Latitudinal Clines in an Ectothermic Vertebrate: Patterns in Body Size, Growth Rate, and Reproductive Effort Suggest Countergradient Responses in the Prairie Lizard.

Although we have evidence that many organisms are exhibiting declines in body size in response to climate warming, we have little knowledge of underlying mechanisms or how associated phenotypic suites may coevolve. The better we understand coadaptations among physiology, morphology, and life history, the more accurate our predictions will be of organismal response to changing thermal environments. This is especially salient for ectotherms because they comprise 99% of species worldwide and are key to functioning ecosystems.

Metabolic Compensation Associated With Digestion in Response to the Latitudinal Thermal Environment Across Populations of the Prairie Lizard (Sceloporus consobrinus).

Environmental temperatures directly affect physiological rates in ectotherms by constraining the possible body temperatures they can achieve, with physiological processes slowing as temperatures decrease and accelerating as temperatures increase. As environmental constraints increase, as they do northward along the latitudinal thermal gradient, organisms must adapt to compensate for the slower physiological processes or decreased opportunity time. Evolving faster general metabolic rates is one adaptive response posited by the metabolic cold adaptation (MCA) hypothesis.

Hardness, strength, and ductility of prefabricated titanium rods used in the manufacture of spark erosion crowns.

Depending on the size of the prepared tooth spark eroded and milled, Procera crowns (Nobelpharma AB, Göteborg, Sweden) are manufactured from one of five diameters of pure titanium rods. In this study microindentation hardness tests were performed on the outer 400 microns and center of 10 samples for each type of rod. Five tensile samples were also machined for each of the diameters and tested in tension in a universal testing machine.

Flexural strength of a high-temperature soldered cobalt-chromium alloy.

The flexural strength of a high-temperature soldered cobalt-chromium alloy was compared with that of the intact alloy. In one test group the specimens were soldered by Vitallium welding rods and in the other group Bego cobalt-chromium solder was used. The cylindrical portion of all specimens was mounted equally in an Instron testing machine.

Porosity of resin veneer materials.

The present investigation has studied the effects of different types of resins and different processing and curing methods on the number and size of pores occurring in resin facing materials. The mean number of pores per square millimeter varied between 0.5 and 4.