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Substitution of heat from exercise and digestion by ducks diving for mussels at varying depths and temperatures

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Abstract

Diving birds can lose significant body heat to cold water, but costs can be reduced if heat from exercising muscles or the heat increment of feeding (HIF) can substitute for thermogenesis. Potential for substitution depends jointly on the rate of heat loss, the rate of heat produced by exercise, and the level of HIF. To explore these interactions, we measured oxygen consumption by lesser scaup ducks (Aythya affinis) diving to depths of 1.2 and 2 m at thermoneutral (23°C) and sub-thermoneutral (18 and 8°C) temperatures. Birds dove while fasted and when feeding on blue mussels (Mytilus edulis). Substitution occurred if HIF or costs of diving above resting metabolic rate (RMR) were lower at 18 or 8°C than at 23°C, indicating reduction in the thermoregulatory part of RMR. For fasted scaup diving to 1.2 m, substitution from exercise heat was not apparent at either 18 or 8°C. At 2 m depth, dive costs above RMR were reduced by 5% at 18°C and by 40% at 8°C, indicating substitution. At 1.2 m depth (with voluntary intake of only 14–17% of maintenance requirements), HIF did not differ between temperatures, indicating no substitution. However, at 2 m (intake 13–25% of maintenance), substitution from HIF was 23% of metabolizable energy intake at 18°C and 22% at 8°C. These results show that even with low HIF due to low intake rates, substitution from HIF can add to substitution from the heat of exercise.

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Abbreviations

c :

Specific heat of tissue

DRC:

Dive recovery cost

GE:

Gross energy

HIF:

Heat increment of feeding

Mb :

Body mass

ME:

Metabolizable energy

MRdive :

Cost of diving while submerged

MRtotal :

Total cost of dive

RMR:

Resting metabolic rate

RQ:

Respiratory quotient

S h :

Heat storage in body

T b :

Body core temperature

\( \ifmmode\expandafter\dot\else\expandafter\.\fi{V} _{{{\text{O}}_{{\text{2}}} }}\) :

Rate of oxygen consumption

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by US National Science Foundation grants OPP-9813979 and ARC-0454454 to JRL, the University of Wyoming Office of Research, and assistantships from the University of Wyoming Department of Zoology. J.P. Bobbitt and staff of the Red Buttes Environmental Biology Laboratory provided much technical assistance. All experiments were conducted according to University of Wyoming guidelines for animal care.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, 82071, USA

    P. A. Kaseloo & J. R. Lovvorn

  2. Department of Biology, Virginia State University, Petersburg, VA, 23806, USA

    P. A. Kaseloo

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  1. P. A. Kaseloo
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  2. J. R. Lovvorn
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Correspondence to J. R. Lovvorn.

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Communicated by H.V. Carey

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Kaseloo, P.A., Lovvorn, J.R. Substitution of heat from exercise and digestion by ducks diving for mussels at varying depths and temperatures. J Comp Physiol B 176, 265–275 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-005-0047-6

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