Mason C F
Botanic Gardens, Animal Ecology Research Group, High Street, Oxford, England.
School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, University Plain, Norwich, England.
Oecologia. 1971 Mar;7(1):80-94. doi: 10.1007/BF00346295.
Experiments were done to measure the respiration rates of twenty species of terrestrial snail. Acclimatization phenomena were sought in two species, Discus rotundatus and Hygromia striolata, but not detected. The Q between 5 and 15° C for the twenty species varied between 1.20 and 4.27, with a mean Q of 2.21. Q was higher in larger snail species. There was an increase in respiration with body weight for those species which grew to a large size, but the trend was not detectable in species with small adult weight. A double log plot of mean respiration rate of each species against the mean weight of each species gave a linear relationship.Mean monthly leaf litter temperature was measured in a beech woodland site in Wytham Woods, Berkshire. Litter temperature, in combination with snail population data and size class distribution, was used to calculate population metabolism of the snails on the site. Annual population metabolism amounted to 7.0934 kcals/m/annum. The estimated annual production was 4.4386 kcals/m. The P/R ratios varied between 0.143 and 1.861, P/B ratios varying from 1.0 to 34.3. From the data it is suggested that respiration alone will not give a good measure of the importance of different species in litter breakdown.
进行了实验以测量20种陆生蜗牛的呼吸速率。在两种蜗牛，即圆扁螺和细纹 hygromia 中寻找驯化现象，但未检测到。20种蜗牛在5至15°C之间的Q值在1.20至4.27之间变化，平均Q值为2.21。较大的蜗牛种类Q值更高。对于那些生长到较大尺寸的种类，呼吸作用随体重增加，但在成年体重较小的种类中未检测到这种趋势。每个种类的平均呼吸速率与每个种类的平均体重的双对数图呈现线性关系。在伯克郡怀瑟姆树林的一个山毛榉林地测量了平均每月落叶层温度。结合蜗牛种群数据和大小类分布，利用落叶层温度来计算该地点蜗牛的种群代谢。年种群代谢量为7.0934千卡/平方米/年。估计年产量为4.4386千卡/平方米。P/R比在0.143至1.861之间变化，P/B比在1.0至34.3之间变化。从数据来看，仅靠呼吸作用并不能很好地衡量不同物种在落叶分解中的重要性。
