Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Resting metabolism of helodermatid lizards: allometric and ecological relationships

  • Published:
Journal of Comparative Physiology B Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We measured metabolic rates at 15 and 25°C in 42 helodermatid lizards ranging in mass from 26 to 1616 g. No consistent repeatable daily rhythms of metabolism were detected. There were no significant differences in metabolic rates between the two species of Heloderma. The temperature coefficient for metabolism (Q 10) was 3.0 between 15 and 25°C. The mass exponent for helodermatids (0.69) differed significantly from the among-species mass exponent of 0.80 for all squamates combined. However, adult Heloderma had a mass exponent of 0.80. Rates of metabolism of adult helodermatids were lower than those of other squamate reptiles, and at 15°C periods of apnea contributed to a further reduction in metabolic rate. Our finding that helodermatids have low SMRs supports the hypothesis that ecology is important in influencing metabolic rate, and that “reclusive” squamates have lower rates of metabolism than do nonreclusive species.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

BM:

body mass

ME:

mass exponent

MR:

metabolic rate(s)

RMR:

resting metabolic rate(s)

SMR:

standard metabolic rate(s)

T a :

ambient temperature

T b :

body temperature

References

  • Al-Sadoon MK (1991) Metabolic rate-temperature curves of the horned viper, Cerastes cerastes gasperetti, the miola snake, Malpolon moilensis, and the adder, Vipera berus. Comp Biochem Physiol 99A:119–122

    Google Scholar 

  • Al-Sadoon MK, Abdo NM (1992) Temperature and body mass effects on the metabolic rate of Acanthodactylus schmidti Weigmann (Reptilia: lacertidae). J Arid Environ 21:351–362

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson RA, Karasov WH (1981) Contrasts in energy intake and expenditure in sit-and-wait and widely foraging lizards. Oecologia 49:67–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andrews RM, Pough FH (1985) Metabolism of squamate reptiles: allometric and ecological relationships. Physiol Zool 58:214–231

    Google Scholar 

  • Auffenberg W (1981) The behavioral ecology of the komodo monitor. University of Florida Press, Gainesville, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Auffenberg W (1988) Gray's monitor lizard. University of Florida Press, Gainesville, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartholomew GA, Tucker VA (1964) Size, body temperature, thermal conductance, oxygen consumption, and heart rate in Australian varanid lizards. Physiol Zool 37:341–354

    Google Scholar 

  • Beaupre SJ (1993) An ecological study of oxygen consumption in the mottled rock rattlesnake, Crotalus lepidus lepidus, and the black-tailed rattlesnake, Crotalus molossus molossus, from two populations. Physiol Zool 66:437–454

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck DD (1990) Ecology and behavior of the Gila monster in southwestern Utah. J Herpetol 24:54–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck DD (1991) Physiological and behavioral consequences of reptilian life in the slow lane: ecology of beaded lizards and rattlesnakes. PhD dissertation, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA

  • Beck DD, Lowe CH (1991) Ecology of the beaded lizard Heloderma horridum, in a tropical dry forest in Jalisco, Mexico. J Herpetol 25:395–406

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck DD, Ramirez-Bautista A (1991) Combat behavior of the beaded lizard Heloderma h. horridum in Jalisco, Mexico. J Herpetol 25:481–484

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett AF (1982) The energetics of reptilian activity. In: Gans C, Pough FH (eds) Biology of the Reptilia, vol 13. Academic Press, New York, pp 155–199

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett AF, Dawson WR (1976) Metabolism. In: Gans C, Dawson WR (eds) Biology of the Reptilia, vol 5. Academic Press, New York, pp 127–223

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett AF, Ruben JA (1979) Endothermy and activity in vertebrates. Science 206:649–654

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bogert CM, Martin del Campo R (1956) The Gila monster and its allies. Bull Am Mus Nat Hist 109:1–238

    Google Scholar 

  • Brody S (1945) Bioenergetics and growth. Reinhold, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell JA, Lamar WL (1989) The venomous reptiles of Latin America. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Chappell MA, Ellis TM (1987) Resting metabolic rates in boid snakes: allometric relationships and temperature effects. J Comp Physiol B 157:227–235

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cragg PA (1978) Oxygen consumption in the lizard genus Lacerta in relation to diel variation, maximum activity and body weight. J Exp Biol 77:33–56

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dryden G, Green B, King D, Losos J (1991) Water and energy turnover in a small monitor lizard, Varanus acanthurus. Austr Wildl Res 17:641–646

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunson WA, Bramham CR (1981) Evaporative water loss and oxygen consumption of three small lizards from the Florida Keys: Sphaerodactylus cinereus, S. notatus, and Anolis sagrei. Physiol Zool 54:253–259

    Google Scholar 

  • Estes R, Queiroz K de, Gauthier J (1988) Phylogenetic relationships within squamata. In: Estes R, Pregill G (eds) Phylogenetic relationships of the lizard families: essays commemorating Charles L. Camp. Stanford University Press, Stanford, pp 119–281

