Energy Budgets of Animals

Abstract

Animals have evolved and adapted to live in all parts of the world. Lower forms of life, such as bacteria, are found in extreme high-temperatures habitats such as hot springs (Brock, 1967; Bott and Brock, 1969) and places of intense cold such as Antarctica (Cameron, 1971). An interesting discussion of microbial growth under extreme conditions is given by Brock (1969). Insects are found in all habitats of the world, including very high elevations on mountains and very dry desert regions, with the exception of the Antarctic interior. Vertebrates are also widely distributed throughout the world, but are somewhat more restricted in occurrence along the edges of extreme habitats than invertebrates. Birds have been seen flying over the South Pole (probably skuas) and over the highest peaks of the Himalayas. These sightings are rare, however, and vertebrate animals are not normally found in such extreme habitats. Nevertheless, one is immensely impressed with the adaptability of animals and their ability to fill vacant niches wherever they occur.KeywordsWind SpeedBody TemperatureMetabolic RateHeat LossEnergy BudgetThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.