scholarly journals Mosaic metabolic ageing: Basal and standard metabolic rate age in opposite directions and independent of environmental quality, sex or lifespan in a passerine

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Briga ◽  
Simon Verhulst

AbstractCrucial to our understanding of the ageing process is identifying how traits change with age, which variables alter their ageing process and whether these traits associate with lifespan.We here investigated metabolic ageing in zebra finches. We longitudinally monitored 407 individuals during six years and collected 3213 measurements of two independent mass-adjusted metabolic traits: basal metabolic rate (BMRm) at thermoneutral temperatures and standard metabolic rate (SMRm), which is the same as BMRm but at ambient temperatures below thermoneutrality.BMRmdecreased linearly with age, consistent with earlier reports. In contrast, SMRmincreased linearly with age. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first quantification of SMRm ageing, and thereby of the contrast between SMRm and BMRm ageing.Neither metabolic rate nor metabolic ageing rate were associated with individual lifespan. Moreover, experimental manipulations of environmental quality that decreased BMRm and SMRm and shortened lifespan with 6 months (12%) did not affect the ageing of either metabolic trait. Females lived 2 months (4%) shorter than males, but none of the metabolic traits showed sex-specific differences at any age.Our finding that ageing patterns of metabolic rate vary depending on the ambient temperature illustrates the importance of studying ageing in an ecologically realistic setting.Our results add to the mounting evidence that within an organism ageing is an asynchronous process.

1979 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 217-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
HEINRICH BERND

1. While foraging, attacking, or leaving or returning to their hives, both the African and European honeybees maintained their thoracic temperature at 30 °C or above, independent of ambient temperature from 7 to 23 °C (in shade). 2. Thoracic temperatures were not significantly different between African and European bees. 3. Thoracic temperatures were significantly different during different activities. Average thoracic temperatures (at ambient temperatures of 8–23 °C) were lowest (30 °C) in bees turning to the hive. They were 31–32 °C during foraging, and 36–38 °C in bees leaving the hive, and in those attacking. The bees thus warm up above their temperature in the hive (32 °C) before leaving the colony. 4. In the laboratory the bees (European) did not maintain the minimum thoracic temperature for continuous flight (27 °C) at 10 °C. When forced to remain in continuous flight for at least 2 min, thoracic temperature averaged 15 °C above ambient temperature from 15 to 25 °C, and was regulated only at high ambient temperatures (30–40 °C). 5. At ambient temperatures > 25 °C, the bees heated up during return to the hive, attack and foraging above the thoracic temperatures they regulated at low ambient temperatures to near the temperatures they regulated during continuous flight. 6. In both African and European bees, attack behaviour and high thoracic temperature are correlated. 7. The data suggest that the bees regulate thoracic temperature by both behavioural and physiological means. It can be inferred that the African bees have a higher metabolic rate than the European, but their smaller size, which facilitates more rapid heat loss, results in similar thoracic temperatures.


1976 ◽  
Vol 231 (3) ◽  
pp. 903-912 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Pinshow ◽  
MA Fedak ◽  
DR Battles ◽  
K Schmidt-Nielsen

During the antarctic winter emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) spend up to four mo fasting while they breed at rookeries 80 km or more from the sea, huddling close together in the cold. This breeding cycle makes exceptional demands on their energy reserves, and we therefore studied their thermoregulation and locomotion. Rates of metabolism were measured in five birds (mean body mass, 23.37 kg) at ambient temperatures ranging from 25 to -47 degrees C. Between 20 and -10 degrees C the metabolic rate (standard metabolic rate (SMR)) remained neraly constant, about 42.9 W. Below -10 degrees C metabolic rate increased lineraly with decreasing ambient temperature and at -47 degrees C it was 70% above the SMR. Mean thermal conductance below -10 degrees C was 1.57 W m-2 degrees C-1. Metabolic rate during treadmill walking increased linearly with increasing speed. Our data suggest that walking 200 km (from the sea to the rookery and back) requires less than 15% of the energy reserves of a breeding male emperor penguin initially weighing 35 kg. The high energy requirement for thermoregulation (about 85%) would, in the absence of huddling, probably exceed the total energy reserves.


2012 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Yue ◽  
Xiao-Long Tang ◽  
De-Jiu Zhang ◽  
Xue-Feng Yan ◽  
Ying Xin ◽  
...  

