Body Surface Temperature Responses to Food Restriction in Wild and Captive Great Tits

Reading time: 1 minute

Lab.Equipment has your everyday Bio news covered. Read today's article first published on the Journal of Experimental Biology:

Lucy A. Winder, Stewart A. White, Andreas Nord, Barbara Helm, and Dominic J. McCafferty

During winter at temperate and high latitudes, the low ambient temperatures, limited food supplies and short foraging periods mean small passerines show behavioural, morphological and physiological adaptations to reduce the risk of facing energy shortages. Peripheral tissues vasoconstrict in low ambient temperatures to reduce heat loss and cold injury. Peripheral vasoconstriction has been observed with food restriction in captivity but has yet to be explored in free-ranging animals. We experimentally food restricted both wild and captive great tits (Parus major) during winter months and measured surface temperatures of the bill and eye region using thermal imaging, to investigate whether birds show rapid local heterothermic responses, which may reduce their thermoregulatory costs when facing a perceived imminent food shortage. Our results of a continuously filmed wild population showed that bill temperature was immediately reduced in response to food restriction compared with when food was available ad libitum, an apparent autonomic response. Such immediacy implies a ‘pre-emptive’ response before the bird experiences any shortfalls in energy reserves. We also demonstrate temporal variation in vasoconstriction of the bill, with bill temperature gradually rising throughout the food restriction after the initial drop. Eye-region temperature in the wild birds remained at similar levels throughout food restriction compared with unrestricted birds, possibly reflecting the need to maintain steady circulation to the central nervous and visual systems. Our findings provide evidence that birds selectively allow the bill to cool when a predictable food supply is... More of this in the Journal of Experimental Biology (JEB) Blog.

If you are in the Biology industry and are keeping an eye on fully-featured Bio equipment for your basic and advanced applications like cultivation or medicine, then you have come to the right place. Lab.Equipment supplies a large range of equipment ideal for Bio labs. Check out our highly-recommended Biology products including:

• Laboratory Balances
• Shakers
• Centrifuges
• Lab Pipettes
• Stirrers

Get a hold of cost-efficient lab equipment for your application by going through our product portfolio designed and built by well-trusted brands such as:

• Ohaus
• AnD Weighing
• Being Instrument
• Radwag
• Hermle

Covering other applications? Lab.Equipment has you covered so no worries. Explore our selection of multipurpose lab equipment for veterinary, chemistry, forensics applications and more.