Body Size and Density: The Limits to Biomass and Energy Use

Oikos ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim M. Blackburn ◽  
Kevin J. Gaston
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Energy Use

Body size, energy use and ecological dominance

Nature ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 328 (6126) ◽  
pp. 117-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID GRIFFITHS
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Ecological Dominance

Body Size and Energy Use in Termites (Isoptera): The Responses of Soil Feeders and Wood Feeders Differ in a Tropical Forest Assemblage

Oikos ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. 525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Eggleton ◽  
Richard G. Davies ◽  
David E. Bignell
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Tropical Forest ◽  
Energy Use

scholarly journals Metabolic dominance of bivalves predates brachiopod diversity decline by more than 150 million years

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1783) ◽  
pp. 20133122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan L. Payne ◽  
Noel A. Heim ◽  
Matthew L. Knope ◽  
Craig R. McClain
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Metabolic Activity ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Taxonomic Diversity ◽  
Metabolic Rates ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
Numerical Abundance ◽  
Ecological Importance ◽  
Ecological Dominance ◽  
Size Data

Brachiopods and bivalves feed in similar ways and have occupied the same environments through geological time, but brachiopods were far more diverse and abundant in the Palaeozoic whereas bivalves dominate the post-Palaeozoic, suggesting a transition in ecological dominance 250 Ma. However, diversity and abundance data alone may not adequately describe key changes in ecosystem function, such as metabolic activity. Here, we use newly compiled body size data for 6066 genera of bivalves and brachiopods to calculate metabolic rates and revisit this question from the perspective of energy use, finding that bivalves already accounted for a larger share of metabolic activity in Palaeozoic oceans. We also find that the metabolic activity of bivalves has increased by more than two orders of magnitude over this interval, whereas brachiopod metabolic activity has declined by more than 50%. Consequently, the increase in bivalve energy metabolism must have occurred via the acquisition of new food resources rather than through the displacement of brachiopods. The canonical view of a mid-Phanerozoic transition from brachiopod to bivalve dominance results from a focus on taxonomic diversity and numerical abundance as measures of ecological importance. From a metabolic perspective, the oceans have always belonged to the clams.

COUPLING ENERGY USE, BODY SIZE, AND DIVERSITY DURING THE PLIO-PLEISTOCENE EXTINCTION EVENT

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Felipe Opazo ◽  
◽  
Michal Kowalewski ◽  
Roger W. Portell ◽  
Jennifer L. Sliko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Coupling Energy ◽  
Extinction Event

scholarly journals BODY SIZE, ENERGY USE, AND COMMUNITY STRUCTURE OF SMALL MAMMALS

Ecology ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 86 (6) ◽  
pp. 1407-1413 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. K. Morgan Ernest
Keyword(s):  
Community Structure ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Small Mammals ◽  
Energy Use

Body size, energy use and ecological dominance

Nature ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 328 (6126) ◽  
pp. 118-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES H. BROWN ◽  
BRIAN A. MAURER
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Ecological Dominance

Population energy use scales positively with body size in natural aquatic microcosms

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 553-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
April Hayward ◽  
Maaheen Khalid ◽  
Jurek Kolasa
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Aquatic Microcosms

scholarly journals All Sizes Fit the Red Queen

Paleobiology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 478-494
Author(s):  
Indrė Žliobaitė ◽  
Mikael Fortelius
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Large Species ◽  
Red Queen ◽  
Metabolic Scaling ◽  
Physiological Time ◽  
Time Modeling ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
The Red Queen

AbstractThe Red Queen's hypothesis portrays evolution as a never-ending competition for expansive energy, where one species’ gain is another species’ loss. The Red Queen is neutral with respect to body size, implying that neither small nor large species have a universal competitive advantage. Here we ask whether, and if so how, the Red Queen's hypothesis really can accommodate differences in body size. The maximum population growth in ecology clearly depends on body size—the smaller the species, the shorter the generation length, and the faster it can expand given sufficient opportunity. On the other hand, large species are more efficient in energy use due to metabolic scaling and can maintain more biomass with the same energy. The advantage of shorter generation makes a wide range of body sizes competitive, yet large species do not take over. We analytically show that individuals consume energy and reproduce in physiological time, but need to compete for energy in real time. The Red Queen, through adaptive evolution of populations, balances the pressures of real and physiological time. Modeling competition for energy as a proportional prize contest from economics, we further show that Red Queen's zero-sum game can generate unimodal hat-like patterns of species rise and decline that can be neutral in relation to body size.

