Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
Biol Lett. 2012 Apr 23;8(2):266-9. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2011.0885. Epub 2011 Oct 26.
Understanding the effects of water temperature on the swimming performance of fishes is central in understanding how fish species will respond to global climate change. Metabolic cost of transport (COT)-a measure of the energy required to swim a given distance-is a key performance parameter linked to many aspects of fish life history. We develop a quantitative model to predict the effect of water temperature on COT. The model facilitates comparisons among species that differ in body size by incorporating the body mass-dependence of COT. Data from 22 fish species support the temperature and mass dependencies of COT predicted by our model, and demonstrate that modest differences in water temperature can result in substantial differences in the energetic cost of swimming.
了解水温对鱼类游泳性能的影响对于理解鱼类物种如何应对全球气候变化至关重要。运输代谢成本（COT）——衡量游特定距离所需的能量——是与鱼类生活史许多方面相关的关键性能参数。我们开发了一个定量模型来预测水温对 COT 的影响。该模型通过纳入 COT 与体重的依赖性，方便了不同体型物种之间的比较。来自 22 种鱼类的数据支持我们模型预测的 COT 的温度和质量依赖性，并表明水温的适度差异可能导致游泳能量成本的显著差异。
