Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 53706, USA.
Am J Hum Biol. 2012 Sep-Oct;24(5):713-5. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.22278. Epub 2012 Apr 17.
Thermoregulation by modern industrial humans is unique among endothermic animals, in that it is largely accomplished by controlling the temperature of our external environment. The objective of this study was to view the relationship between thermoregulatory energy use and environmental temperature in modern humans from the perspective of comparative physiology.
Monthly residential energy use estimates from the US Energy Information Administration were divided by the annual number of American households from the US Census Bureau, giving average monthly energy consumption per American household for the years 2006 through 2010. Monthly energy consumption was then plotted against average monthly temperature across the United States from the National Climatic Data Center.
The resulting graph bore a striking resemblance to a classic Scholander-Irving curve, exhibiting clear upper (22°C) and lower (15°C) critical temperatures, and an increase in energy use as temperatures extend above (90 W °C(-1) increase) or below (244 W °C(-1) decrease) those critical temperatures. Allometric equations from comparative physiology indicate that the energetic costs of our current thermoregulatory habits are ∼30 to 50 times those predicted for an endotherm of our size.
Modern humans have redefined what it means to be a homeothermic endotherm, using large quantities of extrametabolic energy to regulate the temperature of our surroundings. Despite this sophistication, the signal of our individual physiology is readily discernible in national data on energy consumption.
现代人类的体温调节在恒温动物中是独一无二的，因为它主要通过控制外部环境的温度来实现。本研究的目的是从比较生理学的角度来看待现代人类的体温调节能量利用与环境温度之间的关系。
从美国能源信息署获取月度住宅能源使用量估算数据，再除以美国人口普查局的美国家庭年数，得出 2006 年至 2010 年期间美国家庭平均每月的能源消耗量。然后，将每月的能源消耗与美国国家气候数据中心的美国各地平均每月的温度绘制在图表上。
所得到的图表与经典的 Scholander-Irving 曲线非常相似，显示出明显的上（22°C）下（15°C）临界温度，以及在这些临界温度以上（90 W°C(-1)增加）或以下（244 W°C(-1)减少）时能量使用的增加。比较生理学的异速方程表明，我们当前的体温调节习惯所带来的能量成本是预测我们这个体型的恒温动物的 30 到 50 倍。
现代人类重新定义了恒温内温动物的含义，大量使用非代谢能量来调节周围环境的温度。尽管有这种复杂性，但在能源消耗的国家数据中，我们个体生理的信号是很容易识别的。