    Google Scholar 

  • Feder ME (1987) Effect of thermal acclimation on locomotor energetics and locomotor performance in a tropical salamander, Bolitoglossa subpalmata. Physiol Zool 60:18–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Feder ME, Feder JH (1981) Diel variation of oxygen consumption in three species of Philippine gekkonid lizards. Copeia 1981:204–209

    Google Scholar 

  • Fusari M (1984) Temperature responses of standard aerobic metabolism by the California legless lizard, Anniellapulchra. Comp Biochem Physiol 77A:97–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Garland T Jr (1993) Locomotor performance and activity metabolism of Cnemidophorus tigris in relation to natural behavior. In: Wright JW, Vitt LJ (eds) Biology of whiptail lizards (genus Cnemidophorus). Oklahoma Mus Nat Hist, Norman, Oklahoma, USA, pp 163–210

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill RW (1972) Determination of oxygen consumption by use of the paramagnetic oxygen analyzer. J Appl Physiol 33:261–263

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heusner AA (1982) Energy metabolism and body size. I. Is the 0.75 mass exponent of Kleiber's equation a statistical artifact? Respir Physiol 48:1–12

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • John-Alder HB, Lowe CH, Bennett AF (1983) Thermal dependence of locomotory energetics and aerobic capacity of the gila monster (Heloderma suspectum). J Comp Physiol 151:119–126

    Google Scholar 

  • John-Alder HB, Garland T Jr, Bennett AF (1986) Locomotory capacities, oxygen consumption, and the cost of locomotion of the shingle-back lizard (Trachydosaurus rugosus). Physiol Zool 59:523–531

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamel S, Gatten RE Jr (1983) Aerobic and anaerobic activity metabolism of limbless and fossorial reptiles. Physiol Zool 56:419–429

    Google Scholar 

  • Losos JB, Greene HW (1988) Ecological and evolutionary implications of diet in monitor lizards. Biol J Linn Soc 35:379–407

    Google Scholar 

  • Loumbourdis NS, Hailey A (1985) Activity metabolism of the lizard Agama stellio stellio. Comp Biochem Physiol 82A:687–691

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lowe CH, Hinds DS, Lardner PJ, Justice KE (1967) Natural freerunning period in vertebrate animal populations. Science 155:531–534

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowe CH, Schwalbe CR, Johnson TB (1986) The venomous reptiles of Arizona. Arizona Game and Fish Dept, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Mautz WJ (1979) The metabolism of reclusive lizards, the Xantusiidae. Copeia 1979:577–584

    Google Scholar 

  • Nagy KA, Huey RA, Bennett AF (1984) Field energetics and foraging mode of Kalahari lacertid lizards. Ecology 65:588–596

    Google Scholar 

  • Pough FH, Andrews RM (1984) Individual and sibling-group variation in metabolism of lizards: the aerobic capacity model for the origin of endothermy. Comp Biochem Physiol 79A:415–419

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pregill GK, Gauthier JA, Greene HW (1986) The evolution of helodermatid squamates, with description of a new taxon and an overview of Varanoidea. Trans San Diego Soc Nat Hist 21:167–202

    Google Scholar 

  • Putnam RW, Murphy RW (1982) Low metabolic rate in a nocturnal desert lizard, Anarbylus switaki Murphy (Sauria: Gekkonidae). Comp Biochem Physiol 71A:119–123

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts LA (1968) Oxygen consumption in the lizard Uta stansburiana. Ecology 49:809–819

    Google Scholar 

  • Secor SM (1992) Activities and energetics of a sit-and-wait snake, Crotalus cerastes. PhD dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

  • Secor SM, Nagy KA (1994) Energetic correlates of foraging mode for the snakes Crotalus cerastes and Masticophis flagellum. Ecology (in press)

  • Sokal RR, Rolf FJ (1981) Biometry, 2nd edn. Freeman, San Francisco

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt-Nielsen K (1983) Animal physiology: adaptation and environment, 3rd edn. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Taigen RL (1983) Activity metabolism of anuran amphibians: implications for the origin of endothermy. Am Nat 121:94–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson GC, Withers PC (1992) Effects of body mass and temperature on standard metabolic rates for two Australian varanid lizards (Varanus gouldii and V. panoptes). Copeia 1992:343–350

    Google Scholar 

  • Withers, PC (1981) Physiological correlates of limblessness and fossoriality in scincid lizards. Copeia 1981:197–204

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood SC, Johansen K, Glass ML, Maloiy GMO (1978) Aerobic metabolism of the lizard Varanus exanthematicus: effects of activity, temperature, and size. J Comp Physiol 127:331–336

    Google Scholar 

  • Zari TA (1991) The influence of body mass and temperature on the standard metabolic rate of the herbivorous desert lizard, Uromastyx microlepis. J Therm Biol 16:129–134

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, 85721, Tucson, AZ, USA

    D. D. Beck & C. H. Lowe

Authors
  1. D. D. Beck
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. C. H. Lowe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Beck, D.D., Lowe, C.H. Resting metabolism of helodermatid lizards: allometric and ecological relationships. J Comp Physiol B 164, 124–129 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00301653

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00301653

Key words

Search

Navigation