Scaling of Energy Metabolism and Evaporative Water Loss in Heteromyid Rodents

Hinds, David S.; MacMillen, Richard E.

doi:10.1086/physzool.58.3.30155999

“…1, which gives specific production rate ϭ 0.98 M Ϫ0. 28 . This accords with the hypothesis of a general metabolic constraint because of body size acting on mammalian life history (4).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, low mass-specific metabolic rates are not always associated with lower production, because death rates can be reduced by adaptations, such as ones that reduce predation, that do not much affect metabolic rates. So, for example, multiple lineages of fossorial and desert rodents have unusually low metabolic rates (27)(28)(29), whereas volant bats and arboreal rodents and primates do not (7,30,31). Further work on food availability and dietary quality is also required, but care must be taken to avoid circularity in characterizing food availability and quality (32).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of body size and lifestyle on evolution of mammal life histories

Sibly

¹

,

Brown

²

2007

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

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It has recently been proposed that life-history evolution is subject to a fundamental size-dependent constraint. This constraint limits the rate at which biomass can be produced so that production per unit of body mass is inevitably slower in larger organisms than in smaller ones. Here we derive predictions for how changes in body size and production rates evolve in different lifestyles subject to this constraint. Predictions are tested by using data on the mass of neonate tissue produced per adult per year in 637 placental mammal species and are generally supported. Compared with terrestrial insectivores with generalized primitive traits, mammals that have evolved more specialized lifestyles have divergent massspecific production rates: (i) increased in groups that specialize on abundant and reliable foods: grazing and browsing herbivores (artiodactyls, lagomorphs, perissodactyls, and folivorous rodents) and flesh-eating marine mammals (pinnipeds, cetaceans); and (ii) decreased in groups that have lifestyles with reduced death rates: bats, primates, arboreal, fossorial, and desert rodents, bears, elephants, and rhinos. Convergent evolution of groups with similar lifestyles is common, so patterns of productivity across mammalian taxa reflect both ecology and phylogeny. The overall result is that groups with different lifestyles have parallel but offset relationships between production rate and body size. These results shed light on the evolution of the fast-slow life-history continuum, suggesting that variation occurs along two axes corresponding to body size and lifestyle.allometry ͉ production rate ͉ metabolic ecology ͉ fast-slow

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“…In support of the high-temperature selection hypothesis, several studies of both mammals (e.g., McNab and Morrison 1963;McNab 1979;Hinds and MacMillen 1985;White 2003) and birds Williams 2000, Tieleman et al 2003) have reported lower BMR in hot deserts. However, as noted above, hot deserts also have low precipitation and low primary productivity.…”

Section: Predictors Of Body Mass Bmr and Mmrmentioning

confidence: 93%

Climatic Adaptation and the Evolution of Basal and Maximum Rates of Metabolism in Rodents

Rezende¹,

Bozinovic²,

Garland³

2004

Evol

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Abstract. Metabolic rate is a key aspect of organismal biology and the identification of selective factors that have led to species differences is a major goal of evolutionary physiology. We tested whether environmental characteristics and/or diet were significant predictors of interspecific variation in rodent metabolic rates. Mass-specific basal metabolic rates (BMR) and maximum metabolic rates (MMR, measured during cold exposure in a He-O 2 atmosphere) were compiled from the literature. Maximum (Tmax) and minimum (Tmin) annual mean temperatures, latitude, altitude, and precipitation were obtained from field stations close to the capture sites reported for each population (N ϭ 57). Diet and all continuous-valued traits showed statistically significant phylogenetic signal, with the exception of masscorrected MMR and altitude. Therefore, results of phylogenetic analyses are emphasized. Body mass was not correlated with absolute latitude, but was positively correlated with precipitation in analyses with phylogenetically independent contrasts. Conventional multiple regressions that included body mass indicated that Tmax (best), Tmin, latitude, and diet were significant additional predictors of BMR. However, phylogenetic analyses indicated that latitude was the only significant predictor of mass-adjusted BMR (positive partial regression coefficient, one-tailed P ϭ 0.0465). Conventional analyses indicated that Tmax, Tmin (best), and altitude explained significant amounts of the variation in mass-adjusted MMR. With body mass and Tmin in the model, no additional variables were significant predictors. Phylogenetic contrasts yielded similar results. Both conventional and phylogenetic analyses indicated a highly significant positive correlation between residual BMR and MMR (as has also been reported for birds), which is consistent with a key assumption of the aerobic capacity model for the evolution of vertebrate energetics (assuming that MMR and exercise-induced maximal oxygen consumption are positively functionally related). Our results support the hypothesis that variation in environmental factors leads to variation in the selective regime for metabolic rates of rodents. However, the causes of a positive association between BMR and latitude remain obscure. Moreover, an important area for future research will be experiments in all taxa are raised under common conditions to allow definitive tests of climatic adaptation in endotherm metabolic rates and to elucidate the extent of adaptive phenotypic plasticity.Key words. Bergmann's rule, body size, comparative method, diet, endothermy, energetics, temperature.Received August 29, 2003. Accepted February 8, 2004 Identification of the selective factors that have led to interspecific diversification in metabolic rates has been a major goal of ecological and evolutionary physiology (Garland and Carter 1994;Spicer and Gaston 1999;Walters and Reich 2000;McNab 2002). The most common approach is to correlate species or population differences in metabolic rate with variation in var...

