Climate change causes significant changes in aquatic and terrestrial habitats, making them more susceptible to invasive species relative to native ones. However, our understanding of how metabolic responses to environmental stressors facilitate biological invasions is limited. In this study, we measured the metabolism of native (Gammarus pulex) and invasive (Dikerogammarus villosus) amphipods under different thermal and predation risk conditions to determine the plasticity of each species. We discovered an interactive and species-dependent effect of temperature and predation risk on the body-mass scaling of metabolic rate. The metabolic scaling relationship of the invasive species was insensitive to temperature changes, in contrast to that of the native species. Our results suggest that invasive species are less sensitive to increasing temperature, which may facilitate their invasion success in habitats vulnerable to global warming or at thermally polluted locations. Moreover, both species limited their metabolic responses to predation risk when the temperature increased, which may have negative implications for their defensive responses. Thus, attempts to understand effects of global warming in isolation from additional factors, such as predation pressure or taxonomic identity of species dominating in local communities, may lead to underestimation of its true ecological consequences

“Too hot to fear?” Metabolic response of ectothermic prey to predation risk is modulated by global warming.

In ecological communities, body mass and species abundance create size spectra that reflect metabolic demands varying with size. These patterns are generally predictable; however, how temperature and predation alter these predictions at the community level has not been extensively explored. In this study, we recreated 24 stream ecosystems in mesocosms to test the effects of two temperatures (ambient and elevated) and two predation scenarios. After 30 days, we analyzed macroinvertebrate samples for changes in the ontogenetic scaling of their resting metabolic rates. Our study investigates the impact of temperature on the ontogenetic scaling of resting metabolic rate in freshwater macroinvertebrate communities, particularly in relation to predation regimes. We observe that rising temperatures cause a decrease in the metabolic scaling exponent in environments with predation pressure (e.g., from approximately 0.3 to 0.5, instead of the predicted 0.75 by metabolic scaling theory), resulting in steeper size spectra (e.g., from approximately -1.2 to -1.5, instead of the predicted -2 by metabolic scaling theory). These findings highlight the complex interplay between abiotic and biotic factors in shaping energy dynamics and community structure, underscoring the need to integrate individual energetics into size-based community models. This underscores the interactive influence of temperature and predation on ecophysiological processes, potentially altering the slope of size spectra and affecting energy exchange equilibrium within ecological communities. Our work paves the way for further investigation into the ecological consequences of metabolic scaling deviations in the context of global environmental changes.

Temperature and predation affect metabolic scaling: Do individual metabolic constraints shape community size spectra?

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SEB Conference Prague 2024

SEB’s Annual Conference is celebrated for creating the perfect composition of research, new discoveries and collaborative connections. Be creative and innovative by exchanging ideas and knowledge with masters of biology from all over the world.

Variation is inherent and foundational to all life on earth. Yet researchers have historically focused on “the Golden Mean”. This session will highlight how researchers are embracing variability by incorporating environmental realism into experiments, and investigating sources of variability in data. Day 1 will focus on environmental variability - discussing lessons learned, outstanding questions, and best practices to mimic real-word scenarios in the lab. Day 2 will focus on variability in our data - answering the questions “How does variability arise - through experimental differences and/or performance differences in organisms?”, “What does it mean?”, and “How best to report it”. 

**Session Organisers:** Prof. Warren W. Burggren, Emily Hardison, Dr. Gail Schwieterman and Chris Wood

**Invited Speakers:** Dr. Anne Cremazy, Dr. Torben Göpel, Dr. Yangfan Zhang, Dr. Gil Martinez Bautista, Andrea Morash, Melanie Massey and Emily Donham

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“Too hot to fear?” Metabolic response of ectothermic prey to predation risk is modulated by global warming.

Temperature and predation affect metabolic scaling: Do individual metabolic constraints shape community size spectra?

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