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Roberts KT, Szejner-Sigal A, Lehmann P. Seasonal energetics: are insects constrained by energy during dormancy? J Exp Biol 2023; 226:jeb245782. [PMID: 37921417 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.245782] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2023]
Abstract
In seasonal environments, many animals, including insects, enter dormancy, where they are limited to a fixed energy budget. The inability to replenish energetic stores during these periods suggests insects should be constrained by pre-dormancy energy stores. Over the last century, the community of researchers working on survival during dormancy has operated under the strong assumption that energy limitation is a key fitness trait driving the evolution of seasonal strategies. That is, energy use has to be minimized during dormancy because insects otherwise run out of energy and die during dormancy, or are left with too little energy to complete development, reproductive maturation or other costly post-dormancy processes such as dispersal or nest building. But if energy is so strongly constrained during dormancy, how can some insects - even within the same species and population - be dormant in very warm environments or show prolonged dormancy for many successive years? In this Commentary, we discuss major assumptions regarding dormancy energetics and outline cases where insects appear to align with our assumptions and where they do not. We then highlight several research directions that could help link organismal energy use with landscape-level changes. Overall, the optimal energetic strategy during dormancy might not be to simply minimize metabolic rate, but instead to maintain a level that matches the demands of the specific life-history strategy. Given the influence of temperature on energy use rates of insects in winter, understanding dormancy energetic strategies is critical in order to determine the potential impacts of climate change on insects in seasonal environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin T Roberts
- Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Andre Szejner-Sigal
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Philipp Lehmann
- Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Animal Physiology, Zoological Institute and Museum, University of Greifswald, 17489 Greifswald, Germany
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Galván I, Rodríguez‐Martínez S, Carrascal LM. Dark pigmentation limits thermal niche position in birds. Funct Ecol 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ismael Galván
- Department of Evolutionary EcologyDoñana Biological StationCSIC Sevilla Spain
| | | | - Luis M. Carrascal
- Department of Biogeography and Global ChangeNational Museum of Natural SciencesCSIC Madrid Spain
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3
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Boardman L, Sørensen JG, Koštál V, Šimek P, Terblanche JS. Cold tolerance is unaffected by oxygen availability despite changes in anaerobic metabolism. Sci Rep 2016; 6:32856. [PMID: 27619175 PMCID: PMC5020647 DOI: 10.1038/srep32856] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2016] [Accepted: 08/10/2016] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Insect cold tolerance depends on their ability to withstand or repair perturbations in cellular homeostasis caused by low temperature stress. Decreased oxygen availability (hypoxia) can interact with low temperature tolerance, often improving insect survival. One mechanism proposed for such responses is that whole-animal cold tolerance is set by a transition to anaerobic metabolism. Here, we provide a test of this hypothesis in an insect model system (Thaumatotibia leucotreta) by experimental manipulation of oxygen availability while measuring metabolic rate, critical thermal minimum (CTmin), supercooling point and changes in 43 metabolites in moth larvae at three key timepoints (before, during and after chill coma). Furthermore, we determined the critical oxygen partial pressure below which metabolic rate was suppressed (c. 4.5 kPa). Results showed that altering oxygen availability did not affect (non-lethal) CTmin nor (lethal) supercooling point. Metabolomic profiling revealed the upregulation of anaerobic metabolites and alterations in concentrations of citric acid cycle intermediates during and after chill coma exposure. Hypoxia exacerbated the anaerobic metabolite responses induced by low temperatures. These results suggest that cold tolerance of T. leucotreta larvae is not set by oxygen limitation, and that anaerobic metabolism in these larvae may contribute to their ability to survive in necrotic fruit.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leigh Boardman
- Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Centre for Invasion Biology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa
| | - Jesper G Sørensen
- Section for Genetics, Ecology &Evolution, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 116, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Vladimír Koštál
- Institute of Entomology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Petr Šimek
- Institute of Entomology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - John S Terblanche
- Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Centre for Invasion Biology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa
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Gavrilov VM. Fundamental avian energetics: 2. The ability of birds to change heat loss and explanation of the mass exponent for basal metabolism in homeothermic animals. BIOL BULL+ 2012. [DOI: 10.1134/s1062359012080055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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Macmillan HA, Williams CM, Staples JF, Sinclair BJ. Metabolism and energy supply below the critical thermal minimum of a chill-susceptible insect. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012; 215:1366-72. [PMID: 22442375 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.066381] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
When exposed to temperatures below their critical thermal minimum (CT(min)), insects enter chill-coma and accumulate chilling injuries. While the critical thermal limits of water-breathing marine animals may be caused by oxygen- and capacity-limitation of thermal tolerance (OCLT), the mechanisms are poorly understood in air-breathing terrestrial insects. We used thermolimit respirometry to characterize entry into chill-coma in a laboratory population of fall field crickets (Gryllus pennsylvanicus). To detect potential oxygen limitation, we quantified muscle ATP, lactate and alanine concentrations in crickets following prolonged exposure to 0°C (a temperature that causes chill-coma, chilling injury and eventual death). Although there was a sharp (44%) drop in the rate of CO(2) emission at the CT(min) and spiracular control was lost, there was a low, continuous rate of CO(2) release throughout chill-coma, indicating that the spiracles were open and gas exchange could occur through the tracheal system. Prolonged exposure to 0°C caused muscle ATP levels to increase marginally (rather than decrease as OCLT would predict), and there was no change in muscle lactate or alanine concentration. Thus, it appears that insects are not susceptible to OCLT at low temperatures but that the CT(min) may instead be set by temperature effects on whole-animal ion homeostasis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heath A Macmillan
- Department of Biology, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada, N6A 5B7.
