The function calculates conductance (W) of an ectothermic animal to its substrate. Method assumes the major resistance to conduction is within surface layers of the animal and that the interior of the animal is equal in temperature to its surface (thermally well mixed) (Spotila et al. 1992) .

Qconduction_animal(T_g, T_b, d, K = 0.5, A, proportion)

Arguments

T_g

numeric ground surface temperature (K).

T_b

numeric body temperature (K).

d

numeric mean thickness of the animal skin (surface) in (meters). The function assumes a well mixed interior.

K

numeric thermal conductivity (W K-1 m-1). K = 0.5 for naked skin and K = 0.15 for insect cuticle (Galushko et al. 2005) . The conductivity of the ground is generally greater than that of animal tissues, so animal thermal conductivity is generally the rate limiting step.

A

numeric surface area (m2).

proportion

numeric proportion of body in contact with the surface (0-1).

Value

numeric conductance (W).

References

Galushko D, Ermakov N, Karpovski M, Palevski A, Ishay JS, Bergman DJ (2005). “Electrical, thermoelectric and thermophysical properties of hornet cuticle.” Semiconductor Science and Technology, 20(3), 286--289. doi:10.1088/0268-1242/20/3/005 .

Spotila JR, Feder ME, Burggren WW (1992). “Biophysics of Heat and Mass Transfer.” Environmental Physiology of the Amphibians. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/E/bo3636401.html.

Examples

  Qconduction_animal(T_g        = 293,
                     T_b        = 303,
                     d          = 10^-6,
                     K          = 0.5,
                     A          = 10^-3,
                     proportion = 0.2)
#> [1] 1000