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Heat transfer and the energetic cost of singing by canaries Serinus canaria

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Abstract

Sexually selected displays, such as male passerine bird song, are predicted to be costly. However, most measurements calculated the rate of oxygen consumption during singing using respirometry have shown that bird song has a low energetic cost. Since birds are reluctant to sing when enclosed inside a respirometry chamber, the energetic cost of singing could differ from that under more normal circumstances. We used heat transfer modelling, based on thermal images, to estimate the energetic cost of singing by canaries (Serinus canaria) that were not enclosed in respirometry chambers. Metabolic rate calculated from heat transfer modelling was 0.70±0.02 W (N=10 birds) during singing, which was 14±5% greater than during standing (0.62±0.02 W). The energetic cost of singing did not differ significantly from that measured previously using respirometry when we took into account that birds sang for a greater proportion of the time during the current experiments. These conclusions were not sensitive to potential errors in the heat transfer model. Heat transfer modelling would be especially useful to obtain measurements of the energetic cost of activities that animals do not perform readily inside respirometry chambers, such as singing in birds.

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Abbreviations

σ:

Stefan–Boltzmann constant (5.67×10−8 W m−2 K−4)

ε:

Bird emissivity (dimensionless)

A :

Surface area (m2)

c :

Specific heat capacity of air (J ml−1 °C−1)

h :

Convective heat transfer coefficient (W m−2 K−1)

P met :

Metabolic power (W)

q conv :

Heat transfer by convection (W)

q evap,cut :

Cutaneous evaporative heat transfer (W)

q evap,resp :

Respiratory evaporative heat transfer (W)

q exhaled :

Heat loss in exhaled air (W)

q rad :

Heat transfer by radiation (W)

RH:

Relative humidity (%)

T a :

Ambient temperature (°C)

T ex :

Temperature of exhaled air (°C)

T s :

Bird surface temperature (°C)

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Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to Isobel Maynard, Vicki Murray and Andrew Oliver for their help in caring for the canaries, to Murray Coutts, Keith Haynes and Henry Rae for building the heated model bird, to the EPSRC Equipment Loan Pool for use of the thermal imaging equipment, to Peter Anthony for technical assistance with thermal imaging, to Stephen Walley for the sample of Duracon paint, to Franz Goller, John Speakman and Rod Suthers for their useful discussions, to Franz Goller for permission to use unpublished data and to the BBSRC for funding our work. The experiments complied with the “Principles of animal care” publication no. 86-23, revised in 1985 of the National Institute of Health and with the current laws and advice on animal care in the UK, where the experiments were performed.

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  1. School of Biology, Bute Medical Buildings, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 9TS, UK

    S. Ward & P. J. B. Slater

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  1. S. Ward
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  2. P. J. B. Slater
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Correspondence to S. Ward.

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Ward, S., Slater, P.J.B. Heat transfer and the energetic cost of singing by canaries Serinus canaria . J Comp Physiol A 191, 953–964 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-005-0022-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-005-0022-4

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