Christian Keith A, Bedford Gavin, Green Brian, Schultz Timothy, Newgrain Keith
Faculty of Science, Northern Territory University, Darwin, Northern Territory 0909, Australia e-mail:
Division of Wildlife and Ecology, CSIRO, PO Box 84, Lyneham, ACT 2602, Australia, , , , , , AU.
Oecologia. 1998 Sep;116(3):336-342. doi: 10.1007/s004420050595.
The gecko Oedura marmorata was studied in two different climatic zones: the arid zone of central Australia and in the wet-dry tropics of northern Australia. Doubly labelled water was used to measure field metabolic rate (FMR) and water flux rates of animals in the field during the temperate seasons of spring, summer and winter, and during the tropical wet and dry seasons. FMRs were highest in the tropical wet season and lowest in the temperate winter. The geckos in central Australia expended less energy than predicted for a similarly sized iguanid lizard, but geckos from the tropics expended about the same amount of energy as predicted for an iguanid. Water flux rates of geckos from the arid zone were extremely low in all seasons compared to other reptiles, and although water flux was higher in tropical geckos, the rates were low compared to other tropical reptiles. The standard metabolic rates (SMRs) of geckos were similar between the two regions and among the seasons. Geckos selected higher body temperatures (T s) in a laboratory thermal gradient in the summer (33.5°C) and wet (33.8°C) seasons compared to the winter (31.7°C) and dry (31.4°C) seasons. The mean T s selected in the laboratory thermal gradient by geckos from the two regions were not different at a given time of year. The energy expended during each season was partitioned into components of resting metabolism, T and activity. Most of the energy expended by geckos from central Australia could be attributed to the effects of temperature on resting lizards in all three seasons, but the energy expended by tropical geckos includes a substantial component due to activity during both seasons. This study revealed variability in patterns of ecological energetics between populations of closely related geckos, differences which cannot be entirely attributed to seasonal or temperature effects.
对大理石叶趾虎（Oedura marmorata）在两个不同气候区进行了研究：澳大利亚中部的干旱区以及澳大利亚北部的干湿热带地区。在春秋冬等温带季节以及热带干湿季节，使用双标水来测量野外动物的野外代谢率（FMR）和水分通量率。FMR在热带湿季最高，在温带冬季最低。澳大利亚中部的壁虎消耗的能量比同样大小的鬣蜥预期消耗的能量少，但热带地区的壁虎消耗的能量与鬣蜥预期消耗的能量大致相同。与其他爬行动物相比，干旱区壁虎在所有季节的水分通量率都极低，尽管热带壁虎的水分通量较高，但与其他热带爬行动物相比，该速率仍较低。两个地区的壁虎标准代谢率（SMR）在不同季节相似。与冬季（31.7°C）和旱季（31.4°C）相比，壁虎在夏季（33.5°C）和湿季（33.8°C）的实验室热梯度中选择了更高的体温（Ts）。在一年中的特定时间，来自两个地区的壁虎在实验室热梯度中选择的平均Ts没有差异。每个季节消耗的能量被划分为静息代谢、体温调节和活动的组成部分。澳大利亚中部壁虎消耗的大部分能量可归因于所有三个季节温度对静息蜥蜴的影响，但热带壁虎消耗的能量包括两个季节活动导致的大量组成部分。这项研究揭示了亲缘关系密切的壁虎种群之间生态能量模式的变异性，这些差异不能完全归因于季节或温度影响。
