Does behavioural hypothermia promote post-exercise recovery in cold-submerged frogs?
amphibian; anuran amphibians; behavioural hypothermia; body size; bufo-marinus; bullfrogs; exhaustive exercise; frog; hypoxia; Life Sciences & Biomedicine - Other Topics; maximal oxygen; mechanisms; metabolic recovery; overwintering; Rana; rana-catesbeiana; recovery; temperature; temperature selection; temporaria; thermoregulation
At the low temperatures of the overwintering environment of the frog Rana temporaria, small changes in ambient temperature have large effects on metabolism and behaviour, especially since Q(10) values are often greatly elevated in the cold. How the overwintering aquatic frog copes with variable thermal environments in terms of its overall activity metabolism and recovery from pursuit by predators is poorly understood, as is the role of behavioural thermoregulation in furthering recovery from intense activity, Exhaustive exercise was chosen as the method of evaluating activity capacity (defined by time to exhaustion, total distance swum and number of leg contractions before exhaustion) and was determined at 1.5 and 7 degrees C, Other cohorts of frogs were examined at both temperatures to determine the metabolic (acid-base, lactate, glucose, ATF and creatine phosphate) and respiratory responses to exercise in cold-submerged frogs. Finally, temperature preference before and after exercise was determined in a thermal gradient to define the importance of behavioural thermoregulation on the recovery rates of relevant metabolic and respiratory processes. Activity capacity was significantly reduced in frogs exercised at 1.5 versus 7 degrees C, although similar levels of tissue acid-base metabolites and lactate were reached, Blood pH, plasma PCO2 and lactate levels recovered more rapidly at 1.5 degrees C than at 7 degrees C; however, intracellular pH and the recovery of tissue metabolite levels were independent of temperature. Resting aerobic metabolic rates were strongly affected by temperature (Q(10)=3.82); however, rates determined immediately after exercise showed a reduced temperature sensitivity (Q(10)=1.67) and, therefore, a reduced factorial aerobic scope, Excess oxygen consumption recovered to resting values after 5-6.25 h, and 67% recovery times tended to be slightly faster at the lower temperatures, Exercise in the cold, therefore, provided an immediately higher factorial scope, which could be involved in the faster rate of recovery of blood lactate levels in the colder frogs, In addition, exercise significantly lowered the preferred temperature of the frogs from 6.7 to 3.6 degrees C for nearly 7 h, after which they returned to their normal, unstressed preferred temperatures. Thus, a transient behavioural hypothermia in the skin-breathing, overwintering frog may be an important strategy for minimising post-exercise stress and maintaining aerobic metabolism during recovery from intense activity.
Tattersall G J; Boutilier R G
Journal of Experimental Biology
1999
1999-03
Journal Article
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Metabolic consequences of behavioural hypothermia and oxygen detection in submerged overwintering frogs
hypoxia; exercise; oxygen; recovery; Zoology; temperature; amphibians; rana-catesbeiana; bullfrogs; metabolic fuels; metabolic suppression; muscosa; temperature gradients
The common frog, Rana temporaria, overwinters under the ice of frozen lakes and ponds, during which time metabolic, respiratory and behavioural adjustments act in concert to conserve metabolic fuels by promoting aerobic metabolism. Animal behaviour under the ice is poorly understood, but given that spatial and temporal gradients for temperature and oxygen develop throughout the winter, behavioural thermoregulation may allow the selection of aerobic microenvironments that are conducive to overwintering survival. Accordingly, we have examined the thermoregulatory behaviour and metabolism of cold-submerged frogs in an experimental 'gradient chamber' designed to mimic overwintering conditions in nature. The preferred temperature of 7 degrees C in normoxia decreases to 1.5 degrees C in severe hypoxia, and coincides: with an aerobic metabolic saving of 70-85% and a delay in the onset of a runaway lactacidosis. Following intense exercise, temperature preferences are also lowered from 6.7 degrees C to 3.6 degrees C for upwards of 7 hours in a fashion reminiscent of the 'behavioural hypothermia' response to hypoxia. Cold-submerged frogs are also able to detect isothermal variations in dissolved oxygen and spend 70% of their time at oxygen partial pressures that promote aerobic metabolism. The ability to exploit gradients of oxygen and temperature has strong ecological relevance to over-wintering since the behavioural selection of preferred microhabitats is consistent with minimising the metabolic stresses associated with either hypoxia or hypothermia and promoting survival.
Boutilier R G; Tattersall G J; Donohoe P H
Zoology-Analysis of Complex Systems
2000
2000
Journal Article or Conference Abstract Publication
n/a