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Williams CM, Marshall KE, MacMillan HA, Dzurisin JDK, Hellmann JJ, Sinclair BJ. Thermal variability increases the impact of autumnal warming and drives metabolic depression in an overwintering butterfly. PLoS One 2012; 7:e34470. [PMID: 22479634 PMCID: PMC3316672 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0034470] [Citation(s) in RCA: 104] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2011] [Accepted: 03/01/2012] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Increases in thermal variability elevate metabolic rate due to Jensen's inequality, and increased metabolic rate decreases the fitness of dormant ectotherms by increasing consumption of stored energy reserves. Theory predicts that ectotherms should respond to increased thermal variability by lowering the thermal sensitivity of metabolism, which will reduce the impact of the warm portion of thermal variability. We examined the thermal sensitivity of metabolic rate of overwintering Erynnis propertius (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae) larvae from a stable or variable environment reared in the laboratory in a reciprocal common garden design, and used these data to model energy use during the winters of 1973–2010 using meteorological data to predict the energetic outcomes of metabolic compensation and phenological shifts. Larvae that experienced variable temperatures had decreased thermal sensitivity of metabolic rate, and were larger than those reared at stable temperatures, which could partially compensate for the increased energetic demands. Even with depressed thermal sensitivity, the variable environment was more energy-demanding than the stable, with the majority of this demand occurring in autumn. Autumn phenology changes thus had disproportionate influence on energy consumption in variable environments, and variable-reared larvae were most susceptible to overwinter energy drain. Therefore the energetic impacts of the timing of entry into winter dormancy will strongly influence ectotherm fitness in northern temperate environments. We conclude that thermal variability drives the expression of metabolic suppression in this species; that phenological shifts will have a greater impact on ectotherms in variable thermal environments; and that E. propertius will be more sensitive to shifts in phenology in autumn than in spring. This suggests that increases in overwinter thermal variability and/or extended, warm autumns, will negatively impact all non-feeding dormant ectotherms which lack the ability to suppress their overwinter metabolic thermal sensitivity.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Katie E. Marshall
- Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Heath A. MacMillan
- Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Jason D. K. Dzurisin
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, United States of America
| | - Jessica J. Hellmann
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, United States of America
| | - Brent J. Sinclair
- Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
- * E-mail:
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Schilman PE, Waters JS, Harrison JF, Lighton JRB. Effects of temperature on responses to anoxia and oxygen reperfusion in Drosophila melanogaster. J Exp Biol 2011; 214:1271-5. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.052357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
SUMMARY
Insects in general, and Drosophila in particular, are much more capable of surviving anoxia than vertebrates, and the mechanisms involved are of considerable biomedical and ecological interest. Temperature is likely to strongly affect both the rates of damage occurring in anoxia and the recovery processes in normoxia, but as yet there is no information on the effect of this crucial variable on recovery rates from anoxia in any animal. We studied the effects of temperature, and thus indirectly of metabolic flux rates, on survival and recovery times of individual male Drosophila melanogaster following anoxia and O2 reperfusion. Individual flies were reared at 25°C and exposed to an anoxic period of 7.5, 25, 42.5 or 60 min at 20, 25 or 30°C. Before, during and after anoxic exposure the flies' metabolic rates (MRs), rates of water loss and activity indices were recorded. Temperature strongly affected the MR of the flies, with a Q10 of 2.21. Temperature did not affect the slope of the relationship between time to recovery and duration of anoxic exposure, suggesting that thermal effects on damage and repair rates were similar. However, the intercept of that relationship was significantly lower (i.e. recovery was most rapid) at 25°C, which was the rearing temperature. When temperatures during exposure to anoxia and during recovery were switched, recovery times matched those predicted from a model in which the accumulation and clearance of metabolic end-products share a similar dependence on temperature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pablo E. Schilman
- Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, C1428EHA, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - James S. Waters
- Section of Organismal, Integrative, and Systems Biology, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, PO Box 874501, Tempe, AZ 85287-4501, USA
