Biology ETDs

Publication Date

Spring 4-14-2017

Abstract

We propose Freeze Endurance (Fend) as a new measure of the ability of amphibians to tolerate internal freezing, allowing integration of time and temperature to describe each freeze event. Use of freeze endurance as a descriptor allows direct comparison between individuals, populations, and species, and may be scaled by body size, or other characteristics, to determine if abilities to survive freezing are significantly different between groups. Thermal limit examinations have long suffered from lack of comparability between publications due to differing endpoints, measurements, equipment, and organism availability, despite the value of information yielded by such studies to understanding mechanisms governing life at both cellular and organismal levels. Utilization of the freeze endurance metric will allow future studies to define, and more rigorously compare, freezing abilities of species so that potential factors contributing to variation, such as body size, glycogen storage, gene regulation, metabolic efficiency, and hydration state can be examined.

Language

English

Keywords

Freeze endurance, freeze, tolerance, amphibian, thermal, physiology

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Biology

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

UNM Biology Department

First Committee Member (Chair)

Dr. Joseph A. Cook

Second Committee Member

Dr. Sandra L. Talbot

Third Committee Member

Dr. Steven Poe

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