The Adjustment of Avian Metabolic Rates and Water Fluxes to Desert Environments

Tieleman, B. Irene; Williams, Joseph B.

doi:10.1086/317740

Cited by 189 publications

(185 citation statements)

References 147 publications

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“…This study finds that the BMR of mammals is proportional to M 2/3 , as is the case for birds (20)(21)(22)(23). The relationships presented here fail to account for only 4% of the interspecific and 1% of the interordinal variation in mammalian BMR.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Mammalian basal metabolic rate is proportional to body mass^2/3

White

Seymour

2003

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

650

574

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The relationship between mammalian basal metabolic rate (BMR, ml of O 2 per h) and body mass (M, g) has been the subject of regular investigation for over a century. Typically, the relationship is expressed as an allometric equation of the form BMR ‫؍‬ aM b . The scaling exponent (b) is a point of contention throughout this body of literature, within which arguments for and against geometric (b ‫؍‬ 2/3) and quarter-power (b ‫؍‬ 3/4) scaling are made and rebutted. Recently, interest in the topic has been revived by published explanations for quarter-power scaling based on fractal nutrient supply networks and four-dimensional biology. Here, a new analysis of the allometry of mammalian BMR that accounts for variation associated with body temperature, digestive state, and phylogeny finds no support for a metabolic scaling exponent of 3/4. Data encompassing five orders of magnitude variation in M and featuring 619 species from 19 mammalian orders show that BMR ؔ M 2/3 . P ioneering work published by Max Rubner (1) in the 1880s reported that mammalian basal metabolic rate (BMR) was proportional to M 2/3 . In accordance with simple geometric and physical principles, it was therefore thought that an animal's rate of metabolic heat production was matched to the rate at which heat was dissipated through its body surface. However, Max Kleiber's influential monograph (2), published in 1932, concluded that basal metabolic rate scaled not in proportion with surface area, but with an exponent significantly greater than that of Rubner's surface law. Kleiber's work was later supported by Brody's (3) famous mouse-to-elephant curve, and an exponent of 3/4 (henceforth referred to as Kleiber's exponent) remains in widespread use. Quarter-power scaling is often regarded as ubiquitous in biology: metabolic rate has been reported as proportional to M 3/4 in organisms ranging from simple unicells to plants and endothermic vertebrates (4, 5). Kleiber's exponent has become so widely accepted that metabolic scaling relationships that deviate from an exponent of 3/4 are often considered somehow flawed or are summarily dismissed. However, examination of the species compositions of early studies (2, 3) shows that they poorly reflect Mammalia. Most data points are derived from domestic species, which have been under artificial energetic constraints for many generations (6). Additionally, the order Artiodactyla is consistently over-represented; both Kleiber's (2) and Brody's (3) data sets include Ϸ20% artiodactyls, but only Ϸ5% of Recent mammals are artiodactyls (7). Being near the upper mass limit of the regressions, these animals exert a disproportionate influence on the scaling exponent. Their inclusion is problematic, because microbial fermentation of cellulose may delay or prohibit entrance into a postabsorptive state (8). This elevates metabolic rate above basal levels and, when coupled with a large body mass, artificially inflates the calculated scaling exponent. Examination of Brody's (3) data reveals the same problems (6). Because meas...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Mammalian basal metabolic rate is proportional to body mass^2/3

White

Seymour

2003

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

650

574

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The strength of this conclusion is further enhanced by PI analyses and the inclusion of two phylogenetic tree topologies. Conventional and phylogenetic analyses have also recently provided strong support for a reduction in BMR of arid birds (Tieleman and Williams 2000). The low BMR of arid animals may be associated with increasing life span in an environment where reproduction is not necessarily an annual event (Haim 1987).…”

Section: Adjustment Of Bmr As An Adaptation To Arid Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Foraging Mode and Arid Adaptation on the Basal Metabolic Rates of Burrowing Mammals

