Ontogenetic change in the relationship between metabolic rate and body mass in a sea bream Pagrus major (Temminck & Schlegel)

1. Rewarming rate from torpor and body mass were inversely related in 86 mammals ranging in body mass between 2 and 8500 g. 2. Most of the mammalian taxa investigated showed a similar change of rewarming rate with body mass. Only the insectivores showed a more pronounced increase in rewarming with a decrease in body mass than did the other taxa. The rates of rewarming of marsupials were similar to those of placentals. 3. At low air temperature (Ta), the rate of rewarming of marsupials was not related to body mass, although a strong relationship between the two variables was observed in the same species at high Ta. 4. The slopes relating rewarming rates and body mass of the mammalian groups and taxa analysed here were similar to those obtained earlier for mass-specific basal metabolic rate (BMR) and body mass in mammals, suggesting that the rate of rewarming and BMR are physiologically linked.

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The relationship between genome size and metabolic rate in extant vertebrates

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2019.0146 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 375 (1793) ◽

pp. 20190146 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jacob D. Gardner ◽

Michel Laurin ◽

Chris L. Organ

Keyword(s):

Metabolic Rate ◽

Genome Size ◽

Body Mass ◽

Rate Variation ◽

Large Nucleus ◽

Functional Connection ◽

Strong Positive Relationship ◽

Elevated Rate ◽

The Relationship ◽

Rule Out

Genome size has long been hypothesized to affect the metabolic rate in various groups of animals. The mechanism behind this proposed association is the nucleotypic effect, in which large nucleus and cell sizes influence cellular metabolism through surface area-to-volume ratios. Here, we provide a review of the recent literature on the relationship between genome size and metabolic rate. We also conduct an analysis using phylogenetic comparative methods and a large sample of extant vertebrates. We find no evidence that the effect of genome size improves upon models in explaining metabolic rate variation. Not surprisingly, our results show a strong positive relationship between metabolic rate and body mass, as well as a substantial difference in metabolic rate between endothermic and ectothermic vertebrates, controlling for body mass. The presence of endothermy can also explain elevated rate shifts in metabolic rate whereas genome size cannot. We further find no evidence for a punctuated model of evolution for metabolic rate. Our results do not rule out the possibility that genome size affects cellular physiology in some tissues, but they are consistent with previous research suggesting little support for a direct functional connection between genome size and basal metabolic rate in extant vertebrates. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Vertebrate palaeophysiology’.

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Scaling of statically derived osteocyte lacunae in extant birds: implications for palaeophysiological reconstruction

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2018.0837 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 15 (4) ◽

pp. 20180837 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Orvil Grunmeier ◽

Michael D. D'Emic

Keyword(s):

Growth Rate ◽

Metabolic Rate ◽

Genome Size ◽

Body Mass ◽

Bird Species ◽

Growth Rate Constant ◽

Osteocyte Lacunae ◽

Osteocyte Lacuna ◽

The Relationship ◽

Osteocyte Lacunar

Osteocytes are mature versions of osteoblasts, bone-forming cells that develop in two ways: via ‘static’ osteogenesis, differentiating and ossifying tissue in situ to form a scaffold upon which other bone can form, or ‘dynamic’ osteogenesis, migrating to infill or lay down bone around neurovasculature. A previous study regressed the volume of osteocyte lacunae derived from dynamic osteogenesis (DO) of a broad sample of extant bird species against body mass, the growth rate constant ( k ), mass-specific metabolic rate, genome size, and erythrocyte size. There were significant relationships with body mass, growth rate, metabolic rate, and genome size, with the latter being the strongest. Using the same avian histological dataset, we measured over 3800 osteocyte lacunar axes derived from static osteogenesis (SO) in order to look for differences in the strength of form–function relationships inferred for DO-derived lacunae at the cellular and tissue levels. The relationship between osteocyte lacunar volume and body mass was stronger when measuring SO lacunae, whereas relationships between osteocyte lacunar volume versus growth rate and basal metabolic rate disappeared. The relationship between osteocyte lacuna volume and genome size remained significant and moderately strong when measuring SO lacunae, whereas osteocyte lacuna volume was still unrelated to erythrocyte size. Our results indicate that growth and metabolic rate signals are contained in avian DO but not SO osteocyte lacunae, suggesting that the former should be used in estimating these parameters in extinct animals.

