Field data confirm the ability of a biophysical model to predict wild primate body temperature

Paul D Mathewson; Warren P Porter; Louise Barrett; Andrea Fuller; S Peter Henzi; Robyn S Hetem; Christopher Young; Richard McFarland

doi:10.1016/j.jtherbio.2020.102754

Field data confirm the ability of a biophysical model to predict wild primate body temperature

J Therm Biol. 2020 Dec:94:102754. doi: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2020.102754. Epub 2020 Oct 13.

Authors

Paul D Mathewson¹, Warren P Porter², Louise Barrett³, Andrea Fuller⁴, S Peter Henzi³, Robyn S Hetem⁵, Christopher Young⁶, Richard McFarland⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA. Electronic address: mathewson@wisc.edu.
² Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Lethbridge, Canada; Brain Function Research Group, School of Physiology, Faculty of Health Science, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
⁴ Brain Function Research Group, School of Physiology, Faculty of Health Science, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
⁵ Brain Function Research Group, School of Physiology, Faculty of Health Science, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa; School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
⁶ Department of Psychology, University of Lethbridge, Canada; Applied Behavioural Ecology & Ecosystems Research Unit, University of South Africa, South Africa; Endocrine Research Laboratory, Mammal Research Institute, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
⁷ Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA; Brain Function Research Group, School of Physiology, Faculty of Health Science, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa; Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA.

PMID: 33292995
DOI: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2020.102754

Abstract

In the face of climate change there is an urgent need to understand how animal performance is affected by environmental conditions. Biophysical models that use principles of heat and mass transfer can be used to explore how an animal's morphology, physiology, and behavior interact with its environment in terms of energy, mass and water balances to affect fitness and performance. We used Niche Mapper™ (NM) to build a vervet monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) biophysical model and tested the model's ability to predict core body temperature (T_b) variation and thermal stress against T_b and behavioral data collected from wild vervets in South Africa. The mean observed T_b in both males and females was within 0.5 °C of NM's predicted T_bs for 91% of hours over the five-year study period. This is the first time that NM's T_b predictions have been validated against field data from a wild endotherm. Overall, these results provide confidence that NM can accurately predict thermal stress and can be used to provide insight into the thermoregulatory consequences of morphological (e.g., body size, shape, fur depth), physiological (e.g. T_b plasticity) and behavioral (e.g., huddling, resting, shade seeking) adaptations. Such an approach allows users to test hypotheses about how animals adapt to thermoregulatory challenges and make informed predictions about potential responses to environmental change such as climate change or habitat conversion. Importantly, NM's animal submodel is a general model that can be adapted to other species, requiring only basic information on an animal's morphology, physiology and behavior.

Keywords: Chlorocebus pygerythrus; Endotherm; Metabolic rate; Niche mapper; Thermoregulation; Vervet monkey; ecological Energetics.

MeSH terms

Animals
Biophysical Phenomena
Body Temperature*
Chlorocebus aethiops / anatomy & histology
Chlorocebus aethiops / physiology*
Female
Male
Models, Biological*