Temperature and heat production patterns inside organism clusters.

Clustering of organisms under cold air temperature conditions is modelled with a finite-difference method. Metabolic functions of temperature are used to simulate completely ectothermic, completely endothermic, and other organisms. To adequately match real conditions, the core temperature is kept constant at a high level, while the periphery of the organism cluster is assigned a lower temperature representing the cold conditions under which clustering is observed for organisms. The numerical model reasonably predicts the observed temperature distribution in honeybee clusters. The results do not support suggestions that organisms could overheat in the core of a cluster if they do not use thermoregulatory mechanisms to cool down. Endothermic organisms are not as efficient as ectothermic ones in heating a cluster core temperature to a given level. The general ectothermic metabolic rate function exhibited one of the highest efficiencies for heating the cluster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]