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Relationship between metabolic rate in vitro and body mass in a marine teleost, porgy Pagrus major

Fish Physiology and Biochemistry ◽

10.1007/bf00004511 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 177-182 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Shin Oikawa ◽

Yasuo Itazawa

Keyword(s):

Metabolic Rate ◽

Body Mass ◽

Marine Teleost ◽

Pagrus Major

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Resting metabolic rate and morphology in mice (Mus musculus) selected for high and low food intake

Journal of Experimental Biology ◽

10.1242/jeb.204.4.777 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 204 (4) ◽

pp. 777-784 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

C. Selman ◽

S. Lumsden ◽

L. Bunger ◽

W.G. Hill ◽

J.R. Speakman

Keyword(s):

Regression Analysis ◽

Food Intake ◽

Metabolic Rate ◽

Body Mass ◽

Resting Metabolic Rate ◽

Strain Differences ◽

Dry Mass ◽

Intestine Length ◽

Body Components ◽

The Relationship

We investigated the relationship between resting metabolic rate (RMR) and various morphological parameters in non-breeding mice, selected for high and low food intake corrected for body mass. RMR was measured at 30 degrees C, and mice were subsequently killed and dissected into 19 body components. High-food-intake mice had significantly greater body masses and a significantly elevated RMR compared with the low-intake mice. Data pooled across strains indicated that body mass, sex and strain together explained over 56 % of the observed variation in RMR. The effects of strain and sex on RMR and tissue morphology were removed, and three separate statistical analyses to investigate the relationship between RMR and organ morphology were performed: (i) employing individual regression analysis with each tissue component as a separate predictor against RMR; (ii) individual regression analysis with residual organ mass against residual RMR (i.e. with strain, sex and body mass effects removed); and (iii) pooling of some organ masses into functional groupings to reduce the number of predictors. Liver mass was the most significant morphological trait linked to differences in RMR. Small intestine length was significantly greater in the high-intake line; however, no difference was observed between strains in the dry mass of this organ, and there was no evidence to associate variability in the mass of the alimentary tract with variability in RMR. The effects of strain on RMR independent of the effect on body mass were consistent with the anticipated effect from the strain differences in the size of the liver.

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Taxonomic variation in size–density relationships challenges the notion of energy equivalence

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2011.0128 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. 615-618 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

Nick J. B. Isaac ◽

David Storch ◽

Chris Carbone

Keyword(s):

Metabolic Rate ◽

Body Mass ◽

Energy Flux ◽

Geometric Constraints ◽

Major Focus ◽

Energy Equivalence ◽

Taxonomic Groups ◽

The Relationship ◽

Predictive Rule

The relationship between body mass and abundance is a major focus for research in macroecology. The form of this relationship has been suggested to reflect the partitioning of energy among species. We revisit classical datasets to show that size–density relationships vary systematically among taxonomic groups, with most variation occurring at the order level. We use this knowledge to make a novel test of the ‘energy equivalence rule’, at the taxonomic scale appropriate for the data. We find no obvious relationship between order-specific exponents for abundance and metabolic rate, although most orders show substantially shallower (less negative) scaling than predicted by energy equivalence. This finding implies greater energy flux among larger-bodied animals, with the largest species using two orders of magnitude more energy than the smallest. Our results reject the traditional interpretation of energy equivalence as a predictive rule. However, some variation in size–density exponents is consistent with a model of geometric constraints on foraging.

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Thermal energetics of female big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus)

Canadian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1139/z05-074 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 83 (6) ◽

pp. 871-879 ◽

Cited By ~ 41

Author(s):

Craig K.R Willis ◽

Jeffrey E Lane ◽

Eric T Liknes ◽

David L Swanson ◽

R Mark Brigham

Keyword(s):

Metabolic Rate ◽

Body Mass ◽

Thermal Conductance ◽

Eptesicus Fuscus ◽

Ambient Temperatures ◽

Big Brown Bats ◽

A Value ◽

The Family ◽

Thermal Energetics ◽

The Relationship

We investigated thermoregulation and energetics in female big brown bats, Eptesicus fuscus (Beauvois, 1796). We exposed bats to a range of ambient temperatures (Ta) and used open-flow respirometry to record their metabolic responses. The bats were typically thermoconforming and almost always entered torpor at Tas below the lower critical temperature Tlc of 26.7 °C. Basal metabolic rate (BMR, 16.98 ± 2.04 mL O2·h–1, mean body mass = 15.0 ± 1.4 g) and torpid metabolic rate (TMR, 0.460 ± 0.207 mL O2·h–1, mean body mass = 14.7 ± 1.3 g) were similar to values reported for other vespertilionid bats of similar size and similar to a value for E. fuscus BMR calculated from data in a previous paper. However, we found that big brown bats had a lower Tlc and lower thermal conductance at low Ta relative to those measured in the previous study. During torpor, the minimum individual body temperature (Tb) that we recorded was 1.1 °C and the bats began defending minimum Tb at Ta of approximately 0 °C. BMR of big brown bats was 76% of that predicted for bats based on the relationship between BMR and body mass. However, the Vespert ilionidae have been under-represented in previous analyses of the relationship between BMR and body mass in bats. Our data, combined with data for other vespertilionids, suggest that the family may be characterized by a lower BMR than that predicted based on data from other groups of bats.

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