Information on bioenergetics can provide valuable insight into the ecology, life history and population dynamics of organisms. For ectothermic animals, thermal sensitivity of digestion is an important determinant of net assimilated energy budgets. A recent study in the Ozark Mountains indicated that eastern collared lizards (Crotaphytus collaris) restricted to encroached glades (characterized by woody vegetation encroachment) experience reduced environmental heat loads and have reduced age-specific growth and reproductive rates compared to populations in intact glades. To assess the potential impact of reduced body temperatures on assimilation rates of C. collaris in encroached glades, we conducted feeding trials across four temperature treatments (28, 31, 34 and 37°C). We tested for temperature effects on voluntary feeding rates, passage times, apparent assimilated energy (AE) and metabolizable energy (ME). Passage times decreased and voluntary feeding rates increased significantly with increasing temperature. Consumption explained the majority of variance in AE and ME, followed by the effect of temperature treatments. Using data on voluntary feeding rates, passage times and ME as a function of temperature, we estimated over a 10-fold increase in predicted daily assimilated energy across temperature treatments (28°C = 0.58 kJ/day, 31°C = 1.20 kJ/day, 34°C = 4.30 kJ/day, 37°C = 7.95 kJ/day). Thus, lower heat loads in encroached glades may cause reduced body temperature and result in restricted energy assimilation rates. Our study provides a novel approach to the integration of bioenergetics and conservation and shows the efficacy of using information on digestive performance to investigate underlying mechanisms in a conservation context.

中文翻译：

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整合生物能学和保护生物学：东部领蜥蜴（Crotaphytus ringis）对消化系统性能的热敏感性可能会影响种群的持久性。

有关生物能学的信息可以提供有关生物的生态学，生命史和种群动态的宝贵见解。对于外热动物，消化的热敏感性是净吸收能量预算的重要决定因素。Ozark山区的一项最新研究表明，仅限于被侵蚀的林间空地（以木本植物入侵为特征）的东领蜥蜴（Crotaphytuskleis）与完整的林间空地相比，环境热负荷降低，并且按年龄增长和繁殖率降低。评估体温降低对衣领梭菌吸收率的潜在影响在被侵蚀的林间空地中，我们进行了四种温度处理（28、31、34和37°C）的饲喂试验。我们测试了温度对自愿喂食率，通过时间，表观同化能（AE）和可代谢能（ME）的影响。随着温度的升高，通过时间减少，自愿喂食率显着增加。消费解释了AE和ME的大部分变化，其次是温度处理的影响。使用自愿喂食率，通过时间和ME作为温度函数的数据，我们估算了温度处理期间每天预计的同化能量增加了10倍（28°C = 0.58 kJ /天，31°C = 1.20 kJ /天，34°C = 4.30 kJ /天，37°C = 7.95 kJ /天）。从而，受侵袭的空地中较低的热负荷可能会导致体温降低并导致能量吸收率受限。我们的研究为整合生物能学和保护提供了一种新颖的方法，并显示了利用消化功能信息来研究保护环境下潜在机制的功效。