Energy Metabolism and Nocturnal Hypothermia in Two Tropical Passerine Frugivores, Manacus Vitellinus and Pipra Mentalis George A
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Iowa State University From the SelectedWorks of Carol Vleck July, 1983 Energy Metabolism and Nocturnal Hypothermia in Two Tropical Passerine Frugivores, Manacus vitellinus and Pipra mentalis George A. Bartholomew, University of California, Los Angeles Carol M. Vleck, University of California, Los Angeles Theresa L. Bucher, University of California, Los Angeles Available at: https://works.bepress.com/carol-vleck/19/ Division of Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology Energy Metabolism and Nocturnal Hypothermia in Two Tropical Passerine Frugivores, Manacus vitellinus and Pipra mentalis Author(s): George A. Bartholomew, Carol M. Vleck and Theresa L. Bucher Source: Physiological Zoology, Vol. 56, No. 3 (Jul., 1983), pp. 370-379 Published by: The University of Chicago Press. Sponsored by the Division of Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30152601 Accessed: 23-05-2016 21:08 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press, Division of Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Physiological Zoology This content downloaded from 129.186.176.217 on Mon, 23 May 2016 21:08:30 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms ENERGY METABOLISM AND NOCTURNAL HYPOTHERMIA IN TWO TROPICAL PASSERINE FRUGIVORES, MANACUS VITELLINUS AND PIPRA MENTALIS' GEORGE A. BARTHOLOMEW, CAROL M. VLECK,2 AND THERESA L. BUCHER Department of Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90024 (Accepted 12/3/82) Oxygen consumption (Vo2) and body temperature (Tb) were measured in Manacus vitellinus (mean mass, 15.5 g) and Pipra mentalis (mean mass, 12.3 g) on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. The two species had the same mean euthermic nocturnal Tb (37.9 C). During activity Tb sometimes reached 43 C. In both species, nocturnal basal metabolic rate (BMR) (41.69 cm3 O2/h in M. vitellinus and 34.9 cm3 02/h in P. mentalis) was significantly less than predicted on the basis of mass. At night fasted birds frequently, and unfasted birds occasionally, became hypothermic, with Tb rang- ing between 27 and 36 C. Their Tb always remained several degrees above ambient temperature (Ta). The lowest Tb recorded was 26.8 C at a Ta of 14.6 C. Thermal conductance was the same in euthermic and hypothermic birds. Manakins save substantial amounts of energy by their nocturnal hypothermia. During a 12-h night a 14-g M. vitellinus maintaining a Tb of 27 C in a Ta of 22 C for 10 h would expend 6.4 kJ less than if it maintained its Tb at the mean euthermic nocturnal level. This represents a savings of 58%. The selective pressures that have favored nocturnal hypothermia in manakins have probably operated on other small tropical frugivorous birds. We predict that the main components of the metabolic pattern of manakins will also be found in other small tropical passerines with similar food habits. INTRODUCTION the annual period of food scarcity (Wor- Relatively little is known about the en- thington 1983). ergy metabolism of birds of the humid The limited physiological information tropics. However, data are available on available suggests that some manakins manakins, a group of small, fruit-eating have adaptations for minimizing energy passerines resident in tropical, wet forests. requirements. Under some circumstances, The manakins (family Pipridae) are among they have lower metabolic rates than most the most widespread and abundant of the other passerines of similar size (12-20 g), small, neotropical, avian frugivores. They and they can experience an atypically large are characterized by small clutches and depression in body temperature at night unusually long life spans; their mobility is (Vleck and Vleck 1979; Bucher and Wor- minimized by their attachment to tradi- thington 1982). tional breeding sites, i.e., leks (Snow 1962a, The present study was undertaken to 1962b). Fruits that are important in their examine more closely the energy metabo- diet are seasonally in short supply, and en- lism and thermoregulation, expecially the ergy requirements may restrict reproduc- occurrence and utility of nocturnal hy- tive activity in a given population during pothermia (defined in this context as body temperatures of 36 C or less), in golden- I This study was supported by NSF grant DEB- collared and red-capped manakins, Ma- 81-03513 to G. A. Bartholomew and a grant from nacus vitellinus and Pipra mentalis. the American Philosophical Society to C. M. Vleck. The work was carried out using facilities of the MATERIAL AND METHODS Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. The manakins were captured in mist nets 2 Present address: Department of Ecology and during June and July 1981 on Barro Col- Evolution, University of Arizona, Tuscon, Arizona orado Island, Panama, and housed indi- 85721. vidually, or in pairs, in cages made of wood battens and mosquito netting. The cages Physiol. Zool. 56(3):370-379. 