scholarly journals 160 Effects of cow-calf management strategies on environmental footprints of beef cattle production in the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (Supplement_4) ◽  
pp. 130-130
Author(s):  
Jessica Baber ◽  
Tryon Wickersham ◽  
Sara Place ◽  
Al Rotz
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Beef Cattle ◽  
Feed Efficiency ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Cattle Production ◽  
N Loss ◽  
Fossil Energy ◽  
Beef Cattle Production ◽  
Cow Calf

Abstract As baseline environmental footprints of beef cattle production are established, mitigation strategies through cow-calf dietary and production management can be evaluated. Our objective was to quantify environmental benefits obtained by beef cattle production through implementation of cow-calf management strategies. Ten cow-calf management strategies were identified related to animal performance, feed management, or pasture management. Each strategy was incorporated into 20 representative beef cattle production systems and simulated with the Integrated Farm System Model (IFSM) using local soil and climate data. A combined strategy was identified based upon the results of individual strategies, which was also simulated with IFSM. Farm-gate life cycle assessment was used to estimate carbon (C) footprint, fossil energy use, blue water use, and total reactive nitrogen (N) loss for all production systems and strategy combinations. Averages of each environmental metric for the cow-calf sector were based on weighted averages of regional cow inventory data. National estimates of environmental impacts were based upon number of cattle represented by each production system. Feed efficiency, terminal cross sires, and reduced cow body size strategies had greatest effect on C footprint (reductions of 1.31, 1.15, and 0.71 kg CO2e/kg CW, respectively from a baseline of 16.34 kg CO2e/kg CW). Calving season, reduced cow body size, and improved fiber digestion increased fossil energy use (7.8%), while improved feed efficiency and calf implant use reduced fossil energy use (7.4%). Blue water use was reduced by a greater extent from improved feed efficiency (4.6%) and reduced cow body size (5.3%) compared to other strategies (0.6%). Total reactive N loss was reduced by 7.0 and 6.9% through improved feed efficiency and reduced cow body size, respectively. Combining strategies reduced C footprint (18.2%), fossil energy use (18.6%), blue water use (18.9%), and reactive N loss (16.2%).

Tissue-specific allometry of an aerobic respiratory enzyme in a large and a small species of cyprinid (Teleostei)

1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (10) ◽  
pp. 2199-2208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward M. Goolish ◽  
Ira R. Adelman
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Metabolic Rate ◽  
Common Carp ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Small Fish ◽  
Total Body Mass ◽  
Tissue Specific ◽  
Ontogenetic Allometry ◽  
Total Body

The aerobic enzyme cytochrome-c oxidase (CCO) was used as a measure of tissue-specific metabolic capacity. Changes in tissue CCO activity with increased body size were combined with allometric relationships for tissue weight to describe changes in energy use with increased body size. A large (common carp, Cyprinus carpio) and a small (common shiner, Notropis cornutus) species of cyprinid were used to examine differences between ontogenetic and phylogenetic allometry. With increased size, shifts occurred in energy use from viscera (high metabolic rate) to muscle tissue (low metabolic rate) which would account for the negative allometry of whole-body metabolic rate. This shift was more severe for the larger (i.e., faster growing) species, common carp. Percent muscle mass was fairly constant in the shiner, but increased from 42 to 62% of total body mass in the carp. For both species, the greatest allometry in total tissue CCO activity occurred in the brain and intestine. Total intestinal CCO activity scaled as weight to the exponents 0.70 and 0.54 for the carp and shiner, respectively. The greater proportion of metabolically active visceral tissue in young individuals is apparently not an energetic disadvantage, because these fish often have the highest growth efficiencies. These efficiencies may be due to the more favorable ratio of food "processing" capacity to target growth tissue (muscle) in small fish. The negative allometry in processing ability is likely responsible for the decreases in ingestion and growth rates with increased size. The influence of growth on ectotherm metabolism is large and, because growth is allometric, it can affect the exponent for metabolic rate in ontogenetic allometry studies.

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