| | - Jon F. Harrison
- Section of Organismal, Integrative, and Systems Biology, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, PO Box 874501, Tempe, AZ 85287-4501, USA
| | - John R. B. Lighton
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Nevada at Las Vegas, 4505 Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89154-4004, USA
- Sable Systems International, 6000 S. Eastern Blvd Bldg 1, Las Vegas, NV 89119, USA
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Stevens MM, Jackson S, Bester SA, Terblanche JS, Chown SL. Oxygen limitation and thermal tolerance in two terrestrial arthropod species. J Exp Biol 2010; 213:2209-18. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.040170] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
SUMMARY
Recent studies of marine invertebrates and fish have suggested that lower and upper critical temperatures (CTmin and CTmax) are coupled by a common mechanism: oxygen and capacity limitation of thermal tolerance (OCLT). Using thermolimit respirometry, we tested the predictions of this theory for terrestrial arthropods by measuring maxima and minima for both critical temperatures and metabolic rate in two arthropods, the isopod Porcellio scaber and the beetle Tenebrio molitor, at 40%, 21%, 10% and 2.5% ambient O2. Critical temperatures were identified as particular points on both activity and traces in four ways. In the first two instances, we identified the inflection points in regressions of absolute difference sum (ADS) residuals calculated for activity (aADS) and (VI), respectively. In the third, we visually identified the lowest point before the post-mortal peak in CO2 release (PMV). Finally, we pinpointed the sudden drop in at death, where fell outside the 95% confidence intervals of the 5 min period immediately preceding the drop-off (CI). Minimum and maximum metabolic rates were determined using CO2 traces, and the temperatures corresponding to these identified as TMetMin and TMetMax. For both species, ambient oxygen concentration did not influence CTmin, minimum metabolic rate, or TMetMin. By contrast, severe hypoxia (2.5% O2) caused a 6.9°C decline in activity-based CTmax for T. molitor and a 10.6°C decline for P. scaber, relative to normoxia (21% O2). The magnitude of this decrease differed between methods used to estimated critical thermal limits, highlighting the need for a standard method to determine these endpoints during thermolimit respirometry. Maximum metabolic rate also declined with decreasing ambient oxygen in both species. The combination of increasing metabolic rate and oxygen limitation affected upper thermal limits in these arthropods only in severe hypoxia (2.5% O2). In both species, CTmin and CTmax responded differently to oxygen limitation, suggesting that this is not a common mechanism coupling upper and lower limits in terrestrial arthropods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meagan M. Stevens
- Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa
| | - Sue Jackson
- Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa
| | - Susan A. Bester
- Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa
| | - John S. Terblanche
- Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa
| | - Steven L. Chown
- Centre for Invasion Biology, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa
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Affiliation(s)
- Douglas S Glazier
- Department of Biology, Juniata College, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania 16652, USA.
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11
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Killen SS, Atkinson D, Glazier DS. The intraspecific scaling of metabolic rate with body mass in fishes depends on lifestyle and temperature. Ecol Lett 2010; 13:184-93. [PMID: 20059525 DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2009.01415.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 236] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Metabolic energy fuels all biological processes, and therefore theories that explain the scaling of metabolic rate with body mass potentially have great predictive power in ecology. A new model, that could improve this predictive power, postulates that the metabolic scaling exponent (b) varies between 2/3 and 1, and is inversely related to the elevation of the intraspecific scaling relationship (metabolic level, L), which in turn varies systematically among species in response to various ecological factors. We test these predictions by examining the effects of lifestyle, swimming mode and temperature on intraspecific scaling of resting metabolic rate among 89 species of teleost fish. As predicted, b decreased as L increased with temperature, and with shifts in lifestyle from bathyal and benthic to benthopelagic to pelagic. This effect of lifestyle on b may be related to varying amounts of energetically expensive tissues associated with different capacities for swimming during predator-prey interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shaun S Killen
- Station Méditerranéenne de l'Environnement Littoral, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier, Université Montpellier II, Sète 34200, France.
