Ontogenetic and interspecific metabolic scaling in insects

Abstract

Design constraints imposed by increasing size cause metabolic rate in animals to increase more slowly than mass. This ubiquitous biological phenomenon is referred to as metabolic scaling. However, mechanistic explanations for interspecific metabolic scaling do not apply to ontogenetic size changes within a species, implying different mechanisms for scaling phenomena. Here, we show that the dynamic energy budget theory approach of compartmentalizing biomass into reserve and structural components provides a unified framework for understanding ontogenetic and interspecific metabolic scaling. We formulate the theory for insects and show that it can account for ontogenetic metabolic scaling durin..