Time Constants of Heating and Cooling in the Eastern Water Dragon. Physignathus Lesueurii and Some Generalizations About Heating and Cooling in Reptiles

摘要

In keeping with other reptiles, core temperature of the lizard Physignathus lesueurii responds more rapidly to a step function increase in temperature than to a corresponding decrease. 2. Observations on twelve species (five families) of non-Chelonian reptiles heating and cooling in air and water show that strongly predictable relationships exist between thermal time constants and body size. Chelonia show a different pattern. 3. These observations are compared with the predictions of a simple model which, although not sufficiently complex to simulate physiological changes, provides insight into the relative importance of the physical and biological factors which underlie the observed relationships.