Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Contributors
- 1 Maternal diet, maternal proteins and egg quality
- 2 Comparative composition and utilisation of yolk lipid by embryonic birds and reptiles
- 3 Oviductal proteins and their influence on embryonic development in birds and reptiles
- 4 Fluxes during embryogenesis
- 5 Eggshell structure and formation in eggs of oviparous reptiles
- 6 Shell structure and formation in avian eggs
- 7 Physical characteristics of reptilian eggs and a comparison with avian eggs
- 8 Egg-shape in birds
- 9 The thermal energetics of incubated bird eggs
- 10 Physiological effects of incubation temperature on embryonic development in reptiles and birds
- 11 Cold torpor, diapause, delayed hatching and aestivation in reptiles and birds
- 12 Physical factors affecting the water exchange of buried reptile eggs
- 13 Physiological and ecological importance of water to embryos of oviparous reptiles
- 14 Roles of water in avian eggs
- 15 Water economy and solute regulation of reptilian and avian embryos
- 16 The avian eggshell as a mediating barrier: respiratory gas fluxes and pressures during development
- 17 Gas exchange across reptilian eggshells
- 18 Metabolism and energetics of reptilian and avian embryos
- 19 Reasons for the dichotomy in egg turning in birds and reptiles
- 20 A comparison of reptilian eggs with those of megapode birds
- 21 Why birds lay eggs
- 22 Influences of incubation requirements on the evolution of viviparity
- 23 Overview of early stages of avian and reptilian development
- 24 Ions and ion regulating mechanisms in the developing fowl embryo
- 25 Electrochemical processes during embryonic development
- 26 Methods for shell-less and semi-shell-less culture of avian and reptilian embryos
- 27 Experimental studies on cultured, shell-less fowl embryos: calcium transport, skeletal development, and cardio-vascular functions
- Index
9 - The thermal energetics of incubated bird eggs
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 November 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Contributors
- 1 Maternal diet, maternal proteins and egg quality
- 2 Comparative composition and utilisation of yolk lipid by embryonic birds and reptiles
- 3 Oviductal proteins and their influence on embryonic development in birds and reptiles
- 4 Fluxes during embryogenesis
- 5 Eggshell structure and formation in eggs of oviparous reptiles
- 6 Shell structure and formation in avian eggs
- 7 Physical characteristics of reptilian eggs and a comparison with avian eggs
- 8 Egg-shape in birds
- 9 The thermal energetics of incubated bird eggs
- 10 Physiological effects of incubation temperature on embryonic development in reptiles and birds
- 11 Cold torpor, diapause, delayed hatching and aestivation in reptiles and birds
- 12 Physical factors affecting the water exchange of buried reptile eggs
- 13 Physiological and ecological importance of water to embryos of oviparous reptiles
- 14 Roles of water in avian eggs
- 15 Water economy and solute regulation of reptilian and avian embryos
- 16 The avian eggshell as a mediating barrier: respiratory gas fluxes and pressures during development
- 17 Gas exchange across reptilian eggshells
- 18 Metabolism and energetics of reptilian and avian embryos
- 19 Reasons for the dichotomy in egg turning in birds and reptiles
- 20 A comparison of reptilian eggs with those of megapode birds
- 21 Why birds lay eggs
- 22 Influences of incubation requirements on the evolution of viviparity
- 23 Overview of early stages of avian and reptilian development
- 24 Ions and ion regulating mechanisms in the developing fowl embryo
- 25 Electrochemical processes during embryonic development
- 26 Methods for shell-less and semi-shell-less culture of avian and reptilian embryos
- 27 Experimental studies on cultured, shell-less fowl embryos: calcium transport, skeletal development, and cardio-vascular functions
- Index
Summary
Introduction
A bird embryo can generate only a limited amount of heat (Romijn & Lokhorst, 1960; Tazawa et al., 1988). The ability of the egg to dissipate heat is also limited (Spotila, Weinheimer & Paganelli, 1981; Turner, 1985; Sotherland, Spotila & Paganelli, 1987). Consequently, the temperature of an egg can be controlled only slightly by the embryo and deviate from ambient temperature by roughly -0.5 °C to +3 °C at most (Turner, 1985; Sotherland et al., 1987). Most bird embryos must develop within fairly narrow temperature limits (Barott, 1937; Drent, 1970, 1973, 1975; Deeming & Ferguson, Chapter 10), and environments that provide these temperatures are rare. It follows that an egg will rarely be at an ideal temperature for development unless fluxes of heat into and out of it are somehow supplemented and controlled. The management of heat flux into and out of the egg, effected by the brooding parent, is incubation: all other attributes of incubation (gas and water exchange and turning) are, at root, secondary to this one function.
In this chapter, I wish to address the fundamental problem of how incubation ‘works', i.e. how heat flow between an egg and incubating parent is managed. Although the thermal interaction of the embryo and the incubating parent has been extensively studied, it remains poorly understood. The physics and physiology of temperature of incubated bird eggs are examined, and the energy cost to the incubating parent of keeping the egg at that temperature, is determined.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Egg IncubationIts Effects on Embryonic Development in Birds and Reptiles, pp. 117 - 146Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1991
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