The function estimates body temperature (C, operative environmental temperature) of a marine snail. The function implements a steady-state model, which assumes unchanging environmental conditions and is based on (Iacarella and Helmuth 2012) . Body temperature and desiccation constrain the activity of Littoraria irrorata within the Spartina alterniflora canopy. The function was provided by Brian Helmuth and is a simplified version of the published model.

Tb_snail(temp, l, S, u, CC, WL, WSH)

Arguments

temp

numeric air temperature (C).

l

numeric snail length (m).

S

numeric direct solar flux density (W m-2).

u

numeric wind speed (m s-1).

CC

numeric fraction of the sky covered by cloud (0-1).

WL

numeric water loss rate (kg s-1), 5 percent loss of body mass over one hour is a reasonable maximum level (Helmuth 1999) .

WSH

numeric wind sensor height (m).

Value

numeric predicted body (operative environmental) temperature (C).

Details

Thermal radiative flux is calculated following Helmuth (1998) , Helmuth (1999) , and Idso and Jackson (1969) .

References

Helmuth B (1999). “Thermal biology of rocky intertidal mussels: quantifying body temperatures using climatological data.” Ecology, 80(1), 15-34. doi:10.2307/176977 .

Helmuth BST (1998). “Intertidal Mussel Microclimates: Predicting the Body Temperature of a Sessile Invertebrate.” Ecological Monographs, 68(1), 51--74. ISSN 00129615, doi:10.2307/2657143 .

Iacarella J, Helmuth B (2012). “Body temperature and desiccation constrain the activity of Littoraria irrorata within the Spartina alterniflora canopy.” Journal of Thermal Biology, 37(1). doi:10.1016/j.jtherbio.2011.10.003 .

Idso SB, Jackson RD (1969). “Thermal radiation from the atmosphere.” Journal of Geophysical Research (1896-1977), 74(23), 5397-5403. doi:10.1029/JC074i023p05397 .

Author

Brian Helmuth et al.

Examples

  Tb_snail(temp  = 25, 
           l     = 0.012, 
           S = 800, 
           u    = 1, 
           CC    = 0.5, 
           WL    = 0, 
           WSH   = 10)
#> [1] 38.79568