The origin and maintenance of metabolic allometry in animals

Craig R. White; Dustin J. Marshall; Lesley A. Alton; Pieter A. Arnold; Julian E. Beaman; Candice L. Bywater; Catriona Condon; Taryn S. Crispin; Aidan Janetzki; Elia Pirtle; Hugh S. Winwood-Smith; Michael J. Angilletta; Stephen F. Chenoweth; Craig E. Franklin; Lewis G. Halsey; Michael R. Kearney; Steven J. Portugal; Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos

doi:10.1038/s41559-019-0839-9

The origin and maintenance of metabolic allometry in animals

Craig R. White, Dustin J. Marshall, Lesley A. Alton, Pieter A. Arnold, Julian E. Beaman, Candice L. Bywater, Catriona Condon, Taryn S. Crispin, Aidan Janetzki, Elia Pirtle, Hugh S. Winwood-Smith, Michael J. Angilletta, Stephen F. Chenoweth, Craig E. Franklin, Lewis G. Halsey, Michael R. Kearney, Steven J. Portugal, Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

81 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Organisms vary widely in size, from microbes weighing 0.1 pg to trees weighing thousands of megagrams — a 10 ²¹ -fold range similar to the difference in mass between an elephant and the Earth. Mass has a pervasive influence on biological processes, but the effect is usually non-proportional; for example, a tenfold increase in mass is typically accompanied by just a four- to sevenfold increase in metabolic rate. Understanding the cause of allometric scaling has been a long-standing problem in biology. Here, we examine the evolution of metabolic allometry in animals by linking microevolutionary processes to macroevolutionary patterns. We show that the genetic correlation between mass and metabolic rate is strong and positive in insects, birds and mammals. We then use these data to simulate the macroevolution of mass and metabolic rate, and show that the interspecific relationship between these traits in animals is consistent with evolution under persistent multivariate selection on mass and metabolic rate over long periods of time.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	598-603
Number of pages	6
Journal	Nature Ecology & Evolution
Volume	3
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0839-9
Publication status	Published - Apr 2019
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Animal physiology
Ecophysiology

Access to Document

10.1038/s41559-019-0839-9Licence: In Copyright

Cite this

White, C. R., Marshall, D. J., Alton, L. A., Arnold, P. A., Beaman, J. E., Bywater, C. L., Condon, C., Crispin, T. S., Janetzki, A., Pirtle, E., Winwood-Smith, H. S., Angilletta, M. J., Chenoweth, S. F., Franklin, C. E., Halsey, L. G., Kearney, M. R., Portugal, S. J., & Ortiz-Barrientos, D. (2019). The origin and maintenance of metabolic allometry in animals. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 3(4), 598-603. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0839-9

@article{bdc988d5ba8446a9805e964fead44ab6,

title = "The origin and maintenance of metabolic allometry in animals",

abstract = " Organisms vary widely in size, from microbes weighing 0.1 pg to trees weighing thousands of megagrams — a 10 21 -fold range similar to the difference in mass between an elephant and the Earth. Mass has a pervasive influence on biological processes, but the effect is usually non-proportional; for example, a tenfold increase in mass is typically accompanied by just a four- to sevenfold increase in metabolic rate. Understanding the cause of allometric scaling has been a long-standing problem in biology. Here, we examine the evolution of metabolic allometry in animals by linking microevolutionary processes to macroevolutionary patterns. We show that the genetic correlation between mass and metabolic rate is strong and positive in insects, birds and mammals. We then use these data to simulate the macroevolution of mass and metabolic rate, and show that the interspecific relationship between these traits in animals is consistent with evolution under persistent multivariate selection on mass and metabolic rate over long periods of time. ",

keywords = "Animal physiology, Ecophysiology",

author = "White, {Craig R.} and Marshall, {Dustin J.} and Alton, {Lesley A.} and Arnold, {Pieter A.} and Beaman, {Julian E.} and Bywater, {Candice L.} and Catriona Condon and Crispin, {Taryn S.} and Aidan Janetzki and Elia Pirtle and Winwood-Smith, {Hugh S.} and Angilletta, {Michael J.} and Chenoweth, {Stephen F.} and Franklin, {Craig E.} and Halsey, {Lewis G.} and Kearney, {Michael R.} and Portugal, {Steven J.} and Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos",

