An information-theoretic approach to evaluating the size and temperature dependence of metabolic rate

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dc.contributor.authorWhite C.R.
dc.contributor.authorFrappell P.B.
dc.contributor.authorChown S.L.
dc.date.accessioned2012-08-17T12:20:48Z
dc.date.available2012-08-17T12:20:48Z
dc.date.issued2012
dc.descriptionArticle
dc.description.abstractThe effects of body mass and temperature on metabolic rate (MR) are among the most widely examined physiological relationships. Recently, these relationships have been incorporated into the metabolic theory of ecology (MTE) that links the ecology of populations, communities and ecosystems to the MR of individual organisms. The fundamental equation of MTE derives the relation between mass and MR using first principles and predicts the temperature dependence of MR based on biochemical kinetics. It is a deliberately simple, zeroth-order approximation that represents a baseline against which variation in real biological systems can be examined. In the present study, we evaluate the fundamental equation of MTE against other more parameter-rich models for MR using an information-theoretic approach to penalize the inclusion of additional parameters. Using a comparative database of MR measurements for 1359 species, from 11 groups ranging from prokaryotes to mammals, and spanning 16 orders of magnitude in mass and a 598C range in body temperature, we show that differences between taxa in the mass and temperature dependence of MR are sufficiently large as to be retained in the best model for MR despite the requirement for estimation of 22 more parameters than the fundamental equation of MTE. © 2012 The Royal Society.
dc.identifier.citationProceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
dc.identifier.citation279
dc.identifier.citation1742
dc.identifier.citation3616
dc.identifier.citation3621
dc.identifier.issn9628452
dc.identifier.other10.1098/rspb.2012.0884
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/49246
dc.subjectAllometry
dc.subjectMetabolic rate
dc.subjectMetabolic theory
dc.subjectQ 10
dc.subjectScaling
dc.subjectUniversal temperature dependence
dc.titleAn information-theoretic approach to evaluating the size and temperature dependence of metabolic rate
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