scholarly journals Changes in body temperature influence the scaling of and aerobic scope in mammals

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
James F Gillooly ◽  
Andrew P Allen

Debate on the mechanism(s) responsible for the scaling of metabolic rate with body size in mammals has focused on why the maximum metabolic rate ( ) appears to scale more steeply with body size than the basal metabolic rate (BMR). Consequently, metabolic scope, defined as /BMR, systematically increases with body size. These observations have led some to suggest that and BMR are controlled by fundamentally different processes, and to discount the generality of models that predict a single power-law scaling exponent for the size dependence of the metabolic rate. We present a model that predicts a steeper size dependence for than BMR based on the observation that changes in muscle temperature from rest to maximal activity are greater in larger mammals. Empirical data support the model's prediction. This model thus provides a potential theoretical and mechanistic link between BMR and .

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 998-1001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evgenia Dubman ◽  
Mark Collard ◽  
Arne Ø. Mooers

Gestation duration and lactation duration are usually treated as independently evolving traits in primates, but the metabolic theory of ecology (MTE) suggests both durations should be determined by metabolic rate. We used phylogenetic generalized least-squares linear regression to test these different perspectives. We found that the allometries of the durations are divergent from each other and different from the scaling exponent predicted by the MTE (0.25). Gestation duration increases much more slowly (0.06 < m < 0.12), and lactation duration much more quickly (0.36 < m < 0.52) with body mass than the MTE predicts. By contrast, we found that the combined duration of gestation and lactation is consistent with the MTE's predictions (0.22 < m < 0.35). These results suggest that gestation duration and lactation duration might best be viewed as distinct but coupled adaptations. When transferring energy to their offspring, primate mothers must meet metabolically dictated physiological requirements while optimizing the timing of the switch from gestation to lactation in relation to some as-yet-unidentified body-size-related factor.


PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5675 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helena Lopes Galasso ◽  
Marion Richard ◽  
Sébastien Lefebvre ◽  
Catherine Aliaume ◽  
Myriam D. Callier

Considering the ecological importance and potential value of Hediste diversicolor, a better understanding of its metabolic rate and potential growth rates is required. The aims of this study are: (i) to describe key biometric relationships; (ii) to test the effects of temperature and body size on standard metabolic rate (as measure by oxygen consumption) to determine critical parameters, namely Arrhenius temperature (TA), allometric coefficient (b) and reaction rate; and (iii) to determine the metabolic scope for activity (MSA) of H. diversicolor for further comparison with published specific growth rates. Individuals were collected in a Mediterranean lagoon (France). After 10 days of acclimatization, 7 days at a fixed temperature and 24 h of fasting, resting oxygen consumption rates (VO2) were individually measured in the dark at four different temperatures (11, 17, 22 and 27 °C) in worms weighing from 4 to 94 mgDW (n = 27 per temperature). Results showed that DW and L3 were the most accurate measurements of weight and length, respectively, among all the metrics tested. Conversion of WW (mg), DW (mg) and L3 (mm) were quantified with the following equations: DW = 0.15 × WW, L3 = 0.025 × TL(mm) + 1.44 and DW = 0.8 × L33.68. Using an equation based on temperature and allometric effects, the allometric coefficient (b) was estimated at 0.8 for DW and at 2.83 for L3. The reaction rate (VO2) equaled to 12.33 µmol gDW−1 h−1 and 0.05 µmol mm L3−1 h−1 at the reference temperature (20 °C, 293.15 K). Arrhenius temperature (TA) was 5,707 and 5,664 K (for DW and L3, respectively). Metabolic scope for activity ranged from 120.1 to 627.6 J gDW−1 d−1. Predicted maximum growth rate increased with temperature, with expected values of 7–10% in the range of 15–20 °C. MSA was then used to evaluate specific growth rates (SGR) in several experiments. This paper may be used as a reference and could have interesting applications in the fields of aquaculture, ecology and biogeochemical processes.


2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1794) ◽  
pp. 20141490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Sandblom ◽  
Albin Gräns ◽  
Michael Axelsson ◽  
Henrik Seth

Temperature acclimation may offset the increased energy expenditure (standard metabolic rate, SMR) and reduced scope for activity (aerobic scope, AS) predicted to occur with local and global warming in fishes and other ectotherms. Yet, the time course and mechanisms of this process is little understood. Acclimation dynamics of SMR, maximum metabolic rate, AS and the specific dynamic action of feeding (SDA) were determined in shorthorn sculpin ( Myoxocephalus scorpius ) after transfer from 10°C to 16°C. SMR increased in the first week by 82% reducing AS to 55% of initial values, while peak postprandial metabolism was initially greater. This meant that the estimated AS during peak SDA approached zero, constraining digestion and leaving little room for additional aerobic processes. After eight weeks at 16°C, SMR was restored, while AS and the estimated AS during peak SDA recovered partly. Collectively, this demonstrated a considerable capacity for metabolic thermal compensation, which should be better incorporated into future models on organismal responses to climate change. A mathematical model based on the empirical data suggested that phenotypes with fast acclimation rates may be favoured by natural selection as the accumulated energetic cost of a slow acclimation rate increases in a warmer future with exacerbated thermal variations.


