| Popis: |
Since Cowles and Bogert’s [1] classic study on thermoregulation, numerous studies have established the importance of basking behavior as a means of thermoregulation of many reptiles [2,3,4]. However, the sun provides not only heat produced by long-wave infrared radiation but also biologically important radiation at the other end of the spectrum, specifically ultraviolet-B (UVB) radiation (290-320 nm). These wavelengths penetrate the skin of vertebrates and promote photobiosynthesis of previtamin D, from provitamin D3 [5,6], which is then isomerized to vitamin D3 by a temperature-dependant process. Despite its potentially important role, basking behavior has never been seriously considered an important means of UV photoregulation for vitamin D photobiosynthesis in reptiles. |