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“…In support of the high-temperature selection hypothesis, several studies of both mammals (e.g., McNab and Morrison 1963;McNab 1979;Hinds and MacMillen 1985;White 2003) and birds Williams 2000, Tieleman et al 2003) have reported lower BMR in hot deserts. However, as noted above, hot deserts also have low precipitation and low primary productivity.…”

Section: Predictors Of Body Mass Bmr and Mmrmentioning

confidence: 93%

Climatic Adaptation and the Evolution of Basal and Maximum Rates of Metabolism in Rodents

Rezende

¹

,

Bozinovic

²

,

Garland

³

2004

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Metabolic rate is a key aspect of organismal biology and the identification of selective factors that have led to species differences is a major goal of evolutionary physiology. We tested whether environmental characteristics and/or diet were significant predictors of interspecific variation in rodent metabolic rates. Mass-specific basal metabolic rates (BMR) and maximum metabolic rates (MMR, measured during cold exposure in a He-O 2 atmosphere) were compiled from the literature. Maximum (Tmax) and minimum (Tmin) annual mean temperatures, latitude, altitude, and precipitation were obtained from field stations close to the capture sites reported for each population (N ϭ 57). Diet and all continuous-valued traits showed statistically significant phylogenetic signal, with the exception of masscorrected MMR and altitude. Therefore, results of phylogenetic analyses are emphasized. Body mass was not correlated with absolute latitude, but was positively correlated with precipitation in analyses with phylogenetically independent contrasts. Conventional multiple regressions that included body mass indicated that Tmax (best), Tmin, latitude, and diet were significant additional predictors of BMR. However, phylogenetic analyses indicated that latitude was the only significant predictor of mass-adjusted BMR (positive partial regression coefficient, one-tailed P ϭ 0.0465). Conventional analyses indicated that Tmax, Tmin (best), and altitude explained significant amounts of the variation in mass-adjusted MMR. With body mass and Tmin in the model, no additional variables were significant predictors. Phylogenetic contrasts yielded similar results. Both conventional and phylogenetic analyses indicated a highly significant positive correlation between residual BMR and MMR (as has also been reported for birds), which is consistent with a key assumption of the aerobic capacity model for the evolution of vertebrate energetics (assuming that MMR and exercise-induced maximal oxygen consumption are positively functionally related). Our results support the hypothesis that variation in environmental factors leads to variation in the selective regime for metabolic rates of rodents. However, the causes of a positive association between BMR and latitude remain obscure. Moreover, an important area for future research will be experiments in all taxa are raised under common conditions to allow definitive tests of climatic adaptation in endotherm metabolic rates and to elucidate the extent of adaptive phenotypic plasticity.

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Scaling of Energy Metabolism and Evaporative Water Loss in Heteromyid Rodents

Cited by 68 publications

References 37 publications

Effects of body size and lifestyle on evolution of mammal life histories

Effects of body size and lifestyle on evolution of mammal life histories

Climatic Adaptation and the Evolution of Basal and Maximum Rates of Metabolism in Rodents

Climatic Adaptation and the Evolution of Basal and Maximum Rates of Metabolism in Rodents

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