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Aestivation (Latin: aestas (summer); also spelled estivation in American English) is a state of animal dormancy, similar to hibernation, although taking place in the summer rather than the winter. Aestivation is characterized by inactivity and a lowered metabolic rate, that is entered in response to high temperatures and arid conditions. [ 1 ]
Aestivation, also spelled estivation, is an example of consequential dormancy in response to very hot or dry conditions. It is common in invertebrates such as the garden snail and worm but also occurs in other animals such as lungfish, salamanders, desert tortoises, and crocodiles.
Some crepuscular animals may also be active by moonlight or during an overcast day. Matutinal animals are active only after dawn, and vespertine only before dusk. A number of factors affect the time of day an animal is active. Predators hunt when their prey is available, and prey try to avoid the times when their principal predators are at large.
As winter sets in, colder temperatures force northern alligator lizards to undergo brumation. Brumation allows them to reduce caloric usage and retain body heat during winter. [ 6 ] Often, western alligator lizards choose to hide under rocks—though logs and burrows are occasionally used—to undergo this process.
Species with long periods of brumation tend to have much lower reproductive rates than those with shorter brumation periods or those that do not brumate at all. Female timber rattlesnakes in high peaks in the Appalachian Mountains of New England reproduce every three years on average; the lance-headed rattlesnake ( C. polystictus ), native to ...
Also called an antibacterial. A type of antimicrobial drug used in the treatment and prevention of bacterial infections. Archaea One of the three recognized domains of organisms, the other two being Bacteria and Eukaryota. artificial selection Also called selective breeding. The process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively control the development of particular ...
Bradymetabolic animals can often undergo dramatic changes in metabolic speed, according to food availability and temperature. Many bradymetabolic creatures in deserts and in areas that experience extreme winters are capable of "shutting down" their metabolisms to approach near-death states, until favorable conditions return [ 2 ] [ 3 ] (see ...
Developmental homeostasis is a process in which animals develop more or less normally, despite defective genes and deficient environments. [1] It is an organism's ability to overcome certain circumstances in order to develop normally. This can be a circumstance that interferes with either a physical or mental trait.