Relationship between Maximal Oxygen Consumption () and Home Range Area in Mammals

Abstract

Home range is defined as the area traversed during normal daily activities, such as foraging, avoiding predators, and social or antagonistic behaviors. All else being equal, larger home ranges should be associated with longer daily movement distances and/or higher average movement speeds. The maximal rate of oxygen consumption (VO2max) generally sets an upper limit to the intensity of work (e.g., speed of locomotion) that an animal can sustain without fatigue. Therefore, home range area and VO2max are predicted to evolve in concert (coadapt). We gathered literature data on home range and VO2max for 55 species of mammals. We computed residuals from log-log (allometric) regressions on body mass with two different regression models: ordinary least squares (OLS) and phylogenetic generalized least squares (PGLS). Residuals were weakly positively related for both the OLS (r = 0.278, one-tailed P < 0.05) and PGLS (r = 0.210, P > 0.05) regressions. For VO2max, the PGLS regression model had a slightly higher likelihood than the OLS model, but the situation was reversed for home range area. In addition, for both home range area and VO2max, models that fit better than either OLS or PGLS were obtained by modeling residual variation with the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process to mimic stabilizing selection (RegOU), indicating that phylogenetic signal is present in both size-adjusted traits, consistent with findings of previous studies. (However, residuals from the RegOU models cannot be tested for correlation due to mathematical complexities.) We conclude that the best estimate of the residual correlation is probably somewhere between these two values reported above. Possible reasons for the low correlation between residual home range area and VO2max are discussed.

Mass‐independent maximal metabolic rate predicts geographic range size of placental mammals

“…While high MMR is associated with larger geographic range size in this study, curiously, higher MMR was not associated with larger home-range size in mammals (Albuquerque, Sanchez, & Garland, 2015). One possible explanation for that finding is that the homerange data contained too much measurement error to detect a relationship (Albuquerque et al, 2015).…”

“…While high MMR is associated with larger geographic range size in this study, curiously, higher MMR was not associated with larger home-range size in mammals (Albuquerque, Sanchez, & Garland, 2015). One possible explanation for that finding is that the homerange data contained too much measurement error to detect a relationship (Albuquerque et al, 2015). The fact that mass-independent MMR influences geographic range size but not home-range size is intriguing, and it suggests that further investigation into the mechanisms leading to these associations might be highly informative.…”

Mobility as an emergent property of biological organization: Insights from experimental evolution

“…In addition, selection has led to increases in maximum aerobic capacity (VO 2 max) and endurance, respectively measured as the maximum rate of oxygen consumption and the distance or duration run to exhaustion during forced treadmill exercise . This is consistent with evidence from a phylogenetically diverse sample of mammals that VO 2 max exhibits a weak positive correlation with home range area …”

“…Perhaps some of the variation in mobility among species, or among populations within species, is related to differences in the brain or body that either compel certain individuals to move greater distances or allow them to move greater distances. That is, variation in mobility may be determined by biological characteristics that are, at least in part, genetically based and, to some extent, inherited from parents within species and from other species in a phylogenetic, macroevolutionary sense …”

Consequences of Fatherhood in the Biparental California Mouse (Peromyscus californicus): Locomotor Performance, Metabolic Rate, and Organ Masses

“…Changes in heart, skeletal muscle or lung mass and associated changes in cardiovascular or respiratory function might alter locomotor performance or maximal aerobic metabolic rate ( $\dot{V}{O}_2$ max). $\dot{V}{O}_2$ max is a strong determinant of endurance capacity (Joyner and Coyle 2008) and shows a weak posi tive correlation with home range size among species of mammals (Albuquerque et al 2015), as well as a positive correlation with relative brain size (Raichlen and Gordon 2011). Given that testosterone often correlates positively with locomotor performance and can increase $\dot{V}{O}_2$ max (Caminiti et al 2009), lower circulating testosterone levels in fathers might decrease performance.…”