1254394703

109

A

A 0.275 0.270 > 0.265 | 0.260 | 0.255 £ 0.250 0.245 0.240

Fali Midwinter End Winter Summer

Figurę 4.3 Metabolic variations throughout the year. Least square mean of A) BMR and B) Msum were obtained from a GLM including period, sex and period*sex as independent variables. Different Ietters represent significant difference between periods. LDM : lean dry mass.

4.5.2 Seasonal yariation in lean dry organ mass

The lean dry mass of digestive organs was influenced by body size (Fi. 73 = 4.3, p < 0.05) and periods (F_3t73 = 26.3, p < 0.0001) but not by sex (p = 0.7) or the interaction period*sex (p = 0.6). Digestive organs showed a declining pattem throughout the year when considering the effect of body size. Indeed, they declined by 13.3% (Tukey: p < 0.01) from fali to the end of winter and then decreased by a further 28.8% between the end of winter and summer (Tukey: p < 0.0001) (figurę 4.4a).