Temperature and Class Reptilia.

Reptiles are organisms that belong to the class Reptilia. They belong to the Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Chordata, and Subphylum Vertibrata. Many subclasses are found under Class Reptilia.

They are

1)    Crocodilia

2)    Sphenodontia

3)    Squamata 

4)    Testudines.

Crocodilia is an order of Crocodiles, Alligators, Gharials and Caymans.  Sphenodontia consists of lizard-like reptiles that include only one living genus, the tuatara (Sphenodon). Squamata (scaled reptiles) is the largest recent order of reptiles, including lizards and snakes. Members of the order are distinguished by their skins, which bear horny scales or shields. They also possess movable quadrate bones, making it possible to move the upper jaw relative to the braincase. And Testudines which are home to Turtles, Tortoises, and Terrapins who are ectodermic reptiles, most of whose body is shielded by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs.

Temperature plays vital role in the life of all Reptiles. It determines the animal’s movements, day to day activities and even sex determination.

 

TEMPERATURE AND REPTILIAN MOVEMENT.

Reptiles are Cold-Blooded organisms. That is, the external temperature will be almost the same as their body temperature. Temperature plays a vital role in the life of these Reptiles.

Thermoregulation is the process by which an organism regulates its body temperature. This term is usually reserved for animals, such as Reptiles, that maintain their body temperatures through external means.

The Movement of the Reptiles is decided over by the External Temperature. If it’s too cold, The Animal basks itself under the sun to charge itself up for its routine. If it’s too hot, the animal cools itself down under a shade.

Temperature determines the Gender/Sex of a Reptile. 

Research has proved that, temperature plays a major or vital role in determining the gender of a reptile. A reptile egg incubated on a specific range of temperature has resulted in producing a hatching of a specific gender, and a variation in the temperature resulted in producing another gender. The offspring sex in many reptiles is irreversibly determined by temperatures experienced (during the middle third of embryonic development). The sex ratio of offspring in these taxa may be radically altered by as little as a 1C shift in incubation temperature.

 

FREDRIC J. JANZEN (Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago) monitored nests of a population of painted turtles (Chrysemys pica) with temperature-dependent sex determination to investigate the causal relationship between local climatic variation in temperature and offspring sex ratio. When monitored in the mild July temperatures, he came to realize that; even modest increases in mean temperature (<2C) may drastically skew the sex ratio. Statistical evaluation of the variance in climate change indicates that an increase in mean temperature of 4C would effectively eliminate production of male offspring