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Does foraging mode affect metabolic responses to feeding? A study of pygopodid lizards.
- Source :
-
Current Zoology . Oct2013, Vol. 59 Issue 5, p618-625. 8p. - Publication Year :
- 2013
-
Abstract
- Foraging mode (ambush vs. active) profoundly affects many aspects of organismal biology, including metabolic rates and their relationship with food intake. Previous studies on snakes suggest that ambushers tend to have lower standard metabolic rates (SMR) and higher energetic costs of digestion and assimilation of prey (specific dynamic action, or SDA) than do active foragers. However, phylogenetic considerations may be at least partly responsible for such patterns, as foraging mode is strongly conserved evolutionarily and most SDA studies have focused on species from only two lineages of ambush foragers (pythonid and viperid snakes) and one lineage of active foragers (colubrid snakes). We sought to deconfound the effects of phylogeny and foraging mode, investigating SMR and SDA in two closely related pygopodid lizards, the common scaly-foot Pygopus lepidopodus (active forager) and Burton's legless lizard Lialis burtonis (ambush forager). Consistent with the pattern seen in snakes, L. burtonis exhibits a significantly lower SMR and a higher SDA than does P. lepidopodus. The magnitude of SDA in L. burtonis is comparable to that of some pythons and vipers, providing yet more evidence for the remarkable convergence between this species and ambush-foraging snakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *FORAGING behavior
*ANIMAL nutrition
*LIFE sciences
*STOCHASTIC convergence
*LIZARDS
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 16745507
- Volume :
- 59
- Issue :
- 5
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Current Zoology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 91914793
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1093/czoolo/59.5.618