Exploring the Relationship between Body Size and Thermoregulation in Objects

Abstract

It has been observed that animals of the same species are of different sizes and shapes in different climates (French, 2014). We questioned what factors could contribute to this size variance. A similar scenario has been described; however, it did not provide concrete results to answer this question (French, 2014). Our group hypothesized that objects with greater surface area to volume ratios will vary in temperature more over time than ones with smaller surface area to volume ratios when placed in cooler climates because there is more area exposed to the environment relative to size (body length, extremities length and size, etc.). We decided to test the rate of change in temperature in multiple objects representing the variously sized species in different climates in a controlled environment to have optimal results to compare. This is essential to the survival of animals in different habitats.