Abstract:Seasonal adjustments of metabolic thermogenesis is common in endotherms, which is important to energy allocation, survival, reproduction and other aspects of these animals. To understand the response of thermoregulation to climate change, we used a continuous flow respirometry system to determine thermoregulatory characteristics including body temperature, basal metabolic rate, thermal neutral zone and thermal conductance in the winter-acclimatized Common Rosefinch Carpodacus erythrinus, which were captured in breeding ground and in captivity for 3 years (2018﹣2020). The results analyzed by one-way ANOVA showed that their body temperatures (Tb) maintained at 42.9 ± 0.15 ℃, when the air temperature (Ta) ranged between 10﹣25 ℃; and Tb increased when the Ta upper this range, and decreased to 41.6 ± 0.13 ℃ at the Ta of 5 ℃ (Fig. 1). The resting metabolic rate increased significantly with the descending of Ta when the Ta lower than 20 ℃, and when Ta exceeded 35 ℃. Metabolic rate maintained lowest and stable when the Ta ranged between 20-35 ℃ (Fig. 2), therefore, this temperature range should be the thermal neutral zone (TNZ) in this bird, with the basal metabolic rate (BMR) of 6.5 ± 0.3 ml/(g·h). Thermal conductance increased with the upgrade of Ta (Fig. 3) and with the least value of 0.25 ± 0.02 ml/(g·h·℃). Compared to the previously reports, our results indicated that the Common Rosefinch changed their TNZ wider and increased metabolic thermogenesis to maintain their higher Tb in winter, and could survival in the temperate conditions with abundant food.