thermoconform

English

Etymology

From thermo- +‎ conform.

Verb

thermoconform (third-person singular simple present thermoconforms, present participle thermoconforming, simple past and past participle thermoconformed)

1. (intransitive) To adopt the surrounding temperature
   • 1982, Carl Gans, F. Harvey Pough, Biology of the reptilia‎, volume 12:

     First, a reptile that thermoconforms while active (slope = 1) may still achieve a low variance in body temperature by restricting its activity to times and habitats with suitable microenvironments.

   • 2014, Encyclopedia of Ecology, →OCLC, page 189:

     They must either thermoconform to their environment, if their environmental temperature is relatively constant or if they can tolerate fluctuations in T_b, or use behavioral regulatory mechanisms to maintain a T_b that is somewhat independent of environmental temperature.

Related terms

• thermoconformity