Autonomic and Behavioral Temperature Regulation as a Part of the Response Complex to Food Scarcity in the Pigeon

Abstract

When faced with periods of food scarcity, an endothermic organism can use a variety of mechanisms for achieving a positive energy balance, or at least a steady state, in which energy intake compensates metabolic costs of survival. In general these mechanisms can be described as followed:

• 1) Changes in foraging behavior should increase the efficiency of searching for food and/or the utilization of detected sources.

• 2) Decreased deep body temperature (Tb) and decreased heat production lower energy output, especially the costs of endother-mia, in mammals and birds.

• 3) Birds can decrease their heat loss to the environment by erection of plumage or by resting at warm places.