碩士 / 東海大學 / 生命科學系 / 93 / Small rodents can maintain a stable body temperature by heat production, and heat loss. In the mountains of Taiwan, the species composition of field rodents is different at different elevations. Apodemus semotus, and Niviventer culturatus are distributed at middle and high elevations. Apodemus agrarius is restricted to lowlands. Micromys minutus is distributed from the lowlands to high altitudes. Niviventer coxingi is distributed from lowland to medium-low elevations. I measured the critical temperatures, metabolic heat production, thermal conductance, and evaporation water loss in these species at different elevations to identify the relationship between distribution and thermoregulatory ability.
Apodemus semotus had the thermoregulatory ability for high elevation environment: basal metabolic rate (BMR) was 2.30 ± 0.11 ml O2/g/h; BMR was 32.61% higher than the allometrically predicted value; minimal thermal conductance (Cmin) was 0.2364 ± 0.0090 ml O2/g/h/°C and it was 34.39% higher than the allometrically predicted value; evaporative water loss (EWL) could dissipated 25.78 ± 2.61% of metabolic heat. The thermal physiology of A. agrarius was adapted to the hot temperature in the lowlands: BMR was 2.34 ± 0.08 ml O2/g/h and it was 29.70% higher than allometrically predicted value; Cmin was 0.3014 ± 0.0156 ml O2/g/h/°C and it was 62.84% higher than the allometrically predicted value; EWL could dissipated 34.42 ± 3.13% of metabolic heat. Apodemus agrarius from lowland Taiwan could not expand to the high elevations due to its high thermal conductance. Niviventer culturatus had thermoregulatory ability for cold environments: BMR was 1.32 ± 0.02 ml O2/g/h and it was 20.85% higher than allometrically predicted value; Cmin was 0.1141 ± 0.0019 ml O2/g/h/°C and it was 18.76% higher than the allometrically predicted value; EWL could dissipated 24.98 ± 0.47% of metabolic heat. Niviventer coxingi is distributed in the middle elevations due to having a higher thermoregulatory ability than other lowland species: BMR was 1.35 ± 0.08 ml O2/g/h and it was 39.51% higher than allometrically predicted value; Cmin was 0.1267 ± 0.0065 ml O2/g/h/°C and it was 54.48% higher than the allometrically predicted value; EWL could dissipated 40.01 ± 6.75% of metabolic heat. It was still limited, however, by its thermoregulatory ability which is lower than that of high elevation species. In addition, N. coxingi from Sunlinksea could reduce basal metabolic rate to save energy: BMR was 1.06 ± 0.06 ml O2/g/h and it was only 4.71% higher than allometrically predicted value. Micromys minutus adapted to hot environments by increasing thermal conductance. Cmin was 0.6102 ± 0.0231 ml O2/g/h/°C and it was 88.50% higher than the allometrically predicted value. Its distribution in Taiwan was not due to changes in basal metabolic rate.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TW/093THU00112001 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Yu-Che Chen, 陳佑哲 |
| Contributors | Liang-Kong Lin, 林良恭 |
| Source Sets | National Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations in Taiwan |
| Language | zh-TW |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | 學位論文 ; thesis |
| Format | 0 |
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