Why are metabolic scaling exponents so controversial? Quantifying variance and testing hypotheses
Why are metabolic scaling exponents so controversial? Quantifying variance and testing hypotheses
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01461.x
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发表时间：
2010-06-01
期刊：
影响因子：
8.8
通讯作者：
Carbone, Chris
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Isaac, Nick J. B.;Carbone, Chris
生态学的代谢理论将生理学与生态学联系起来，并成功地预测了许多异速生长的比例关系。近年来，代谢理论的支持者和批评者对代谢率的标度进行了激烈的争论。我们发现，争议的出现，部分原因是因为研究人员分别从方差的平均指数。我们同时使用线性混合效应模型和来自1242种动物的数据来估计这两个数量。代谢率标度收敛于预测值3/4，但高度异质：50%的阶数位于0.68-0.82范围之外。这些发现对几种形式的统计不确定性是稳健的。然后，我们测试竞争的假设的变化。代谢理论目前无法解释不同阶之间的比例差异，但模式也与竞争性解释不一致。我们的结论是，目前的理论是不足以解释在自然界中观察到的代谢缩放模式的全部范围。
The metabolic theory of ecology links physiology with ecology, and successfully predicts many allometric scaling relationships. In recent years, proponents and critics of metabolic theory have debated vigorously about the scaling of metabolic rate. We show that the controversy arose, in part, because researchers examined the mean exponent separately from the variance. We estimate both quantities simultaneously using linear mixed-effects models and data from 1242 animal species. Metabolic rate scaling converges on the predicted value of 3/4 but is highly heterogeneous: 50% of orders lie outside the range 0.68-0.82. These findings are robust to several forms of statistical uncertainty. We then test competing hypotheses about the variation. Metabolic theory is currently unable to explain differences in scaling among orders, but the patterns are not consistent with competing explanations either. We conclude that current theories are inadequate to explain the full range of metabolic scaling patterns observed in nature.