... from ventilation–perfusion heterogeneity, pulmonary diffusion limitation and intrapulmonary shunting. However, the relative contribution of each of these factors is unknown. Many reptiles, particularly chelonians, exhibit an intermittent ventilation pattern where pulmonary blood flow ( Q̇ l ) increases...

...S. R. Hopkins; J. W. Hicks; T. K. Cooper; F. L. Powell ABSTRACT During exercise, pulmonary gas exchange in reptiles was predicted to differ from that in mammals because of their less complex lung structure, which might reduce ventilation–perfusion heterogeneity at the expense of pulmonary diffusion...