year = "2019",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1038/s41559-019-0839-9",

language = "English",

volume = "3",

pages = "598--603",

journal = "Nature Ecology & Evolution",

issn = "2397-334X",

publisher = "Springer Nature",

number = "4",

}

White, CR, Marshall, DJ, Alton, LA, Arnold, PA, Beaman, JE, Bywater, CL, Condon, C, Crispin, TS, Janetzki, A, Pirtle, E, Winwood-Smith, HS, Angilletta, MJ, Chenoweth, SF, Franklin, CE, Halsey, LG, Kearney, MR, Portugal, SJ & Ortiz-Barrientos, D 2019, 'The origin and maintenance of metabolic allometry in animals', Nature Ecology & Evolution, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 598-603. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0839-9

TY - JOUR

T1 - The origin and maintenance of metabolic allometry in animals

AU - White, Craig R.

AU - Marshall, Dustin J.

AU - Alton, Lesley A.

AU - Arnold, Pieter A.

AU - Beaman, Julian E.

AU - Bywater, Candice L.

AU - Condon, Catriona

AU - Crispin, Taryn S.

AU - Janetzki, Aidan

AU - Pirtle, Elia

AU - Winwood-Smith, Hugh S.

AU - Angilletta, Michael J.

AU - Chenoweth, Stephen F.

AU - Franklin, Craig E.

AU - Halsey, Lewis G.

AU - Kearney, Michael R.

AU - Portugal, Steven J.

AU - Ortiz-Barrientos, Daniel

PY - 2019/4

Y1 - 2019/4

N2 - Organisms vary widely in size, from microbes weighing 0.1 pg to trees weighing thousands of megagrams — a 10 21 -fold range similar to the difference in mass between an elephant and the Earth. Mass has a pervasive influence on biological processes, but the effect is usually non-proportional; for example, a tenfold increase in mass is typically accompanied by just a four- to sevenfold increase in metabolic rate. Understanding the cause of allometric scaling has been a long-standing problem in biology. Here, we examine the evolution of metabolic allometry in animals by linking microevolutionary processes to macroevolutionary patterns. We show that the genetic correlation between mass and metabolic rate is strong and positive in insects, birds and mammals. We then use these data to simulate the macroevolution of mass and metabolic rate, and show that the interspecific relationship between these traits in animals is consistent with evolution under persistent multivariate selection on mass and metabolic rate over long periods of time.

AB - Organisms vary widely in size, from microbes weighing 0.1 pg to trees weighing thousands of megagrams — a 10 21 -fold range similar to the difference in mass between an elephant and the Earth. Mass has a pervasive influence on biological processes, but the effect is usually non-proportional; for example, a tenfold increase in mass is typically accompanied by just a four- to sevenfold increase in metabolic rate. Understanding the cause of allometric scaling has been a long-standing problem in biology. Here, we examine the evolution of metabolic allometry in animals by linking microevolutionary processes to macroevolutionary patterns. We show that the genetic correlation between mass and metabolic rate is strong and positive in insects, birds and mammals. We then use these data to simulate the macroevolution of mass and metabolic rate, and show that the interspecific relationship between these traits in animals is consistent with evolution under persistent multivariate selection on mass and metabolic rate over long periods of time.

KW - Animal physiology

KW - Ecophysiology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85063651198&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/DP110101776

UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/FT130101493

UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/DP170101114

UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/DP180103925

U2 - 10.1038/s41559-019-0839-9

DO - 10.1038/s41559-019-0839-9

M3 - Article

C2 - 30886370

AN - SCOPUS:85063651198

SN - 2397-334X

VL - 3

SP - 598

EP - 603

JO - Nature Ecology & Evolution

JF - Nature Ecology & Evolution

IS - 4

ER -

The origin and maintenance of metabolic allometry in animals

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this