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12
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Hu D, Wang RS, Lei KP, Li F, Wang Z, Wang BN. Expanding ecological appropriation approach: Solar space method and a case study in Yangzhou city, East China. ECOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY 2009. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ecocom.2009.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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13
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Irlich U, Terblanche J, Blackburn T, Chown S. Insect Rate‐Temperature Relationships: Environmental Variation and the Metabolic Theory of Ecology. Am Nat 2009; 174:819-35. [DOI: 10.1086/647904] [Citation(s) in RCA: 130] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
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Makarieva AM, Gorshkov VG, Li BL. Comment on “Energy Uptake and Allocation During Ontogeny”. Science 2009; 325:1206; author reply 1206. [DOI: 10.1126/science.1171303] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Anastassia M. Makarieva
- Theoretical Physics Division, Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, Gatchina, St. Petersburg, Russia
- Ecological Complexity and Modeling Laboratory, Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521–0124, USA
| | - Victor G. Gorshkov
- Theoretical Physics Division, Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, Gatchina, St. Petersburg, Russia
- Ecological Complexity and Modeling Laboratory, Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521–0124, USA
| | - Bai-Lian Li
- Ecological Complexity and Modeling Laboratory, Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521–0124, USA
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Naya DE, Veloso C, Sabat P, Bozinovic F. The effect of short- and long-term fasting on digestive and metabolic flexibility in the Andean toad, Bufo spinulosus. J Exp Biol 2009; 212:2167-75. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.030650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
SUMMARY
Hibernation in ectothermic animals was historically considered as a simple cold-induced torpor state resulting from the inability to maintain a high body temperature at low ambient temperatures. During the last decades this vision changed and nowadays there is a myriad of studies showing that hibernation implies different adjustments at the genetic, molecular, biochemical and cellular levels. However, studies oriented to evaluate changes of whole organism structure and physiology still are scarce, which is particularly true for amphibians that hibernate on land. Accordingly, in the Andean toad(Bufo spinulosus), we investigated the effect of short-term fasting and hibernation on the hydrolytic activity of digestive enzymes, histology of the small intestine, gross morphology of digestive and other internal organs and standard metabolic rate. Based on the pattern of size variation, internal organs may be grouped into those that were affected by both season and feeding condition (small intestine, stomach and liver), those that were only affected by season (fat bodies), those that were only affected by feeding condition(kidneys) and, finally, those that did not change between the three groups(large intestine, heart and lungs). Hydrolytic activity of maltase, trehalase and aminopeptidase-N followed the same pattern of variation(feeding>fasting>hibernating toads), although the change for the latter enzyme was less noticeable than for the disaccharidases. Enzymatic adjustments were correlated with changes in small intestine histology: villus and enterocyte height increased from hibernating to fasting and more markedly from fasting to feeding toads. Metabolic rate decreased during hibernation to 7.8%(at 5°C) and 13.6% (at 15°C) of summer values, which is one of the highest metabolic depressions reported for any ectothermic vertebrate. Our results suggest that amphibian persistence in highly seasonal environments is related to a large capacity of phenotypic flexibility at different organisational levels; an ability that may be related to the extensive ranges of temporal existence and geographic distribution of these vertebrates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel E. Naya
- Sección Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo 11400, Uruguay
- Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, LINC-Global and Departamento de Ecología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, CP 6513677, Santiago, Chile
| | - Claudio Veloso
- Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile
| | - Pablo Sabat
- Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, LINC-Global and Departamento de Ecología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, CP 6513677, Santiago, Chile
- Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile, Casilla 653, Santiago, Chile
| | - Francisco Bozinovic
- Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, LINC-Global and Departamento de Ecología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, CP 6513677, Santiago, Chile
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Makarieva AM, Gorshkov VG, Li BL, Chown SL, Reich PB, Gavrilov VM. Mean mass-specific metabolic rates are strikingly similar across life's major domains: Evidence for life's metabolic optimum. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2008; 105:16994-9. [PMID: 18952839 PMCID: PMC2572558 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0802148105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 187] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2008] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
A fundamental but unanswered biological question asks how much energy, on average, Earth's different life forms spend per unit mass per unit time to remain alive. Here, using the largest database to date, for 3,006 species that includes most of the range of biological diversity on the planet-from bacteria to elephants, and algae to sapling trees-we show that metabolism displays a striking degree of homeostasis across all of life. We demonstrate that, despite the enormous biochemical, physiological, and ecological differences between the surveyed species that vary over 10(20)-fold in body mass, mean metabolic rates of major taxonomic groups displayed at physiological rest converge on a narrow range from 0.3 to 9 W kg(-1). This 30-fold variation among life's disparate forms represents a remarkably small range compared with the 4,000- to 65,000-fold difference between the mean metabolic rates of the smallest and largest organisms that would be observed if life as a whole conformed to universal quarter-power or third-power allometric scaling laws. The observed broad convergence on a narrow range of basal metabolic rates suggests that organismal designs that fit in this physiological window have been favored by natural selection across all of life's major kingdoms, and that this range might therefore be considered as optimal for living matter as a whole.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anastassia M. Makarieva
