Skip to contents

Calculate Outputs for Animal

Source: R/Output_Function.R
outputs_function.Rd

This function computes various physiological outputs related to water balance, heat regulation, and metabolic processes in animals. It calculates fecal outputs, water vapor losses through different routes, and metabolic byproducts based on input parameters describing food intake, digestibility, and water turnover.

Usage

outputs_function(inputs = 0, sweating_species = FALSE)

Arguments

inputs

A data frame containing the following required columns:

FoodMassIngested

Numeric. Mass of food consumed (grams)

Digestibility

Numeric. Fraction of food digested (0-1)

TotalH2OTurnover

Numeric. Total daily water turnover (ml)

H2OOral

Numeric. Oral water loss (ml)

H2ONasal

Numeric. Nasal water loss (ml)

TranscutaneousH2OLoss

Numeric. Transcutaneous water loss (ml)

UrinaryH2OLoss

Numeric. Urinary water loss (ml)

Oprotein

Numeric. Oxygen consumption for protein metabolism

foodproteincontent

Numeric. Protein content of food (fraction)

EEE

Numeric. Energy extraction efficiency (0-1)

MolesO2Air

Numeric. Moles of oxygen from air

dryHinflux

Numeric. Dry hydrogen influx

dryOinflux

Numeric. Dry oxygen influx

sweating_species

Logical. Indicates whether the species is capable of sweating. If TRUE, water vapor loss from sweating is calculated as 75% of water heat loss. If FALSE (default), sweating water vapor loss is set to zero.

Value

A data frame containing all original input columns plus the following calculated output columns:

DryFecalOutput

Numeric. Dry mass of fecal output (grams)

FecalH20Loss

Numeric. Water loss through feces (ml)

WVFecal

Numeric. Water vapor from fecal loss (ml)

WaterHeatLoss

Numeric. Water used for thermoregulation (ml)

WVSweat

Numeric. Water vapor from sweating (ml, species-dependent)

Panting

Numeric. Water loss through panting (ml)

WVMouth

Numeric. Water vapor from oral routes (ml)

UreaProduced

Numeric. Urea production from protein metabolism

WVCO2

Numeric. Water vapor associated with CO2 exchange

Details

The function performs calculations in a specific sequence to handle dependencies:

  1. Calculates dry fecal output based on food intake and digestibility

  2. Computes fecal water loss using standard conversion factors

  3. Determines water available for heat loss by subtracting all other losses

  4. Calculates sweating-related outputs (species-dependent)

  5. Computes respiratory water losses

  6. Determines metabolic outputs including urea production

Note

All water-related inputs and outputs should use consistent units (typically ml). Digestibility and efficiency values should be between 0 and 1. For non-sweating species, set sweating_species = FALSE (default).

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
# Example for a small mammal
mouse_data <- data.frame(
  FoodMassIngested = 5.2,
  Digestibility = 0.85,
  TotalH2OTurnover = 8.5,
  H2OOral = 1.2,
  H2ONasal = 0.8,
  TranscutaneousH2OLoss = 2.1,
  UrinaryH2OLoss = 3.2,
  Oprotein = 0.12,
  foodproteincontent = 0.18,
  EEE = 0.88,
  MolesO2Air = 0.42,
  dryHinflux = 0.15,
  dryOinflux = 0.08
)

# Calculate outputs for non-sweating species (default)
mouse_outputs <- outputs_function(mouse_data)

# Calculate outputs for sweating species with debug info
human_outputs <- outputs_function(human_data, sweating_species = TRUE, printinfo = TRUE)

# Multiple animals
multi_animal_data <- data.frame(
  FoodMassIngested = c(100, 150, 200),
  Digestibility = c(0.8, 0.75, 0.85),
  TotalH2OTurnover = c(1000, 1200, 1400),
  H2OOral = c(50, 60, 70),
  H2ONasal = c(20, 25, 30),
  TranscutaneousH2OLoss = c(80, 90, 100),
  UrinaryH2OLoss = c(150, 180, 200),
  Oprotein = c(0.1, 0.12, 0.08),
  foodproteincontent = c(0.2, 0.18, 0.22),
  EEE = c(0.9, 0.85, 0.92),
  MolesO2Air = c(10, 12, 8),
  dryHinflux = c(4, 5, 3),
  dryOinflux = c(2, 2.5, 1.5)
)
multi_outputs <- outputs_function(multi_animal_data, sweating_species = FALSE)
} # }