Terrestrial systems act as a test for the role of
endothermy in limiting food chain lengths, as endotherm and ectotherm consumers are often more similar in size in those systems (partially controlling for body size as a variable).
Hulbert, "An allometric comparison of the mitochondria of mammalian and reptilian tissues: the implications for the evolution of
endothermy," Journal of Comparative Physiology B, vol.
Dickson and Graham (2004) argued that
endothermy per se was not required for niche expansion and that other adaptations were necessary to allow for vertical movements below the thermocline.
58 M POSSIBLE ROLE OF KIDNEY CHROMAFFIN CELLS IN CRANIAL
ENDOTHERMY IN THE ALBACORE TUNA, Thunnus alalunga H.
A matter of size: an examination of
endothermy in insects and terrestrial vertebrates, pp.
It is possible that the branch of reptiles that became mammals transduced sound in this fashion the entire time, and that competition for the function of these three bones did not occur until the advent of
endothermy and the subsequent need for more rapid food processing.
To put it another way, a delicate homeothermy could have been maintained alongside a weak
endothermy (internal energy expenditure).
Reptilian
endothermy: a field study of thermoregulation by brooding diamond pythons.
Digestive adaptations for fueling the cost of
endothermy. Science 228, 202-204.
The evolution of
endothermy: testing the aerobic capacity model.
However, there is an occasional patient with Crohn's who will bleed from a deep ulcer where the physician can render
endothermy, as in an upper-G.I.
Energetics, body size and the limits of
endothermy. J.