poikilotherm

The term derives from Greek poikilos ({{lang|el|{{math|ποικίλος}}}}), meaning "varied," ultimately from a root meaning "dappled" or "painted," and thermos ({{lang|el|{{math|θερμός}}}}), meaning "heat".{{cn|date=March 2025}}

File:Homeothermy-poikilothermy.png) and a homeotherm (a mouse) as a function of core body temperature. The homeotherm has a much higher output, but can only function over a very narrow range of body temperatures.]]

Poikilotherm animals must be able to function over a wider range of temperatures than homeotherms. The speed of most chemical reactions vary with temperature, and in order to function poikilotherms may have four to ten enzyme systems that operate at different temperatures for an important chemical reaction.{{cite journal|last=Cavalier-Smith|first=T.|date=1991|title=Coevolution of vertebrate genome, cell, and nuclear sizes|journal=Symposium on the Evolution of Terrestrial Vertebrates|pages=51–86}} As a result, poikilotherms often have larger, more complex genomes than homeotherms in the same ecological niche. Frogs are a notable example of this effect, though their complex development is also an important factor in their large genome.{{cite journal|last=Ryan Gregory|first=T.|title=Genome size and developmental complexity|journal=Genetica|date=1 January 2002|volume=115|issue=1|pages=131–146|doi=10.1023/A:1016032400147|pmid=12188045|s2cid=24565842}}

Because their metabolism is variable and generally below that of homeothermic animals, sustained high-energy activities like powered flight in large animals or maintaining a large brain is generally beyond poikilotherm animals.Willmer, P., Stone, G., & Johnston, I. A. (2000): Environmental physiology of animals. Blackwell Science, London. 644 pages, {{ISBN|0-632-03517-X}}. The metabolism of poikilotherms favors strategies such as sit-and-wait hunting over chasing prey for larger animals with high movement cost. As they do not use their metabolisms to heat or cool themselves, total energy requirement over time is low. For the same body weight, poikilotherms need only 5 to 10% of the energy of homeotherms.Campbell, N. A., Reece, J. B., et al. (2002). Biology. 6th edition. Benjamin / Cummings Publishing Company.

• Some adaptations are behavioral. Lizards and snakes bask in the sun in the early morning and late evening, and seek shelter around noon.{{cn|date=March 2025}}
• The eggs of the yellow-faced bumblebee are unable to regulate heat. A behavioral adaptation to combat this is incubation, where to maintain the internal temperatures of eggs, the queen and her workers will incubate the brood almost constantly, by warming their abdomens and touching them to the eggs. The bumblebee generates heat by shivering flight muscles even though it is not flying. {{cn|date=March 2025}}
• Termite mounds are usually oriented in a north–south direction so that they absorb as much heat as possible around dawn and dusk and minimise heat absorption around noon.{{cn|date=March 2025}}
• Tuna are able to warm their entire bodies through a heat exchange mechanism called the rete mirabile, which helps keep heat inside the body, and minimises the loss of heat through the gills. They also have their swimming muscles near the center of their bodies instead of near the surface, which minimises heat loss.{{cn|date=March 2025}}
• Gigantothermy means growing to large size in order to reduce heat loss, such as in sea turtles and ice-age megafauna. Body volume increases proportionally faster than does body surface, with increasing size; and less body surface area per unit body volume tends to minimise heat loss.{{cn|date=March 2025}}
• Camels, although they are homeotherms, thermoregulate using a method termed "temperature cycling" to conserve energy. In hot deserts, they allow their body temperature to rise during the day and fall during the night, adjusting their body temperature to cycle over approximately 6 °C.{{cite book |last=Hill |first=Richard |year=2016 |title=Animal Physiology |pages=270 |publisher=Sinauer Associates |place=Sunderland, MA |isbn=978-1605354712}}

It is comparatively easy for a poikilotherm to accumulate enough energy to reproduce. Poikilotherms at the same trophic level often have much shorter generations than homeotherms: weeks rather than years.{{Citation needed|date=February 2009}} Such applies even to animals with similar ecological roles such as cats and snakes.

This difference in energy requirement also means that a given food source can support a greater density of poikilothermic animals than homeothermic animals.Steen, J.B, Steen, H. & Stenseth, N.C. (1991): Population Dynamics of Poikilotherm and Homeotherm Vertebrates: Effects of Food Shortage. OICOS Vol. 60, No 2 (March, 1991), pp 269–272. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3544877 summary] This is reflected in the predator-prey ratio which is usually higher in poikilothermic fauna compared to homeothermic ones. However, when homeotherms and poikilotherms have similar niches, and compete, the homeotherm can often drive poikilothermic competitors to extinction, because homeotherms can gather food for a greater fraction of each day and in more effective, specialized ways (e.g. chimpanzees actively seeking out and collecting army ants with sticks versus the typical poikilotherm sit-and-wait strategy).{{cn|date=March 2025}}

In medicine, loss of normal thermoregulation is referred to as poikilothermia. This can be seen in compartment syndrome and with use of sedative-hypnotics like barbiturates, ethanol, and chloral hydrate.{{Citation needed|date=June 2010}} REM sleep is considered a poikilothermic state in humans.{{cite book|title=Sleep Medicine Essentials|year=2009|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|pages=12|author=Leon Rosenthal|author-link=Physiologic Processes During Sleep|editor=Teofilo Lee-Chiong|chapter=3}} Poikilothermia is one of the signs of acute limb ischemia.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

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Category:Animal physiology

Category:Thermoregulation