The Effect on Metabolic Rate of Mus muculus During Variations of Ambient Temperature

Abstract

Some animals tend to be more active and eat more at different temperatures, while other animals have different levels of activity. The problem tackled by this experiment is the idea that, at certain temperatures, some animals are more active than other types of animals. Previous studies discussed in this manuscript compared metabolic rates over a period of seasons, while the experiment performed here is a rather faster measure of change of metabolic rate when endotherms are placed in varying temperatures. To provide this analysis, we place white laboratory mice (Mus musculus) in a respiration chamber that has been heated and cooled to a certain temperature and the room temperature. This experiment helps give evidence to the idea that endotherms have higher metabolic rates at the lower and upper ends of their thermal neutral zone. After experimentation, the results indicated that the oxygen consumption increased in the cold environment, supporting our hypothesis, but stayed the same in the warm temperature environment when compared to the room temperature environment.