Metabolic rate is negatively linked to adult survival but does not explain latitudinal differences in songbirds
Ecology Letters
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Abstract
Survival rates vary dramatically among species and predictably across latitudes, but causes of this variation are unclear. The rate of living hypothesis posits that physiological damage from metabolism causes species with faster metabolic rates to exhibit lower survival rates. However, whether increased survival commonly observed in tropical and south temperate latitudes is associated with slower metabolic rate remains unclear. We compared metabolic rates and annual survival rates that we measured across 46 species, and from literature data across 147 species in northern, southern, and tropical latitudes. High metabolic rates were associated with lower survival but survival varied substantially among latitudinal regions independent of metabolism. The inability of metabolic rate to explain latitudinal variation in survival suggests 1) species may evolve physiological mechanisms that mitigate physiological damage from cellular metabolism, and 2) extrinsic rather than intrinsic sources of mortality are the primary causes of latitudinal differences in survival.
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Metabolic rate is negatively linked to adult survival but does not explain latitudinal differences in songbirds |
| Series title | Ecology Letters |
| DOI | 10.1111/ele.13464 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Publication Date | January 28, 2020 |
| Year Published | 2020 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Wiley |
| Contributing office(s) | Coop Res Unit Seattle |
| Description | 11 p. |
| First page | 642 |
| Last page | 652 |