Seasonal acclimation of preferred body temperatures improves the opportunity for thermoregulation in newts

0354479 - ÚBO 2012 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Hadamová, Markéta - Gvoždík, Lumír
Seasonal acclimation of preferred body temperatures improves the opportunity for thermoregulation in newts.
Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. Roč. 84, č. 2 (2011), s. 166-174. ISSN 1522-2152. E-ISSN 1537-5293
R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP506/10/2170; GA MŠMT LC06073
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60930519
Keywords : thermal acclimation * thermoregulatory behavior * amphibians
Subject RIV: EG - Zoology
Impact factor: 2.201, year: 2011
http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/658202

Seasonal acclimation and thermoregulation represent major components of complex thermal strategies by which ectotherms cope with the heterogeneity of their thermal environment. We examined the seasonal acclimation of preferred body temperatures (Tp) in alpine newts, Ichthyosaura alpestris, subjected to the gradual increase in acclimation temperature during the winter-summer period. Both the mean and range of Tp followed the increase in mean acclimation temperature without the influence of diel temperature fluctuations. The direction and magnitude of this acclimatory capacity has the potential to seasonally decrease the absolute deviation of operative temperatures from the Tp range (the opportunity for thermoregulation). Although thermoregulation and thermal acclimation are often considered as separate, yet co-adapted adjustments to thermal heterogeneity, their combined response is employed by newts to tackle seasonal variation in a thermoregulatory-challenging aquatic environment.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0193471