Research output: Contribution to book/anthology/report/proceeding › Book chapter › Research › peer-review
Digestive physiology in reptiles with special reference to pythons. / Enok, Sanne; Simonsen, Lasse Stærdal; Funch, Peter et al.
Amphibian and Reptile Adaptations to the Environment: Interplay Between Physiology and Behavior. CRC Press, 2017. p. 81-114.Research output: Contribution to book/anthology/report/proceeding › Book chapter › Research › peer-review
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TY - CHAP
T1 - Digestive physiology in reptiles with special reference to pythons
AU - Enok, Sanne
AU - Simonsen, Lasse Stærdal
AU - Funch, Peter
AU - Kruse, Aksel
AU - Dahlerup, Jens Frederik
AU - Wang, Tobias
PY - 2017/1/1
Y1 - 2017/1/1
N2 - Introduction All animals must eat as subsequent assimilation of the ingested food provides the energy and building blocks required to sustain all life functions. The functional performance of the digestive system therefore has implications for all physiological processes, and the ability to procure food, subdue prey, and retrieve its energy provides the basis for locomotion, growth, and reproduction (Wang 2001). Energy status therefore dictates the expression of most behaviors and while the ectothermic nature of reptiles implies that the energy devoted to basal life functions, that is, standard metabolic rate (SMR), is smaller than within endothermic birds and mammals, an effective digestive system is nevertheless needed to survive the long-lasting periods between suitable prey encounter. Such fasting periods, which may last for months in some species, are attended with rather impressive changes in the structure and function of the gastrointestinal (GI) organs (Pennisi 2005). This phenotypic flexibility seems to reduce the maintenance costs of the GI organs during fasting but is obviously only a viable strategy as long as the animals retain the capacity to swiftly upregulate digestive functions immediately upon prey ingestion; otherwise, the prey would deteriorate or even rot within the gut of the predator.
AB - Introduction All animals must eat as subsequent assimilation of the ingested food provides the energy and building blocks required to sustain all life functions. The functional performance of the digestive system therefore has implications for all physiological processes, and the ability to procure food, subdue prey, and retrieve its energy provides the basis for locomotion, growth, and reproduction (Wang 2001). Energy status therefore dictates the expression of most behaviors and while the ectothermic nature of reptiles implies that the energy devoted to basal life functions, that is, standard metabolic rate (SMR), is smaller than within endothermic birds and mammals, an effective digestive system is nevertheless needed to survive the long-lasting periods between suitable prey encounter. Such fasting periods, which may last for months in some species, are attended with rather impressive changes in the structure and function of the gastrointestinal (GI) organs (Pennisi 2005). This phenotypic flexibility seems to reduce the maintenance costs of the GI organs during fasting but is obviously only a viable strategy as long as the animals retain the capacity to swiftly upregulate digestive functions immediately upon prey ingestion; otherwise, the prey would deteriorate or even rot within the gut of the predator.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85051775265&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1201/b20420
DO - 10.1201/b20420
M3 - Book chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85051775265
SN - 9781482222043
SP - 81
EP - 114
BT - Amphibian and Reptile Adaptations to the Environment
PB - CRC Press
ER -