Application of an advanced closed respirometer for small mammals

Abstract

Metabolic rates (MR) are important components of the energetic budget of the animals. To estimate different types of MR diverse specific apparatuses have been developed. They suffer high speciation in particular MR or are extremely expensive. We propose an closed respirometer being cheap and capable for precise long and short time measurements at the same time, and thus providing possibilities for assessing the whole set of MR. The abilities of the respirometer are demonstrated on the example of the Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) in Apodemus mystacinus adapted to different climatic conditions. © 2005 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.