How is the Temperture Treating You: Oxygen Consumption in Relation to Temperature

Abstract

Living life as a mouse would not be an easy task. Considering that a mouse’s Thermal Neutral Zone (TNZ) is that of 10-30 degrees Celsius, which relates to 50-86 degrees Farenheit, there are not a lot of places that would keep a mouse comfortable for long periods of time. With this information in mind, we were curious as to how the temperature of an environment related to the metabolic rate of the mice. To measure metabolic rate, we wanted to measure the amount of Oxygen that was consumed in temperatures on both the high and low ends of their TNZ. Our results showed that when the mice were placed in extreme temperatures, their O₂ consumption rates increased. If we were to replicate our experiment as a whole, we know that we would alter it by preventing the mice from touching the probes, which can result in skewed data.