White

2003

Physiological and Biochemical Zoology

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JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. Accepted 10/1/02 The University of Chicago Press ABSTRACTTwo competing but nonexclusive hypotheses to explain the reduced basal metabolic rate (BMR) of mammals that live and forage underground (fossorial species) are examined by comparing this group with burrowing mammals that forage on the surface (semifossorial species). These hypotheses suggest that the low BMR of fossorial species either compensates for the enormous energetic demands of subterranean foraging (the cost-of-burrowing hypothesis) or prevents overheating in closed burrow systems (the thermal-stress hypothesis). Because phylogentically informed allometric analysis showed that arid burrowing mammals have a significantly lower BMR than mesic ones, fossorial and semifossorial species were compared within these groups. The BMRs of mesic fossorial and semifossorial mammals could not be reliably distinguished, nor could the BMRs of large (177 g) arid fossorial and semifossorial mammals. This finding favours the thermal-stress hypothesis, because the groups appear to have similar BMRs despite differences in foraging costs. However, in support of the cost-ofburrowing hypothesis, small (!77 g) arid fossorial mammals were found to have a significantly lower BMR than semifossorial mammals of the similar size. Given the high mass-specific metabolic rates of small animals, they are expected to be under severe energy and water stress in arid environments. Under such conditions, the greatly reduced BMR of small fossorial species may compensate for the enormous energetic demands of subterranean foraging.

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“…The most-studied aerobic index in birds is basal metabolic rate (BMR), the lower limit to aerobic power production (see refs. [2][3][4]. However, it is questionable whether BMR per se, rather than other physiological parameters that may correlate with BMR, is ever a ''target'' for direct selection except when the requirement for reducing heat load or water loss is critical to survival, as might be the case in hot deserts (5).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cold- and exercise-induced peak metabolic rates in tropical birds

Wiersma

Chappell

Williams

2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

122

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Compared with temperate birds, tropical birds have low reproductive rates, slow development as nestlings, and long lifespans. These ''slow'' life history traits are thought to be associated with reduced energy expenditure, or a slow ''pace of life.'' To test predictions from this hypothesis, we measured exercise-induced peak metabolic rates (PMRE) in 45 species of tropical lowland forest birds and compared these data with PMRE for three temperate species. We also compared cold-induced PMR (PMRC) with PMRE in the same individuals of 19 tropical species. Tropical birds had a 39% lower PMRE than did the temperate species. In tropical birds, PMRC and PMRE scaled similarly with body mass (Mb), but PMRE was 47% higher than PMRC. PMRE averaged 6.44 ؋ basal metabolic rate (BMR) and PMRC averaged 4.52 ؋ BMR. The slope of the equation relating PMRE to Mb exceeded the slope for the equation for BMR vs. Mb, whereas slopes for the equations of PMRC and BMR vs. Mb did not differ. Mb-adjusted residuals of PMRE were positively correlated with residual BMR, whereas residual PMRC and residual BMR were not correlated. PMRE and PMRC were not correlated after we corrected for Mb. Temperate birds maintained their body temperature at an 8.6°C lower average air temperature than did tropical species. The lower PMRE values in tropical species suggest that their suite of life history traits on the slow end of the life history continuum are associated with reduced metabolic rates. maximum metabolic rate ͉ summit metabolism ͉ metabolic scope ͉ pace of life ͉ cold tolerance E cological physiologists have devoted considerable effort to examining the upper limits of physiological performance, especially locomotor performance and metabolic power production during cold exposure. An implicit or explicit hypothesis in this work is that individual variation in performance is correlated with fitness: higher performance such as faster running or greater metabolic power output leads to increased survival and/or reproductive success. In the past few decades, a variety of performance indices have been measured in numerous species, and analyses have examined performance in mechanistic, phylogenetic, ecological, and evolutionary contexts.

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The Adjustment of Avian Metabolic Rates and Water Fluxes to Desert Environments

Cited by 189 publications

References 147 publications

Mammalian basal metabolic rate is proportional to body mass^2/3

Mammalian basal metabolic rate is proportional to body mass^2/3

The Influence of Foraging Mode and Arid Adaptation on the Basal Metabolic Rates of Burrowing Mammals

Cold- and exercise-induced peak metabolic rates in tropical birds

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The Adjustment of Avian Metabolic Rates and Water Fluxes to Desert Environments

Cited by 189 publications

References 147 publications

Mammalian basal metabolic rate is proportional to body mass2/3

Mammalian basal metabolic rate is proportional to body mass2/3

The Influence of Foraging Mode and Arid Adaptation on the Basal Metabolic Rates of Burrowing Mammals

Cold- and exercise-induced peak metabolic rates in tropical birds

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Mammalian basal metabolic rate is proportional to body mass^2/3

Mammalian basal metabolic rate is proportional to body mass^2/3