- Theoretical Physics Division, Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, Gatchina, St. Petersburg 188300, Russia
- Ecological Complexity and Modelling Laboratory, Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521
| | - Victor G. Gorshkov
- Theoretical Physics Division, Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, Gatchina, St. Petersburg 188300, Russia
- Ecological Complexity and Modelling Laboratory, Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521
| | - Bai-Lian Li
- Ecological Complexity and Modelling Laboratory, Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521
| | - Steven L. Chown
- Centre for Invasion Biology, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa
| | - Peter B. Reich
- Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108; and
| | - Valery M. Gavrilov
- Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Moscow State University, Moscow 119992, Russia
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Glazier DS. Effects of metabolic level on the body size scaling of metabolic rate in birds and mammals. Proc Biol Sci 2008; 275:1405-10. [PMID: 18348961 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2008.0118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 92] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Metabolic rate is traditionally assumed to scale with body mass to the 3/4-power, but significant deviations from the '3/4-power law' have been observed for several different taxa of animals and plants, and for different physiological states. The recently proposed 'metabolic-level boundaries hypothesis' represents one of the attempts to explain this variation. It predicts that the power (log-log slope) of metabolic scaling relationships should vary between 2/3 and 1, in a systematic way with metabolic level. Here, this hypothesis is tested using data from birds and mammals. As predicted, in both of these independently evolved endothermic taxa, the scaling slope approaches 1 at the lowest and highest metabolic levels (as observed during torpor and strenuous exercise, respectively), whereas it is near 2/3 at intermediate resting and cold-induced metabolic levels. Remarkably, both taxa show similar, approximately U-shaped relationships between the scaling slope and the metabolic (activity) level. These predictable patterns strongly support the view that variation of the scaling slope is not merely noise obscuring the signal of a universal scaling law, but rather is the result of multiple physical constraints whose relative influence depends on the metabolic state of the organisms being analysed.
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19
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Naya DE, Veloso C, Bozinovic F. Physiological flexibility in the Andean lizard Liolaemus bellii: seasonal changes in energy acquisition, storage and expenditure. J Comp Physiol B 2008; 178:1007-15. [PMID: 18626649 DOI: 10.1007/s00360-008-0292-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2008] [Revised: 05/26/2008] [Accepted: 06/25/2008] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
According to the "barrel model", an organism may be represented by a container, with input energy constraints (foraging, digestion, and absorption) symbolized by funnels connected in tandem, and energy outputs (maintenance, growth, and reproduction) symbolized by a series of spouts arranged in parallel. Animals can respond to changes in environmental conditions, through adjustments in the size of the funnels, the fluid stored inside the barrel, or the output flow through the spouts. In the present study, we investigate the interplay among these processes through the analysis of seasonal changes in organ size and metabolic rate in a lizard species (Liolaemus bellii) that inhabits extremely seasonal environments in the Andes range. We found that digestive organ size showed the greatest values during spring and summer, that is, during the foraging seasons. Energy reserves were larger during summer and autumn, and then decreased through winter and spring, which was correlated with overwintering maintenance and reproductive costs. Standard metabolic rate was greater during the high-activity seasons (spring and summer), but this increase was only noticeable at higher environmental temperatures. The ability of many lizard species to reduce their maintenance cost during the cold months of the year, beyond what is expected from temperature decrease, is probably related to their success in coping with highly fluctuating environments. Here, we demonstrate that this ability is correlated with high physiological flexibility, which allows animals to adjust energy acquisition, storing and expenditure processes according to current environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel E Naya
- Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Departamento de Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, CP 6513677, Chile.
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CHOWN SL, MARAIS E, TERBLANCHE JS, KLOK CJ, LIGHTON JRB, BLACKBURN TM. Scaling of insect metabolic rate is inconsistent with the nutrient supply network model. Funct Ecol 2007. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2007.01245.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 191] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Chown SL, Terblanche JS. Physiological Diversity in Insects: Ecological and Evolutionary Contexts. ADVANCES IN INSECT PHYSIOLOGY 2006; 33:50-152. [PMID: 19212462 PMCID: PMC2638997 DOI: 10.1016/s0065-2806(06)33002-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 313] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Steven L Chown
- Centre for Invasion Biology, Department of Botany and Zoology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
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