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Maximum Body Temperature as a Parameter of Thermoregulation in Reptiles: Experience from a Statistical Evaluation Using the Common Adder (Vipera berus) as an Example

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Abstract

The maximum body temperature has meaning as the upper limit of temperature tolerance. Our statistical analysis made it possible to identify five indicators of the maximum body temperature: critical, highest, typical, average, and voluntary. An analysis of field measurements of the body temperature using a mercury thermometer and the data on aong-term continuous monitoring of the body temperature utilizing loggers was carried out. At the same time, video records were made to report the main moments of thermoregulatory behavior. The sampled “mean maximum values” turned out to vary widely depending on the observation conditions and were not suitable for comparing intraspecific groups. The indicators “maximum typical temperature” (37.9 ± 0.2°С) and “maximum voluntary temperature” (33.9 ± 1.8°С) were statistically more stable and differed by about 4°С. To study thermoregulatory behavior, the use of loggers is recommended, taking the “typical maximum temperature” indicator as a stable thermoregulation parameter.

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Notes

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We sincerely thank N.A. Litvinov and N.A. Chetanov for help in mastering the logger implantation technique, as well as M.L. Kireev for his participation in the decoding of the video recordings and the formation of the database.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Petrozavodsk State University, 185000, Petrozavodsk, Russia

    A. V. Korosov & N. D. Ganyushina

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  1. A. V. Korosov
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  2. N. D. Ganyushina
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Correspondence to A. V. Korosov or N. D. Ganyushina.

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Korosov, A.V., Ganyushina, N.D. Maximum Body Temperature as a Parameter of Thermoregulation in Reptiles: Experience from a Statistical Evaluation Using the Common Adder (Vipera berus) as an Example. Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 48, 1494–1502 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359021090107

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