Ecological significance of hypometabolism in nonhuman primates

Allometry, adaptation, and deviant diets

Dados Bibliográficos

ID8319830
AutoresJeffrey A Kurland (Pennsylvania State University), Jay D Pearson (Pennsylvania State University)
Ano1986
Volume71
Fascículo4
Páginas445-457
Data de publicação1986-12-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0002-9483 • E-ISSN: 1096-8644
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ajpa.1330710408
PMID3812660
OpenAlexW2055362387
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas19
Referências citadas60

The “Kleiber relationship” describes the interspecific allometry between body size and metabolism. Like other allometric relationships, the Kleiber relationship not only summarizes scaling effects across species but also provides a standard by which species can be compared. One well‐noted deviation from the Kleiber relationship is “hypometabolism”: metabolic rates below that expected for a given size. It has been suggested in the literature that hypometabolism may be 1) a primitive mammalian trait, 2) a thermoregulatory adaptation, 3) an adaptation to arboreal folivory, or 4) an adaptation to a diet that is deviant for body size. Data on primate physiology and behavior are used to evaluate these hypotheses. Only the deviant‐diet hypothesis is supported by the data on nonhuman primates. Indeed, the Jarman‐Bell relationship, which is the basis for this hypothesis, provides a more coherent explanation of correlated features of animal physiology and behavior than do the alternative models. Hypometabolism may be an energy‐conserving adaptation to a variety of nutritional stresses. The present analysis underscores the point that metabolic rate, like foraging behavior, should be thought of as evolutionarily labile

Adaptation (eye) · Allometry · Arboreal locomotion · Biology · Evolutionary biology · Foraging · Interspecific competition · Metabolic rate · Primate · Trait · Zoology · Animal Behavior and Reproduction · Bat Biology and Ecology Studies · Ecology · Neuroscience · Primate Behavior and Ecology