TY - JOUR
T1 - The energetic savings of sleep versus temperature in the Desert Iguana (Dipsosaurus dorsalis) at three ecologically relevant temperatures
AU - Revell, Timothy K.
AU - Dunbar, Stephen G.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Matt Riggs for his assistance with statistical analyses, and Johan Tan who assisted with the field portion of this research. We thank William Hayes and two anonymous reviewers for their critical reviews which improved this manuscript. This research was supported, in part, by the Department of Earth and Biological Sciences at Loma Linda University, as well as the Reptilian Behavioral Ecology Laboratory and the Marine Research Group (LLU). This research was conducted in accordance with Loma Linda University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (Protocol #85036) and California Department of Fish and Game (permit #803079-03) guidelines.
PY - 2007/10
Y1 - 2007/10
N2 - One of the proposed ecological functions of sleep is to conserve energy. The majority of studies that support this theory have been done on endothermic animals whose body temperatures drop during sleep due to the reduced neurological control of thermoregulation. In the present study, we examined typical temperatures to which the Desert Iguana, Dipsosaurus dorsalis, is exposed to in the field and found that mean high temperatures ranged from 24-58 °C throughout the active portion of the year. We also examined the ecological savings that sleep could provide for this ectothermic iguana using a closed system respirometer. We found that laboratory-acclimated iguanas are able to save significantly more (27.6%) energy by sleeping than by being awake and that field iguanas also had significant savings of energy (69.1%) while asleep. However, iguanas could save more energy by remaining awake at cooler temperatures than by sleeping at warmer temperatures. In addition, we found no correlation for time of night with metabolic rate. Our study supports the hypothesis that one potential function of sleep is to conserve energy.
AB - One of the proposed ecological functions of sleep is to conserve energy. The majority of studies that support this theory have been done on endothermic animals whose body temperatures drop during sleep due to the reduced neurological control of thermoregulation. In the present study, we examined typical temperatures to which the Desert Iguana, Dipsosaurus dorsalis, is exposed to in the field and found that mean high temperatures ranged from 24-58 °C throughout the active portion of the year. We also examined the ecological savings that sleep could provide for this ectothermic iguana using a closed system respirometer. We found that laboratory-acclimated iguanas are able to save significantly more (27.6%) energy by sleeping than by being awake and that field iguanas also had significant savings of energy (69.1%) while asleep. However, iguanas could save more energy by remaining awake at cooler temperatures than by sleeping at warmer temperatures. In addition, we found no correlation for time of night with metabolic rate. Our study supports the hypothesis that one potential function of sleep is to conserve energy.
KW - Desert Iguana
KW - Dipsosaurus dorsalis
KW - Metabolism
KW - Reptile
KW - Sleep
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cbpa.2007.05.020
DO - 10.1016/j.cbpa.2007.05.020
M3 - Article
C2 - 17658283
SN - 1095-6433
VL - 148
SP - 393
EP - 398
JO - Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - A Molecular and Integrative Physiology
JF - Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - A Molecular and Integrative Physiology
IS - 2
ER -