Fluctuations in food availability occur in many ecosystems and pose challenges to the organisms that inhabit them(Berg et al.2017).Because lizards have significantly lower field metabolic rates than endotherms,they ar...Fluctuations in food availability occur in many ecosystems and pose challenges to the organisms that inhabit them(Berg et al.2017).Because lizards have significantly lower field metabolic rates than endotherms,they are often considered "low energy specialists"that can cope with food shortages(Brown and Griffin 2005).However,active reptiles that maintain high body temperatures during periods of low prey availability can still incur significant energetic costs because metabolic rates scale with body temperature.To reduce these energetic costs,some reptile species select lower body temperatures and/or reduce their activity levels when food is scarce(Angilletta 2009).展开更多
基金The research was supported financially by the University of Technology Sydney.All procedures were approved by the UTS Animal Care and Ethics Committee(protocol ACEC 2012000256)a NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service scientific licence(SL 101013 toJ.K.W.).
文摘Fluctuations in food availability occur in many ecosystems and pose challenges to the organisms that inhabit them(Berg et al.2017).Because lizards have significantly lower field metabolic rates than endotherms,they are often considered "low energy specialists"that can cope with food shortages(Brown and Griffin 2005).However,active reptiles that maintain high body temperatures during periods of low prey availability can still incur significant energetic costs because metabolic rates scale with body temperature.To reduce these energetic costs,some reptile species select lower body temperatures and/or reduce their activity levels when food is scarce(Angilletta 2009).
