Metabolic rate and body size are linked with perception of temporal information

Kevin Healy,Luke Mcnally,Natalie Cooper,Graeme D Ruxton,Andrew L Jackson

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.06.018

Abstract

Body size and metabolic rate both fundamentally constrain how species interact with their environment, and hence ultimately affect their niche. While many mechanisms leading to these constraints have been explored, their effects on the resolution at which temporal information is perceived have been largely overlooked. The visual system acts as a gateway to the dynamic environment and the relative resolution at which organisms are able to acquire and process visual information is likely to restrict their ability to interact with events around them. As both smaller size and higher metabolic rates should facilitate rapid behavioural responses, we hypothesized that these traits would favour perception of temporal change over finer timescales. Using critical flicker fusion frequency, the lowest frequency of flashing at which a flickering light source is perceived as constant, as a measure of the maximum rate of temporal information processing in the visual system, we carried out a phylogenetic comparative analysis of a wide range of vertebrates that supported this hypothesis. Our results have implications for the evolution of signalling systems and predator–prey interactions, and, combined with the strong influence that both body mass and metabolism have on a species' ecological niche, suggest that time perception may constitute an important and overlooked dimension of niche differentiation.

Highlights

Body size and metabolic rate both fundamentally constrain how species interact with their environment, and affect their niche
Body mass had a negative effect on the temporal resolution of the sensory system (Table 2, Fig. 2a, Fig. A2 in the Appendix), with a change in body mass of approximately 10 kg resulting in a reduction in critical flicker fusion frequency (CFF) of 2 Hz
While there is considerable variability in the ability to resolve temporally dynamic visual information across vertebrates, body mass and metabolic rate act as important general constraints on this ability

Summary

Introduction

Body size and metabolic rate both fundamentally constrain how species interact with their environment, and affect their niche. The visual system acts as a gateway to the dynamic environment and the relative resolution at which organisms are able to acquire and process visual information is likely to restrict their ability to interact with events around them As both smaller size and higher metabolic rates should facilitate rapid behavioural responses, we hypothesized that these traits would favour perception of temporal change over finer timescales. Body size and metabolic rate act as important constraints on several characteristics of organisms such as life history and behaviour, making them a common and well-studied aspect of species’ ecology (Brown et al 2004; Woodward et al 2005; Sibly et al 2012).

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Results

Conclusion