Genome ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 350-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
A E Vinogradov ◽  
O V Anatskaya ◽  
B N Kudryavtsev

To elucidate possible causes of the elevation of genome number in somatic cells, hepatocyte ploidy levels were measured cytofluorimetrically and related to the organismal parameters (body size, postnatal growth rate, and postnatal development type) in 53 mammalian species. Metabolic scope (ratio of maximal metabolic rate to basal metabolic rate) was also included in 23 species. Body masses ranged 105 times, and growth rate more than 30 times. Postnatal growth rate was found to have the strongest effect on the hepatocyte ploidy. At a fixed body mass the growth rate closely correlates (partial correlation analysis) with the cell ploidy level (r = 0.85, P < 10–6), whereas at a fixed growth rate body mass correlates poorly with ploidy level (r = –0.38, P < 0.01). The mature young (precocial mammals) of the species have, on average, a higher cell ploidy level than the immature-born (altricial) animals. However, the relationship between precocity of young and cell ploidy levels disappears when the influences of growth rate and body mass are removed. Interspecies variability of the hepatocyte ploidy levels may be explained by different levels of competition between the processes of proliferation and differentiation in cells. In turn, the animal differences in the levels of this competition are due to differences in growth rate. A high negative correlation between the hepatocyte ploidy level and the metabolic scope indicates a low safety margin of organs with a high number of polyploid cells. This fact allows us to challenge a common opinion that increasing ploidy enhances the functional capability of cells or is necessary for cell differentiation. Somatic polyploidy can be considered a "cheap" solution of growth problems that appear when an organ is working at the limit of its capabilities.Key words: genome number, somatic polyploidy, nuclear ploidy, multinuclearity, metabolic scope.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rampal S. Etienne ◽  
Sara N. de Visser ◽  
Thijs Janzen ◽  
Jeanine L. Olsen ◽  
Han Olff ◽  
...  

One of the most striking patterns observed among animals is that smaller-bodied taxa are generally much more diverse than larger-bodied taxa. This observation seems to be explained by the mere fact that smaller-bodied taxa tend to have an older evolutionary origin and have therefore had more time to diversify. A few studies, based on the prevailing null model of diversification (i.e. the stochastic constant-rate birth–death model), have suggested that this is indeed the correct explanation, and body-size dependence of speciation and extinction rates does not play a role. However, there are several potential shortcomings to these studies: a suboptimal statistical procedure and a relatively narrow range of body sizes in the analysed data. Here, we present a more coherent statistical approach, maximizing the likelihood of the constant-rate birth–death model with allometric scaling of speciation and extinction rates, given data on extant diversity, clade age and average body size in each clade. We applied our method to a dataset compiled from the literature that includes a wide range of Metazoan taxa (range from midges to elephants). We find that the higher diversity among small animals is indeed, partly, caused by higher clade age. However, it is also partly caused by the body-size dependence of speciation and extinction rates. We find that both the speciation rate and extinction rate decrease with body size such that the net diversification rate is close to 0. Even more interestingly, the allometric scaling exponent of speciation and extinction rates is approximately −0.25, which implies that the per generation speciation and extinction rates are independent of body size. This suggests that the observed relationship between diversity and body size pattern can be explained by clade age alone, but only if clade age is measured in generations rather than years. Thus, we argue that the most parsimonious explanation for the observation that smaller-bodied taxa are more diverse is that their evolutionary clock ticks faster.


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 611-614 ◽  
Author(s):  
John P. DeLong

The energetic equivalence rule states that population-level metabolic rate is independent of average body size. This rule has been both supported and refuted by allometric studies of abundance and individual metabolic rate, but no study, to my knowledge, has tested the rule with direct measurements of whole-population metabolic rate. Here, I find a positive scaling of whole-colony metabolic rate with body size for eusocial insects. Individual metabolic rates in these colonies scaled with body size more steeply than expected from laboratory studies on insects, while population size was independent of body size. Using consumer-resource models, I suggest that the colony-level metabolic rate scaling observed here may arise from a change in the scaling of individual metabolic rate resulting from a change in the body size dependence of mortality rates.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanya S. Prinzing ◽  
Yangfan Zhang ◽  
Nicholas C. Wegner ◽  
Nicholas K. Dulvy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomos Potter ◽  
Anja Felmy

AbstractIn wild populations, large individuals have disproportionately higher reproductive output than smaller individuals. We suggest an ecological explanation for this observation: asymmetry within populations in rates of resource assimilation, where greater assimilation causes both increased reproduction and body size. We assessed how the relationship between size and reproduction differs between wild and lab-reared Trinidadian guppies. We show that (i) reproduction increased disproportionately with body size in the wild but not in the lab, where effects of resource competition were eliminated; (ii) in the wild, the scaling exponent was greatest during the wet season, when resource competition is strongest; and (iii) detection of hyperallometric scaling of reproduction is inevitable if individual differences in assimilation are ignored. We propose that variation among individuals in assimilation – caused by size-dependent resource competition, niche expansion, and chance – can explain patterns of hyperallometric scaling of reproduction in natural populations.


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