Effects of thermophily-relevant temperature variation and sex on digestive performance in pythons

Different physiological performances are often optimized at slightly varying temperatures, which can lead to ectotherms selecting higher body temperatures during certain physiological efforts (e.g., digestion, reproduction). Such thermophilic responses can lead to temperature-based tradeoffs between two physiological activities with differing optimal temperatures or between optimizing a physiological activity and water balance, as water loss is elevated at higher temperatures. For example, ectotherms will often select a higher body temperature after consuming a meal, but the extent to which body temperature is elevated after eating is affected by its hydric state. Despite this known hydration state-based suppression of thermophily associated with digestion, the impact of this reduced body temperature on digestion performance is unknown. Accordingly, we determined whether small, thermophily-relevant changes in body temperature impact digestive efficiency or passage time and whether sex influenced the extent of the effect. Eighteen (9 female and 9 male) Children's pythons (Antaresia childreni) each consumed a meal at three temperatures (29 °C, 30 °C, and 31 °C), and gut passage time and digestive efficiency were determined. We found that neither metric was affected by temperature over the range tested. However, digestive efficiency was significantly impacted by the interaction between sex and temperature with males having significantly lower digestive efficiency than females at 31 °C, but not 29 °C or 30 °C. Our results provide insight into the effects of temperature on digestive physiology across narrow temperature ranges as well as demonstrate a sex-based difference in digestive physiology.