Skip Navigation

American Zoologist 1979 19(1):195-209; doi:10.1093/icb/19.1.195
© 1979 by The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by DEWITT, C. B.
Right arrow Articles by FRIEDMAN, R. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Significance of Skewness in Ectotherm Thermoregulation

CALVIN B. DEWITT and ROBERT M. FRIEDMAN
Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin 53706

Body temperature distributions of ectotherms which are free to select any environmental temperature throughout a wide range usually are negatively skewed, that is, a wider range of selected temperature falls below the median than above it. This negative skewness can be understood as the consequence of the regulation of a temperaturedependent rate process whose rate, as an exponential function of temperature, is maintained within a normal curve of error. Analysis of frequency distributions of body temperature show that they can be characterized by the median and two additional parameters. One of these can be used to approximate the Q10 of the hypothetical rate process. Mathematical and graphical techniques for the description of body temperature distributions are developed, and are proposed as useful tools for comparative and experimental studies of body temperature regulation.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.