Metabolic coping strategies in cold tolerant reptiles

Abstract

The reality of metabolic cold adaptation in ectotherms is disputed. Reptiles differ in many important aspects of their thermal ecology from aquatic ectotherms, and their thermophysiology is therefore difficult to analyze in conventional terms. Evidence is presented in support of the view that both phenotypic metabolic cold acclimation and genotypic metabolic cold adaptation are important coping strategies in cold tolerant reptiles. Functional explanations of these paradoxical adaptations are discussed in the light of a multidimensional energetic model of the reptilian thermal niche.