In: Biology
Design an experiment to test the standard metabolic rate of the salmon-colored tarantula.
Tarantulas are ectothermic organisms, whose body temperature depends exclusively on the temperature of the environment in which they are found. The metabolism is inefficient and produces heat. Endotherms use metabolic heat to maintain a stable body temperature, while ectotherms do not. The "baseline" metabolic rate of an animal is measured as the basal metabolic rate (BMR) in endotherms or as the standard metabolic rate (TMS) for ectotherms.
The metabolic rate varies with the level of activity. More active animals have a higher metabolic rate than less active animals. The metabolic rate refers to the speed at which fuels (such as sugars) degrade to keep the cells of an organism active. There are general differences in the metabolic rate between species, and factors such as environmental conditions and the level of activity of a specific organism will also affect your metabolic rate.
Some animals can use (and regulate) their production of metabolic heat to maintain a relatively constant body temperature. These animals, called endotherms, include mammals, such as humans, and birds.
The ectotherms, on the other hand, are animals that do not use the production of metabolic heat to maintain a constant body temperature. On the contrary, your body temperature changes with the temperature of the environment. The reptiles, the snakes, the arachnids; they are examples of ectotherms.
The amount of energy that an animal spends during a specific period of time is called its metabolic rate. The metabolic rate can be measured in joules, calories or kilocalories per unit of time. The metabolic rate can also be expressed in terms of oxygen consumed (or produced carbon dioxide) per unit of time. Oxygen is consumed in cellular respiration and carbon dioxide is produced as a byproduct, so both measurements indicate how much fuel is burned.
The TMB and the TMS are measurements of the metabolic rate in animals which, therefore, for an ectotherm, the TMS will vary with temperature, so any measurement of TMS is specific to the temperature at which it is taken.
Consequently, having the animals at rest, without stress, fasting, and knowing the environmental temperature, would be variables to be used to generate an experiment that allows knowing the variability of the TMS of this type of arachnid.