Meeting Abstract

54.7  Saturday, Jan. 5  Artificial pregnancy and its effects on locomotion in green iguanas SCALES, JA; CARRIER, DR; BUTLER, MA*; Univ. of Hawaii; Univ. of Utah; Univ. of Hawaii mbutler@hawaii.edu

Reproduction imposes many physical changes on the bodies of females. In addition to a great increase in mass, there is also an increase in volume, pressurization of the abdominal cavity and internal organs, and reduced flexibility. These effects are not possible to separate using the natural reproductive states of gravid or post-gravid, and the end of gestation results in a complete and radical change. Here we describe an experiment to separate the effects of “mass” and “volume” by means of artificial implants. We implanted adult female green iguanas (Iguana iguana) which were post-reproductive with refillable implants. We tested locomotor performance in individuals with saline-filled, air-filled, or empty implants. We compared performance in terms of acceleration and force production during push-off, and maximum velocity attained during a 5m sprint. To our knowledge, this is the first study of the effects of an artificial internal load on locomotion. We will discuss difficulties with execution of the experiment.