Minimum Thermal Conductance
Minimum wet and dry thermal conductances were calculated using Eqs. 4 and 5
| Cmw = Ḣr / (Tb - Ta) | Eq. 4 |
| Cmd = (Ḣr - Ėeq) / (Tb - Ta) | Eq. 5 |
where Cmw is wet and Cmd is dry conductance (mL O2·g-1·h-1·°C-1); Ḣr is the lowest resting metabolic rate measured at each temperature (mL O2·g-1·h-1); Ėeq is oxygen equivalent for heat lost by evaporation [Ėeq = mL O2·g-1·h-1 = Ė·λ/γ, where Ė is evaporative water loss (mg·g-1·h-1), λ is heat of vaporization for water (2.43 J/mg), and γ is heat equivalent for oxygen (20.097 J/mL)]; Tb is body temperature (°C); and Ta is chamber air temperature (°C). Only data from animals equipped with temperature-sensitive radio transmitters were used for these calculations.
Table 3.—Minimum wet and dry thermal conductances (mL O2·g-1·h-1·°C-1) of Procyon lotor in summer and winter. Means of values were calculated from equations 3 and 4 (s.d. = standard deviation and n = number of observations).
| Season and sex | Thermal conductance | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wet ± s.d. | (n) | Dry ± s.d. | (n) | ||
| Summer | |||||
| Captive, both sexes | 0.0256 ± 0.0028 | (18) | 0.0246 ± 0.0019 | (12) | |
| Winter | |||||
| Captive, female | 0.0172 ± 0.0023 | (10) | 0.0161 ± 0.0027 | (6) | |