Basal metabolic rate is often likened to the idling speed of mammals. Measured during rest in non-reproductive, mature, fasted animals, it has become a gold standard for use in interspecific studies. Recent evolutionary analyses have shown a decoupling between basal metabolism and body temperature in endotherms. However, these studies were based on body temperature datasets that ignored the inherent variability in this trait and consisted of non-comparable temperatures (for example comparing that of a resting animal during the active phase of its activity cycle to an active animal in its rest phase). Using a new dataset of standardised resting body temperatures in mammals, we explore the relationship between basal metabolism and body temperature as well as the evolutionary history of these two traits. We discuss the implications of correcting, or not, for body temperature in studies on metabolic scaling and discuss the role of thermoregulatory phenotypes in shaping mammalian energetics.

The evolution of resting body temperatures in mammals

Large-scale comparisons of mammalian basal metabolic rates often transform metabolism (using Q10 effects) to approximate a standard body temperature of 37°C. However, existing mammalian body temperature datasets do not take into account the high degree of within-species and within-individual variability in body temperatures. There is increasing recognition that rather than being fully homeothermic, most endotherms display some degree of flexibility in body temperature. Yet existing body temperature datasets use temperatures from different non-analog states (such as resting versus active or scotophase versus acrophase) or mean body temperature, which has increasingly been shown to have little biological relevance. Using a new dataset of standardised resting body temperatures in mammals, we show that the relationship between basal metabolism and body temperature is not as straightforward as has been presumed. We discuss the implications of correcting, or not, for body temperature in studies on metabolic scaling and discuss the role of thermoregulatory phenotypes in shaping mammalian basal metabolic rates.

The role of body temperature in the scaling of metabolic rate in mammals

Metabolic rate reflects an organism’s capacity for growth, maintenance, and reproduction, and is likely to be a target of selection. This session aims to examine the evolutionary potential of metabolism, by exploring both the causes of its variation, such as environmental and genetic sources of variation, energy trade-offs and constraints, and the consequences of variation for fitness. We welcome all submissions that consider evolutionary aspects underlying phenotypic variation in metabolic rates, including, selection, heritability, and plasticity. 

A10: The evolutionary significance of variation in metabolic rates 

technical paper

Discover the art of creating extraordinary science at SEB’s Annual Conference at Le Corum Conference Center     in Montpellier, France from 5 to  8 July 2022.

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SEB Annual Conference 2022

2022 will find over 1500 experimental biologists from across the globe converging on the third-largest French city near the Mediterranean coast and the fastest-growing city in the country over the past 25 years - Montpellier, France

Submitted talk | Danielle Levesque

Metabolic rate is closely related to body size (body mass), but when mass increases, metabolic rate usually increases less. This allometric scaling relationship between metabolic rate and body mass is fundamental to biology and widely applied, but also one of the most debated concepts in integrative and comparative physiology, ecology, and evolutionary biology.

Several theories and hypotheses have been put forward to explain why and how metabolic rate scales with body mass, and why there appears to be variation in how steep this scaling relationship is among different taxa and physiological or ecological conditions (e.g. 'surface area', 'cell size', 'fractal distribution network', ‘dynamic energy budget’, and ‘metabolic-level boundaries’ theories or hypotheses). However, the lack of consensus on these important topics is a major barrier to our understanding of the pace at which organisms of different sizes and species expend energy and need to consume resources such as food and oxygen from the environment. It also limits our ability to predict how metabolic rate and body size (co)evolves, and how climate change affects metabolic demands and body sizes, as metabolic scaling exponents are used to model how these key organismal traits are affected by changing temperature and oxygen levels. The importance of metabolic scaling is clear, yet it remains one of the most controversial concepts in biology.

The overall aim of this satellite meeting is to bring together researchers working with metabolic scaling, to: (1) bring the field up to speed on state-of-the-art knowledge and research on metabolic scaling; (2) help understand how the vastly different views and opinions on metabolic scaling can persist despite more than a century of research (e.g. scaling in proportion to surface area or not, universal ¾-power scaling or not, governed by ecological vs. physical or geometric factors); and (3) identify and help streamline specific areas of research on metabolic scaling that will be particularly important for our further understanding of why and how metabolic rate scales with body size.

The meeting is being organised as part of the Animal Section of the SEB and will therefore have a focus on metabolic scaling of animals, but work on other organisms is welcome where this can provide insight into metabolic scaling in general.

Why and how does metabolic rate scale with body size?

The overall aim of this satellite meeting is to bring together researchers working with metabolic scaling, to: bring the field up to speed on state-of-the-art knowledge and research on metabolic scaling; help understand how the vastly different views and opinions on metabolic scaling can persist despite more than a century of research (e.g. scaling in proportion to surface area or not, universal ¾-power scaling or not, governed by ecological vs. physical or geometric factors); and identify and help streamline specific areas of research on metabolic scaling that will be particularly important for our further understanding of why and how metabolic rate scales with body size.

Danielle Levesque

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The evolution of resting body temperatures in mammals

The role of body temperature in the scaling of metabolic rate in mammals

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