Operative environmental temperatures and basking behavior of the turtle Pseudemys scripta

Journal Article · Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1983 · Ecology; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2307/1937806· OSTI ID:5554389

Crawford, K M; Spotila, J R; Standora, E A

Operative environmental temperatures (T/sub e/, an index of the thermal environment) were measured for basking Pseudemys scripta in South Carolina. Operative environmental temperatures were good predictors of the basking behavior of P. scripta. Turtles in this study generally did not bask unless T/sub e/ was 28/sup 0/C (preferred body temperature) or higher. This demonstrated that basking was not a random behavior in respect to T/sub e/, and implicated thermoregulation as a major factor eliciting basking behavior. Operative environmental temperature was positively related to short-wave and total solar radiation as well as to air and substrate temperature. Substrate temperature was the best single predictor of T/sub e/. A multiple regression equation (T/sub e/ = 0.005R + 0.103T/sub a/ - 1.16 log V + 0.932T/sub s/ - 2.54, r/sup 2/ = .90, where R = total radiation in watts per square metre, T/sub a/ = air temperature in degrees Celsius, V = wind speed in metres per second, and T/sub s/ = substrate temperature in degrees Celsius) defines the relationship of T/sub e/ to microclimate variables. Movement of the sun through the day results in spatial variation in T/sub e/'s available to turtles and influences their location and basking behavior.

• Research Organization: State Univ. College at Buffalo, NY
• OSTI ID: 5554389
• Journal Information: Ecology; (United States), Vol. 64:5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
BEHAVIOR
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
TURTLES
BODY TEMPERATURE
MICROCLIMATES
SOLAR FLUX
SOUTH CAROLINA
ANIMALS
CLIMATES
FEDERAL REGION IV
NORTH AMERICA
REPTILES
USA
VERTEBRATES
550100* - Behavioral Biology
560205 - Thermal Effects- Vertebrates- (-1987)