Journal publications
Here are some of my scientific publications.
| Title | Description | Author(s) | Year | Reference | pdf? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| On the mound of Macrotermes michaelseni as an organ of respiratory gas exchange | Tracer gases are used to measure actual flows of air in Macrotermes mounds and nests. | J S Turner | 2001 | Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 74(6): 798-822 |  |
| Architecture and morphogenesis in the mound of Macrotermes michaelseni (Sjöstedt) (Isoptera: Termitidae, Macrotermitinae) in northern Namibia | Mounds of Macrotermes are sliced and reconstructed, yielding quantitative assessments of void space, soil volume, etc. The mound is a dynamic structure | J S Turner | 2000 | Cimbebasia 16: 143-175. | |
| On the thermal capacity of a bird’s egg warmed by a brood patch | Birds that incubate their eggs intermittently put in AC pulses of heat. How this heat is transferred to the egg is a matter of egg impedance rather than resistance, which leads to surprising conclusions about incubation energetics. Among them is that eggs have an apparent thermal capacity that varies with incubation frequency. | J S Turner | 1997 | Physiological Zoology 70: 470-480 | |
| Transient thermal properties of contact-incubated chicken eggs | I measure the thermal impedance of birds' eggs using an artificial brood patch. | J S Turner | 1994 | Physiological Zoology 67: 1426-1447 | |
| Thermal impedance of a contact-incubated bird’s egg | I measure the thermal impedance of birds' eggs using an artificial brood patch. | J S Turner | 1994 | Journal of Thermal Biology 19: 237-243 | |
| Ventilation and thermal constancy of the colony of a southern African termite (Odontotermes transvaalensis: Macrotermitinae) | The air flows and thermal properties of an open chimney macrotermitine nest are nothing like what the literature suggests. | J S Turner | 1994 | Journal of Arid Environments. 28: 231-248 | |
| Anomalous water loss rates from spittle nests of spittle bugs (Homoptera: Cercopidae) | Water loss rates from the spittle nest are anomalously low. This, and other observations, suggest the spittle nest is a means of dumping excess ammonia. | J S Turner | 1994 | Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology. 107A: 679-683 | |
| Thermal constraints on prey-capture behavior of a burrowing spider in a hot environment | Namib dune spiders "shuttle" back and forth to the surface to distentangle prey. This has always been thought to be thermal shuttling. Using measurements of actual cooling curves of spiders, we show that this behavior is not thermal shuttling. | J S Turner J B Henschel Y D Lubin |
1993 | Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology 33: 35-43 | |
| Thermal ecology of a subterranean dwarf succulent from southern Africa (Lithops spp: Mesembryanthemaceae) | "Window plants" are thought to have many unusual adaptations for the hot microclimate they inhabit. Using a combination of heat transfer modeling and experimental measurements, we show there is only one that counts: the clarity of the window. | J S Turner M D Picker |
1993 | Journal of Arid Environments 24: 361-385 | |
| Contrasting physiological abilities for heating and cooling in an amphibian (Rana pipiens) and a reptile (Sauromalus obesus) | Amphibians may have less (or no) control over their rates of temperature change. | C R Tracy C R Tracy J S Turner |
1992 | Herpetologica 48: 57-60 |  |
| Ants nesting under stones in the |
Richard Dean and I looked at temperature benefits that might accrue to ants nesting under stones. We didn't find much, mainly because soil thermal capacity is so high that nest temperatures are driven mostly by that | W R J Dean J S Turner |
1991 | Journal of Arid Environments 21: 59-69 | |
| The thermal energetics of an incubated chicken egg. | This paper looked at the effects of two-dimensional heat flow through an egg, which is the appropriate way to model it. The thermal energetics is much different. | J S Turner | 1990 | Journal of Thermal Biology 15: 211- | |
| Body color and body temperature in white and black Namib desert beetles | The black desert beetle paradox (that black animals can actually be cooler in the desert) is the subject here. Mandy Lombard and I did a detailed thermal analysis for black Namib tenebrionid beetles, and found that black or white color made little difference to beetle temperature as long as winds were above about 1 m/s. In the beetles' natural habitats, this is almost always the case. | J S Turner A T Lombard |
1990 | Journal of Arid Environments 19: 303-315 | |
| Metabolic responses to gradual cooling in chicken eggs treated with thiourea and oxygen | Thyroid development seems to be the threshold event in the ability of chicken embryos to begin generating substantial quantities of metabolic heat. | H Tazawa G C Whittow J S Turner C V Paganelli |
1989 | Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 92A: 619-622 | |
| Metabolic compensation to gradual cooling in developing chick embryos | Developing homeothermy is throttled in late-stage chicken embryos by the gas conductance of the shell. | H Tazawa Y Suzuki J S Turner C V Paganelli |
1988 | Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 89A: 125-129 | |
