The Effects of Consumption Rate and Temperature on Apparent Digestibility Coefficient, Urate Production, Metabolizable Energy Coefficient and Passage Time in Canyon Lizards (Sceloporus merriami) From Two Populations

Detailed understanding of the factors that influence digestion is required for studies of ecological energetics and individual-based population modelling. With feeding trials, we quantified the effects of temperature, population of origin, lizard mass and consumption rate on apparent digestibility coefficient (ADC), urate production, metabolizable energy coefficient (MEC), and passage time in canyon lizards (Sceloporus merriami) from two populations. ADC was insensitive to temperature, averaged 0-90 and was significantly affected by consumption rate only. As expected, urate production was significantly affected by consumption rate, lizard mass and temperature. MEC was significantly affected by consumption rate, temperature and population of origin