Re: surface/volume ratio and water loss in smallest amniotes

[Jonas Weselake-George <Paleo@ncf.ca>]

A minor note: Wind isn't always disadvantageous to small creatures. Many 
insects use wind for dispersal. All a mosquito has to do is climb high enough 
and it can experience relatively cost-free transportation for tens of 
kilometres.

So the lack of bites might sometimes be due to the fact that the mossies are 
waiting in line at the airport.

S!

-Jonas Weselake-George

On Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:46:51 +1100
Dann Pigdon <dannj@alphalink.com.au> wrote:

> The following paper requires payment to access, but would certainly answer a 
> few questions about 
> water loss in small birds (especially hummingbirds):
> 
> Robert C. Lasiewski  1964. Body Temperatures, Heart and Breathing Rate, and 
> Evaporative Water 
> Loss in Hummingbirds. Physiological Zoology, Vol. 37, No. 2 (Apr., 1964), pp. 
> 212-223 
> http://www.jstor.org/pss/30152332
> 
> This next one is freely available and suggests that for pigeons at least, 
> cutaneous water loss 
> outstrips respiratory water loss while in flight (although the reverse is 
> true at rest).
> 
> Gilead Michaeli and Berry Pinshow 2001. Respiratory water loss in free-flying 
> pigeons. Journal of 
> Experimental Biology 204:3803-3814
> http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/204/21/3803.pdf
> 
> I'm not sure how this research would translate to non-avian creatures though, 
> given that avian 
> integument and respiration is quite different to that of other creatures.
> 
> -- 
> _____________________________________________________________
> 
> Dann Pigdon
> GIS Specialist                         Australian Dinosaurs
> Melbourne, Australia               http://home.alphalink.com.au/~dannj
> ___
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> 


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