JOURNAL ARTICLE

Amphibians Exhibit Extremely High Hydric Costs of Respiration.

  • Published In: Integrative & Comparative Biology, 2024, v. 64, n. 2. P. 366 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Riddell, Eric A; Burger, Isabella J; Muñoz, Martha M.; Weaver, Savannah J; Womack, Molly C 3 of 3

Abstract

This article focuses on the hydric costs of respiration in amphibians, quantified by the transpiration ratio—the ratio of water loss to oxygen uptake. The study found that amphibians exhibit hydric costs two to four orders of magnitude greater than those of other terrestrial organisms such as plants, insects, birds, and mammals, primarily due to their reliance on cutaneous (skin) respiration. Larger amphibians have lower hydric costs than smaller ones, and within species, hydric costs decrease with increasing temperature but increase with vapor pressure deficit (a measure of air dryness). These findings suggest that amphibians mitigate the high water loss associated with their permeable skin by selecting moist environments, allowing them to decouple water loss from gas exchange more than other terrestrial taxa.

Additional Information

  • Source:Integrative & Comparative Biology. 2024/08, Vol. 64, Issue 2, p366
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Zoology
  • Publication Date:2024
  • ISSN:1540-7063
  • DOI:10.1093/icb/icae053
  • Accession Number:179665260
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of Integrative & Comparative Biology is the property of Oxford University Press / USA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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