Evaporative water loss: thermoregulatory requirements and measurements in the deer mouse and white rabbit

Using a physical model of the capacity for non-evaporative heat loss and measurements of metabolic heat production, I evaluated the evaporative requirements for thermoregulation in the deer mouse, Peromyscus maniculatus, and the white rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus. The physical limit to non-evaporative heat loss was calculated from the heat transfer properties of the two animals and expressed as a maximum thermal conductance (Cmax). Two physiologically-based thermal conductances were derived from evaporative water loss, respiratory gas exchange and core temperature measurements made between 8 and 34 degrees C on the deer mouse, and taken from published data for the white rabbit. The thermal conductance for non-evaporative heat loss (C) was calculated from net heat production, whereas Cm represented the thermal conductance required to dissipate metabolic heat production. Evaporation is required when metabolic heat production exceeds the capacity for non-evaporative heat loss (as shown by Cm greater than Cmax). However, evaporation increased in both animals although additional capacity to lose heat remained (i.e., C less than Cmax). Evaporation increased with C above 30 degrees C for the mouse and at each 5 degrees C measurement interval from 15 to 30 degrees C for the rabbit. Thus, evaporation was greater than that required for thermoregulation for both animals as determined from a physical model of heat loss because both evaporation and C increased together to regulate heat loss.