| Cooling rates of living and killed chicken and quail eggs in air and in helium-oxygen gas mixture | By cooling eggs in a helium-air mixture, we demonstrate that embryonic blood circulation can significantly redistribute heat within the egg. | H Tazawa J S Turner C V Paganelli |
1988 | Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 90A: 99-102 | |
| Body size and thermal energetics. How should thermal conductance scale? | Thermal conductance does not scale to a single power curve, but two, one by convection with an exponent close to 0.5, and radiation, with an exponent close to 0.67. This means that eggs of different sizes differ in the relative importance of radiation and convection. | J S Turner | 1988 | Journal of Thermal Biology 13: 103-117 | |
| On the transient temperatures of ectotherms | This is a very theoretical paper that outlines how to think properly about transient temperatures, including using concepts like thermal impedance. | J S Turner | 1987 | Journal of Thermal Biology 12: 207-214 | |
| Embryonic blood flow and the heat exchange of avian eggs | I never could get this published, so I published it myself. | J S Turner | 1987 | Privately published. 9 pp. | N/A |
| Blood circulation and the flows of heat in an incubated egg | Here, I outline first thoughts on the different physics of brood patch incubation (two dimensional) and cooling in air (one dimensional) which suggests we've been getting incubation energetics wrong all along. | J S Turner | 1987 | Journal of Experimental Zoology (Supplement 1): 99-104. | |
| Body size, homeothermy and the control of heat exchange in mammal-like reptiles | Large and small reptiles control internal heat distribution in different ways. Specifically, large reptiles rely more on appendages than small reptiles do. Above a certain body size, new heat exchange surfaces, such as plates or fins (as in the sail of Dimetrodon) are needed to control heat exchange. | J S Turner and C R Tracy | 1986 | In: N J Hotton III, P D MacLean, J J Roth and E C Roth, eds., The Ecology and Biology of Mammal-Like Reptiles. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C pp. 185-194. | |
| A biophysical analysis of possible thermoregulatory adaptations in sailed pelycosaurs | Dick Tracy and Ray Huey took the analysis of heat exchange through fins to the next level, showing that the sail of Dimetrodon could significantly alter heating and cooling rates. This suggests that they could have been ecothermic, without significant disadvantage. | C R Tracy J S Turner R B Huey |
1986 | In: N J Hotton III, P D MacLean, J J Roth and E C Roth, eds., The Ecology and Biology of Mammal-Like Reptiles. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. pp. 195-206 | |
| Cooling rate and size of birds’ eggs - a natural isomorphic body | Birds' eggs form a natural isomorphic body for analyzing the complex variation of heat exchange as body size varies. | J S Turner | 1985 | Journal of Thermal Biology 10: 101-104 | |
| Burst swimming of alligators and the effect of temperature. | Here, we measured the effects of temperature on burst swimming. At the time, physiological ecology was abuzz with talk of performance curves, namely performance of muscle and what it meant. Temperature variation also affects the behavioral willingness of alligators to swim, which has an ecological effect at least as great as muscle performance. | J S Turner C R Tracy B Weigler T Baynes |
1985 | Journal of Herpetology 19: 450-458. | |
| Why are small homeotherms born naked? Insulation and the critical radius concept. | The critical radius concept says that, below a certain body size, insulation should actually increase heat loss. Some said this was why small homeotherms were born naked. Bob Schroter and I looked at this idea using experimental models of furred creatures and concluded the critical radius concept (developed initially for designing insulation in wires) does not apply to diffuse insulation like fur or pelage. | J S Turner and R C Schroter | 1985 | Journal of Thermal Biology 10: 233-238. | |
| Body size and the control of heat exchange in alligators. | At the time this paper was published, there was speculation that large reptiles had very good physiological control over heat exchange. This meant that dinosaurs could be very good behavioral thermoregulators. I show here that is not true, that there is an optimum body size for using blood to control heat exchange. Animals larger than this had to develop accessory heat exchange surfaces, like fins or sails, to use blood flow to regulate heat exchange. | J S Turner C R Tracy |
1985 | Journal of Thermal Biology 10: 9-12. | |
| Raymond B Cowles and the biology of temperature in reptiles. | Raymond Cowles was a pioneer in modern concepts of thermoregulation in ectotherms. This is a review of the development of his thinking. | J S Turner | 1984 | Journal of Herpetology 18: 421-436. | |
| Blood flow to appendages and the control of heat exchange in the American alligator. | Blood flow to appendages is a significant and neglected phenomenon in the physiological control of temperature in ectotherms. This is especially the case in large reptiles. | J S Turner C R Tracy | 1983 | Physiological Zoology 56: 195-200. | |
| What is physiological ecology? | Dick Tracy and I explored what physiological ecology was. This was for the Ecological Society of America, which was deciding whether to devote a special section to it. | C R Tracy J S Turner |
1982 | Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 63: 340-341. | |