Size matters: ocean acidification and warming alter metabolic scaling in Polyplacophora

摘要

Allometric scaling of metabolic rate with body mass is a long-studied physiological phenomenon, most commonly explained through the famous 'mouse-to-elephant' curve. Metabolic rates of organisms decrease proportional to body mass as they get larger. Proposed values for the mass scaling exponent in this equation include % and 3/4 [1,2,3]. There is, however, ongoing debate over the models underpinning these values [4,5,6]. Recently it has been suggested that no universal scaling value exists and that the scaling relationship varies systematically with ecology and lifestyle traits of species [7,8]. One of these models, the Metabolic-Level Boundaries (MLB) hypothesis proposes that the value of the allometric scaling exponent shows systematic variation linked to patterns of metabolic rate and activity level. Additional research, including my own [9,10,11], has demonstrated not only that scaling of metabolism is a variable physiological parameter, but that it may be plastic to environmental factors, such as the changes in temperature and pH expected under future climate warming and ocean acidification.