Abstract
BackgroundThe Metabolic Theory of Ecology (MTE) predicts that gestation duration, lactation duration, and their sum, total development time, are constrained by mass-specific basal metabolic rate such that they should scale with body mass with an exponent of 0.25. However, tests of the MTE’s predictions have yielded mixed results. In an effort to resolve this uncertainty, we used phylogenetically-controlled regression to investigate the allometries of gestation duration, lactation duration, and total development time in four well-studied mammalian orders, Artiodactyla, Carnivora, Primates, and Rodentia.ResultsThe results we obtained are not consistent with the predictions of the MTE. Gestation duration scaling exponents are below 0.25 in all four orders. The scaling exponent for lactation duration is below 0.25 in Carnivora and Rodentia, indistinguishable from 0.25 in Artiodactyls, and steeper than 0.25 in Primates. Total development time scales with body mass as predicted by the MTE in Primates, but not in artiodactyls, carnivores, and rodents. In the latter three orders, the exponent is 0.15.ConclusionsTogether, these results indicate that the influence of basal metabolic rate on mammalian maternal investment durations must be more complicated than the MTE envisages, and that other factors must play an important role. Future research needs to allow for the possibility that different factors drive gestation duration and lactation duration, and that the drivers of the two durations may differ among orders.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-014-0194-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
The Metabolic Theory of Ecology (MTE) predicts that gestation duration, lactation duration, and their sum, total development time, are constrained by mass-specific basal metabolic rate such that they should scale with body mass with an exponent of 0.25
Because biological time periods are expected to scale with the inverse of massspecific metabolic rate, the MTE predicts that gestation duration, lactation duration, and total development time should scale allometrically with a slope of 0.25 [12]
All orders have allometric slopes for gestation duration that fall below the 0.25 slope predicted by the MTE when analysed separately (Figure 1a)
Summary
The Metabolic Theory of Ecology (MTE) predicts that gestation duration, lactation duration, and their sum, total development time, are constrained by mass-specific basal metabolic rate such that they should scale with body mass with an exponent of 0.25. Phylogenetic inertia and differences in body mass explain some of the interspecific variation, but it is clear that other factors must be involved. What these factors are has been a matter of debate for over 30 years. Because biological time periods are expected to scale with the inverse of massspecific metabolic rate, the MTE predicts that gestation duration, lactation duration, and total development time should scale allometrically with a slope of 0.25 [12]
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