Bradymetabolism refers to organisms with a high active
metabolism
Metabolism (, from el, μεταβολή ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run ...
and a considerably slower resting metabolism.
[Bligh, J., and Johnson, K.G., 1973. Glossary for terms for thermal physiology. ''Journal of Applied Physiology'' 35(6):941–961.] Bradymetabolic animals can often undergo dramatic changes in metabolic speed, according to food availability and temperature. Many bradymetabolic creatures in
desert
A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one ...
s and in areas that experience extreme winters are capable of "shutting down" their metabolisms to approach near-death states, until favorable conditions return
(see
hibernation
Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic depression undergone by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate. It mo ...
and
estivation).
Several variants of bradymetabolism exists. In
mammal
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fu ...
s, the animals normally have a fairly high metabolism, only dropping to low levels in times of little food. In most
reptile
Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates ( lizards and snakes) and rhynchoce ...
s, the normal metabolic rate is quite low, but can be raised when needed, typically in short bursts of activity in connection with capturing prey.
Etymology
The term is from
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
''brady'' (βραδύ) "slow" and ''metaballein'' (μεταβάλλειν) "turn quickly."
See also
*
ectotherm
An ectotherm (from the Greek () "outside" and () "heat") is an organism in which internal physiological sources of heat are of relatively small or of quite negligible importance in controlling body temperature.Davenport, John. Animal Life a ...
*
homeotherm
Homeothermy, homothermy or homoiothermy is thermoregulation that maintains a stable internal body temperature regardless of external influence. This internal body temperature is often, though not necessarily, higher than the immediate environmen ...
*
bradyaerobic
*
tachyaerobic
*
tachymetabolic
Notes
Animal physiology
Thermoregulation
{{animal-physiology-stub