Heat Storage
Heat storage is when heat production rates exceed that of
heat loss, this mainly applies to the larger ectothermic species for example
the elephants in their tropical environments.
M. F. Rowe, G. S. Bakken, J. J. Ratliff and V. A. Langman have suggested in their study of Heat storage in Asian elephants during submaximal exercise: behavioural regulation of thermoregulatory constraints on activity in endothermic gigantotherms.
That the larger the animal the more difficult it is for them to dissipate metabolic heat, however the large body does allow for a fairly constant core temperature by means of gigantothermy, however it has been suggested that gigantothermy combined with endothermic activity is most likely to cause a potentially lethal rise in core body temperature. To test this hypothesis they used only two test subject’s from Audubon zoo “Over ambient air temperatures ranging from 8 to 34.5°C, when elephants exercised in full sun, ~56 to 100% of active metabolic heat production was stored in core body tissues. We estimate that during nocturnal activity, in the absence of solar radiation, between 5 and 64% of metabolic heat production would be stored in core tissues. Potentially lethal rates of heat storage in active elephants and Edmontosaurus could be behaviorally regulated by nocturnal activity” (M. F. Rowe1, 2012). This is used as purely an example of the heat storage the validity of the, study is flawed somewhat, there was not a adequate number of test subjects to truly gage the effects of the heat storage, in the elephants, however both did gave the same results and the subject matter has long been up for debate.
Heat storage can be measured as the difference between heat loss determined via direct calorimetry and heat production determination from the gaseous exchange in urine nitrogen excretion. (Blaxter, 1989)
The behavior response to the heat storage is, retreating to a cool place and resting until the metabolic rate reruns to normal, sleep through the day when the weather is hottest and come out at night (nocturnal animals)
In a study carried out by (Chappell, et al., 1979) they hypothesised that the chipmunks ability to tolerate hyper and hypothermia gave the animals the opportunity to remain active throughout the day in hot arid environments, and allowing them, to be dihernal instead of nocturnal. Thus heat storage was used and heat loss strategies to enable the animals to with stand the varying extremes in temperature this can be hypothesised to be true of many desert dwelling animals as there are varying extremes of temperature in the desert environments.
M. F. Rowe, G. S. Bakken, J. J. Ratliff and V. A. Langman have suggested in their study of Heat storage in Asian elephants during submaximal exercise: behavioural regulation of thermoregulatory constraints on activity in endothermic gigantotherms.
That the larger the animal the more difficult it is for them to dissipate metabolic heat, however the large body does allow for a fairly constant core temperature by means of gigantothermy, however it has been suggested that gigantothermy combined with endothermic activity is most likely to cause a potentially lethal rise in core body temperature. To test this hypothesis they used only two test subject’s from Audubon zoo “Over ambient air temperatures ranging from 8 to 34.5°C, when elephants exercised in full sun, ~56 to 100% of active metabolic heat production was stored in core body tissues. We estimate that during nocturnal activity, in the absence of solar radiation, between 5 and 64% of metabolic heat production would be stored in core tissues. Potentially lethal rates of heat storage in active elephants and Edmontosaurus could be behaviorally regulated by nocturnal activity” (M. F. Rowe1, 2012). This is used as purely an example of the heat storage the validity of the, study is flawed somewhat, there was not a adequate number of test subjects to truly gage the effects of the heat storage, in the elephants, however both did gave the same results and the subject matter has long been up for debate.
Heat storage can be measured as the difference between heat loss determined via direct calorimetry and heat production determination from the gaseous exchange in urine nitrogen excretion. (Blaxter, 1989)
The behavior response to the heat storage is, retreating to a cool place and resting until the metabolic rate reruns to normal, sleep through the day when the weather is hottest and come out at night (nocturnal animals)
In a study carried out by (Chappell, et al., 1979) they hypothesised that the chipmunks ability to tolerate hyper and hypothermia gave the animals the opportunity to remain active throughout the day in hot arid environments, and allowing them, to be dihernal instead of nocturnal. Thus heat storage was used and heat loss strategies to enable the animals to with stand the varying extremes in temperature this can be hypothesised to be true of many desert dwelling animals as there are varying extremes of temperature in the desert environments.