Comparison Of Respiratory Metabolism And Special Thermodynamic Effects Of Two Species Of Turtles

In this study the sub adult of Red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans) and Turtles [Chinemys reevesii) were taken as model animal and the experiments were carried out at the temperature of 16 ± 1 ?,20 ± 1 ?,24 ± 1 ?,28 ± 1 ?,32 ± 1 ?,36 ± 1 ? respectively. We studied how the temperature affected body resting metabolism rate and specific dynamic action of the two kinds of sub adults, and the speed of movement at 28 ± 1 ?. And we investigated the interspecific differences of the aspects above. The main results are as follows:The Red-eared slider turtles and the Turtles were taken into our experiments on the 7th day after feeding. At the experimental temperature the pre-fed resting metabolic rate of turtles was significantly higher than that of red-eared slider turtles, which differs significantly between species. The highest rate of pre-fed resting metabolism was at 36 ± 1 ? and the lowest pre-fed resting metabolic rate was at 16 ± 1 ?, there was no significant difference in pre-fed resting metabolic rate between 36 ± 1 ? and 28 ± 1 ?. The swimming speed of the turtles and red-eared slider turtles had no significant difference at each experimental temperature. There was no significant difference at different temperature of swimming speed between two turtle species.It can be seen from the experimental results that resting metabolic rates at different temperature of two species differed significantly among species. The resting metabolic rate of the turtles was significantly higher than that of red-eared slider turtles. And the environment temperature was positively correlated with resting metabolic rate of this two species. And the resting metabolic rate of two species grew slowly from 16 to 24 ?, and grew significantly faster from 28 to 36 ?. At the experimental temperature, body movement performance of two kinds turtles' sub adults had no significant correlation with environmental temperature, and there was no significant difference between species.The Red-eared slider turtles and the Turtle were taken into our experiment immediately after single feeding by dried shrimp. There were no significant differences of feeding between species. The respiratory metabolism rate of the turtles differed significantly from the red-eared slider turtles after single feeding. In 2 h and 6 h after feeding, two species of turtle's respiratory metabolism rate had no significant difference. But in 12 h,24 h,72 h, the respiration of turtles was higher than that of the red eared slider turtles. Two species reached the maximum respiration rate in 6 h and 12 h after feeding, respectively. There was no significant difference of respiratory metabolism in the other time.In this research the turtles and red eared slider turtles were single fed with the same food. The SDA pattern of this experiment was similar to the typical SDA pattern in the other experiments of most of other animals. Oxygen consumption was in a certain period of time, the rapid growth to a peak after single feeding. After that, the oxygen consumption gradually decreased to the pre-fed level. After single feeding dried shrimp, the peak time values of red eared slider turtles and turtles is 6 h and 12 h respectively. After eating, the respiratory metabolism increases approximately 2.7 times and 1.8 times respectively. The duration of SDA were 24 h and 72 h respectively. Through the comparison and analysis of these data, it can be seen that though different species were fed with the same kind of food, the SDA peak time, duration and the relative increase in oxygen consumption differentials are more pronounced.