The body temperature (Tb) and standard metabolic rate (SMR) of female Eremias multiocellata Günther, 1872, a viviparous lizard, were measured at 25, 30, and 35 °C during pregnancy and after parturition to assess energy requirement of reproduction. The results showed that the Tbs of female lizards were slightly higher than actual ambient temperature in the 25 and 30 °C groups, while they were slightly lower than ambient temperature in the 35 °C group. Ambient temperature significantly affected SMR and gestation period of females. Energy requirement was constant in nonpregnant females, whereas it was increased in pregnant females. The maximal estimates of maintenance costs of pregnancy (MCP) were 4.219, 4.220, and 4.448 mg CO2·min–1, which accounted for 19.40%, 14.15%, and 12.32% of the total metabolic rate in the 25, 30, and 35 °C group, respectively. The results indicated the MCP was an important component of total energy cost for the lizard E. multiocellata and the MCP in this lizard incurs a relative fixed energetic cost irrespective of ambient temperature.


Author(s):  
Paweł Brzęk ◽  
Andrzej Gębczyński ◽  
Piotr Selewestruk ◽  
Aneta Książek ◽  
Julita Sadowska ◽  
...  

AbstractThe basal metabolic rate (BMR) accounts for 60–70% of the daily energy expenditure (DEE) in sedentary humans and at least 50% of the DEE in laboratory mice in the thermoneutral zone. Surprisingly, however, the significance of the variation in the BMR is largely overlooked in translational research using such indices as physical activity level (PAL), i.e., the ratio of DEE/BMR. In particular, it is unclear whether emulation of human PAL in mouse models should be carried out within or below the thermoneutral zone. It is also unclear whether physical activity within the thermoneutral zone is limited by the capacity to dissipate heat generated by exercise and obligatory metabolic processes contributing to BMR. We measured PAL and spontaneous physical activity (SPA) in laboratory mice from two lines, divergently selected towards either high or low level of BMR, and acclimated to 30 °C (i.e., the thermoneutral zone), 23 or 4 °C. The mean PAL did not differ between both lines in the mice acclimated to 30 °C but became significantly higher in the low BMR mouse line at the lower ambient temperatures. Acclimation to 30 °C reduced the mean locomotor activity but did not affect the significant difference observed between the selected lines. We conclude that carrying out experiments within the thermoneutral zone can increase the consistency of translational studies aimed at the emulation of human energetics, without affecting the variation in physical activity correlated with BMR.


2008 ◽  
Vol 294 (3) ◽  
pp. R956-R965 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin J. Cummings ◽  
Chris Willie ◽  
Richard J. A. Wilson

Mild reductions in ambient temperature dramatically increase the mortality of neonatal mice deficient in pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP), with the majority of animals succumbing in the second postnatal week. During anesthesia-induced hypothermia, PACAP−/− mice at this age are also vulnerable to prolonged apneas and sudden death. From these observations, we hypothesized that before the onset of genotype-specific mortality and in the absence of anesthetic, the breathing of PACAP-deficient mice is more susceptible to mild reductions in ambient temperature than wild-type littermates. To test this hypothesis, we recorded breathing in one group of postnatal day 4 PACAP+/+, +/−, and −/− neonates (using unrestrained, flow-through plethysmography) and metabolic rate in a separate group (using indirect calorimetry), both of which were exposed acutely to ambient temperatures slightly below (29°C), slightly above (36°C), or at thermoneutrality (32°C). At 32°C, the breathing frequency of PACAP−/− neonates was significantly less than PACAP+/+ littermates. Reducing the ambient temperature to 29°C caused a significant suppression of tidal volume and ventilation in both PACAP+/− and −/− animals, while the tidal volume and ventilation of PACAP+/+ animals remained unchanged. Genotype had no effect on the ventilatory responses to ambient warming. At all three ambient temperatures, genotype had no influence on oxygen consumption or body temperature. These results suggest that during mild reductions in ambient temperature, PACAP is vital for the preservation of neonatal tidal volume and ventilation, but not for metabolic rate or body temperature.


2006 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander N. Larcombe ◽  
Philip C. Withers ◽  
Stewart C. Nicol

Thermoregulatory, metabolic and ventilatory parameters measured for the Tasmanian eastern barred bandicoot (Perameles gunnii) in thermoneutrality (ambient temperature = 30°C) were: body temperature 35.1°C, basal metabolic rate 0.55 mL O2 g–1 h–1, wet thermal conductance 2.2 mL O2 g–1 h–1 °C–1, dry thermal conductance 1.4 J g–1 h–1 °C–1, ventilatory frequency 24.8 breaths min–1, tidal volume 9.9 mL, minute volume of 246 mL min–1, and oxygen extraction efficiency 22.2%. These physiological characteristics are consistent with a cool/wet distribution, e.g. high basal metabolic rate (3.33 mL O2 g–0.75 h–1) for thermogenesis, low thermal conductance (0.92 J g–1 h–1 °C–1 at 10°C) for heat retention and intolerance of high ambient temperatures (≥35°C) with panting, hyperthermia and high total evaporative water loss (16.9 mg H2O g–1 h–1).


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