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Journal of Experimental Biology 99,269-277 (1982)
Published by Company of Biologists 1982

Energetic Cost of Running with different Muscle Temperatures in Savannah MOnitor Lizards

LAWRENCE C. ROME ¹

¹ Concord Field Station, Harvard University Old Causeway Road, Bedford, MA 01730, U.S.A.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the energetic cost of locomotion was independent of muscle temperature, or if it tripled with a 10 °C increase in temperature, like the cost of generating isometric force in isolated muscle preparations. For a given running speed of Savannah Monitor lizards, the energetic cost of locomotion (the difference between running and resting metabolism) was the same when muscle temperature was 28.5 °C as when it was 38 °C. It was also found that stride frequency and posture did not change with temperature, indicating that the average force exerted by the lizards' muscles during locomotion at the two temperatures was the same. This suggests that the cost of generating force in vivo is independent of temperature. Several possible explanations of the apparent difference between in vivo and in vitro muscle energetics are discussed.

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