferred because they cause the least disruption to the animals natural behavioral patterns. I modified the Alberts and Grant (1997) model of non-contact temperature prediction of Cuban rock iguanas (mass range 120-850 g) for use on four species of smaller lizards (mass range 2-7 g). I also developed an empirical model expressing the relationship between skin surface temperature (Ts) and internal body temperature (Tb) as a regression. Using this model, and given an ambient temperature (Ta), a lizards internal body temperature can be estimated within 0.2 plus or minus 1.43 SD degrees Celsius from its remotely determined dorsal skin surface temperature. The modified Alberts and Grant model and my model had similar predictive results. Additional potential heating and cooling rates were determined in the lab with various heat sources and sinks to assess the ability of lizard body temperatures to vary in the short term and to confirm the accuracy of our field readings. Chase studies in the lab showed that there was no significant change in the internal body temperatures of the lizards if they were chased to and from heat sources and sinks over a ten-minute period. The lizards appeared to be unable to maintain preferred laboratory temperatures precisely in the field.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TCU/oai:etd.tcu.edu:etd-07282006-103612 |
| Date | 28 July 2006 |
| Creators | Bucklin, Stacey Ellen |
| Contributors | Gary W Ferguson |
| Publisher | Texas Christian University |
| Source Sets | Texas Christian University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf, application/msword |
| Source | http://etd.tcu.edu/etdfiles/available/etd-07282006-103612/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to TCU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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