Do Performance-Safety Tradeoffs Cause Hypometric Metabolic Scaling in Animals?

Abstract

Hypometric scaling of aerobic metabolism in animals has been widely attributed to constraints on oxygen (O₂) supply in larger animals, but recent findings demonstrate that O₂ supply balances with need regardless of size. Larger animals also do not exhibit evidence of compensation for O₂ supply limitation. Because declining metabolic rates (MRs) are tightly linked to fitness, this provides significant evidence against the hypothesis that constraints on supply drive hypometric scaling. As an alternative, ATP demand might decline in larger animals because of performance-safety tradeoffs. Larger animals, which typically reproduce later, exhibit risk-reducing strategies that lower MR. Conversely, smaller animals are more strongly selected for growth and costly neurolocomotory performance, elevating metabolism.

Keywords: allometry; body size; metabolic rate; scaling.