Author(s)

Barbara Henning^1*, Benilton de Sá Carvalho², José Luiz Boldrini³, Sérgio Furtado dos Reis⁴, Denis Otávio Vieira de Andrade⁵

¹Programa de Pós-Graduacao em Ecologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, Brazil.
²Departamento de Estatística, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, Brazil.
³Departamento de Matemática, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, Brazil.
⁴Departamento de Biologia Animal, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, Brazil.
⁵Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Rio Claro, Brazil.

In this paper, we combine polynomial functions, Generalized Estimating Equations, and bootstrap-based model selection to test for signatures of linear or nonlinear relationships between body surface temperature and ambient temperature in endotherms. Linearity or nonlinearity is associated with the absence or presence of cutaneous vasodilation and vasoconstriction, respectively. We obtained experimental data on body surface temperature variation from a mammalian model organism as a function of ambient temperature using infrared thermal imaging. The statistical framework of model estimation and selection successfully detected linear and nonlinear relationships between body surface temperature and ambient temperature for different body regions of the model organism. These results demonstrate that our statistical approach is instrumental to assess the complexity of thermoregulation in endotherms.

Gracilinanus microtarsus, Infrared Thermography, Thermal Window, Thermoregulation in Homeothermic Endotherms, Vasomotor Adjustment

Henning, B. , de Sá Carvalho, B. , Boldrini, J. , dos Reis, S. and de Andrade, D. (2018) Statistical Estimation of Surface Heat Control and Exchange in Endotherms. Open Journal of Statistics, 8, 220-239. doi: 10.4236/ojs.2018.81013.