Animal Energetics 3

Question 1

Why is the metabolic rate of a gentoo penguin much higher when chick rearing compared to when they are incubating/guarding?

Answer 1

Because the adult has to run from other chicks to determine what chick is theirs in order to feed them; this running increases their metabolic rate

Question 2

What are the problems associated with the heart rate technique?

Answer 2

It has to be calibrated to respirometry 
May need multiple calibrations 
Calibrations are species specific
Measures only aerobic metabolism 
Technically very difficult to record in the field

Question 3

What are the benefits of the heart rate technique?

Answer 3

Allows for long periods of monitoring 
Short time resolution 
Easy to integrate with behavioural data 
Can be used to measure MR of specific activities/behaviours 
Good estimates obtained 
Gives a physiological measure

Question 4

How does accelerometry work?

Answer 4

A device is attached to the animal which measures their movements
Usually measures 3 movements: forwards, backwards and side-to-side
As acceleration increases so does oxygen consumption

Question 5

What are the drawbacks of accelerometry?

Answer 5

It measures the animals movement so it doesn’t measure the MR when the animal is resting

Potential for errors due to changes in animal energy expenditure that are independent of movement and activity

Distance of the logger from the animals centre of mass will affect the measurements

Question 6

What are the positives of accelerometry?

Answer 6

It gives a lot of detail into the animals behaviour

You can extract different data

Can show how animals move and migrate around the world

Produce huge amounts of data and can track the movement of an animal over a vast distance