RoL: FELS: EAGER: Metabolic asymmetry: An energetic rule for linking biology across scales

生态系统是由动物组成的，通常被称为“温血”或“冷血”动物。虽然温血生物（恒温动物）可以产生自己的体温，但冷血生物（外温动物）依赖于外部温度来确定其内部体温。生物体之间的这种差异可以影响它们如何生长和发育，何时可以活跃，以及它们所需的食物资源量。这项研究探讨了环境温度变化对内温动物和外温动物进化和相互作用的作用。例如，温暖的温度可能会导致狩猎成功率和大量以冷血猎物为食的恒温动物的下降。本研究的目标是制定内温动物和外温动物生物学的一般规则，这些规则可用于了解它们在生态系统内和生态系统之间的关系。这项研究的结果将通过关注不同类型的生物如何应对环境变化来为保护工作提供信息。 塑造地球上生命的一般规则的发展将被用来通过在线电影和照片文章吸引公众，并为学生和公众开发一个互动网站，以探索温度如何影响物种行为，相互作用和进化。这项工作将提供机会，通过研究指导和从事本科生。虽然有机体和生态系统过程的能量约束是公认的，如何个人能量塑造生物相互作用和多样性的一般规则是罕见的。这个雄心勃勃的项目通过探索运动，觅食和竞争行为的能量基础来解决这一理解上的差距，以获得“代谢不对称”的定量框架。这项工作探讨了拮抗物种之间的代谢差异如何驱动生态相互作用，并在空间和时间上塑造生物多样性。目的一是推导和发展一个基于代谢不对称性的生物相互作用的一般理论，该理论将生理学、行为学和群落生态学联系起来。最初的重点将是吸热/外温相互作用，这是自然界中代谢不对称的最佳解释。目的二将实验评估和完善理论，利用实验室和野外觅食实验的吸热鼩（Soricidae），他们的变温蝾螈和蜥蜴的竞争对手，并共享变温无脊椎动物猎物。目的III将探索代谢不对称理论的宏观生态学和宏观进化含义，通过a）评估376种现存的鼩 鼱的代谢升级-代谢率的逐步增加-跨越空间; B）使用最近的系统发育方法来重建生命树上的基础代谢率，评估在深时间上的代谢升级，以及c）在未来气候变暖的情况下，预测地球仪内温和外温相对优势的生态系统水平变化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Ecosystems are composed of animals often referred to as being either 'warm' or 'cold' blooded. While warm-blooded organisms (endotherms) can generate their own body heat, cold-blooded organisms (ectotherms) rely on outside temperatures to determine their internal body temperatures. This difference between organisms can influence how they grow and develop, when they can be active, and the amount of food resources they require. This study explores the role of changing environmental temperatures on the way endotherms and ectotherms evolve and interact with each other. For example, warmer temperatures may cause declines in the hunting success and abundance of endotherms feeding on cold-blooded prey. The goal of this study is to develop general rules about the biology of endo- and ectotherms that can be applied to understand their relationships within and across ecosystems. The results of this study will inform conservation efforts through a focus on how different types of organisms respond to environmental change. The development of general rules that shape life on Earth will be used to engage the public through an on-line film and photo essay, and the development of an interactive website for students and the public to explore how temperature influences species behavior, interactions, and evolution. This work will provide opportunities to mentor and engage undergraduates through research. Although energetic constraints on organismal and ecosystem processes are well recognized, general rules for how individual energetics shape biotic interactions and diversity are rare. This ambitious project addresses this gap in understanding by exploring the energetic basis of movement, foraging, and competitive behavior to derive a quantitative framework for 'metabolic asymmetry'. The work explores how the metabolic differences between antagonistic species drive ecological interactions and shape biodiversity across space and time. Objective I is to derive and develop a general theory of biotic interactions based on metabolic asymmetry that links physiology, behavior, and community ecology. An initial focus will be endotherm/ectotherm interactions, which best exemplify metabolic asymmetries in nature. Objective II will experimentally assess and refine theory using laboratory and field foraging experiments on endothermic shrews (Soricidae), their ectothermic salamander and lizard competitors, and shared ectothermic invertebrate prey. Objective III will explore macroecological and macroevolutionary implications of the metabolic asymmetry theory, by a) assessing metabolic escalation - the progressive increase in metabolic rates - across space for 376 extant species of shrews; b) evaluating metabolic escalation across deep time, using recent phylogenetic methods to reconstruct basal metabolic rates across the tree of life, and c) forecasting ecosystem-level shifts in the relative dominance of endotherms and ectotherms across the globe, given future climate warming scenarios.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.