1983. C 1983 by The University of Chicago. All were pyramidal in shape, 75 cm high and rights reserved. 0031-935X/83/5603-8264$02.00 30 cm wide at the base. They had two 370 This content downloaded from 129.186.176.217 on Mon, 23 May 2016 21:08:30 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms MANAKIN ENERGETICS 371 perches, each with a small shelf on which SAMPLING SYSTEM I REFERENCE SYSTEM Outdoor Air food could be placed. The cages were kept in a screened shelter that allowed the birds Desiccant Pump to experience the natural photoperiod and temperature. The diet of the captive birds consisted of local rain-forest fruits supple- Pump mented with fresh grapes, preserved blue- berries, and rehydrated dried currents. Flowmeter When this diet was available ad lib. the body mass of the birds usually remained Respirometer V Chamber within 10% of that at capture. DIDesiccant The manakins were kept in captivity for 3-6 days, then released at the site of cap- Thermomete T.C. C02 Absorbant Desiccant V C02 Abs(rbant ture. Two individual manakins had to be Flowmeter force-fed the first day after capture; the V others fed almost immediately. At approximately 0600, 1800, and 2400 02 Sensor hours each day, we weighed the birds with and Analyzer a Pesola scale and determined their body A-D temperatures (Tb). A 40-gauge copper-con- Converter Pump stantan thermocouple was inserted to a Computer depth of about 2 cm in the cloaca. The Flowmeter thermocouple was connected to a Bailey Printer Bat thermocouple thermometer, and the output was either read directly or recorded FIG. 1.-Apparatus used for measuring effects of temperature on the energy metabolism of manakins. with a microprocessor as described below. The systems were calibrated against a mercury thermometer traceable to the U.S. autoranging voltmeter equipped with an Bureau of Standards. A/D converter. The recording interval, We also measured mass and Tb at the which was controlled by the microproces- beginning and end of each determination sor, was usually 30 s but was varied from of oxygen consumption. The time that 10 min to 10 s depending on the variability elapsed between opening the metabolic in the Vo, of the bird. Instantaneous rates chamber and measuring Tb was less than of oxygen consumption were calculated and 1 min. During some oxygen consumption printed at each sample interval, as were determinations, continuous records of Tb time and signal voltage. The instantaneous were obtained by inserting a thermocouple rates, which were based on the exponential into the cloaca and tying the thermocouple wash-out characteristics that were mea- leads to the base of one of the bird's rec- sured for each system (see Bartholomew, trices with thread. Vleck, and Vleck [1981] for description), Rates of oxygen consumption (Vo2) were allowed us to follow Vo, closely during measured with an open flow system using entry into and arousal from the hypo- an Applied Electrochemistry S3A two- thermic state. channel oxygen analyzer with sensors, The respirometer chambers were lucite drying trains, CO2 scrubbers, pumps, and cylinders with a volume of about 800 ml. flowmeters arranged as shown in figure 1. The bottom of each chamber was covered Ambient temperature (Ta) was controlled with wire mesh. Input and output mani- to within 0.5 C with a constant-tempera- folds that extended the entire length of the ture cabinet and monitored with thermo- chamber facilitated thorough mixing of couples like those used for measuring Tb. chamber air. Airflow (150 ml/min) was The thermocouple thermometers and monitored upstream from the chambers oxygen analyzer were connected to a four- with flowmeters calibrated against a channel switching device that was con- Brooks Mass Flowmeter. trolled by a Rockwell AIM-65 micropro- Some birds were fasted by depriving cessor and connected to a Fluke 8810A them of food from 1300 or 1400 hours until This content downloaded from 129.186.176.217 on Mon, 23 May 2016 21:08:30 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 372 G. BARTHOLOMEW, C. VLECK, AND T. BUCHER the following morning. Otherwise food was returning to a perch. The manakins strug- continuously available during daylight gled hardly at all when handled and settled hours. Birds were put into the respirom- down almost immediately when put in a etry chambers between 1730 and 1800 respirometer chamber.