malerba-ecoenergetic-2018.pdf (415.84 kB)
Eco-energetic consequences of evolutionary shifts in body size
journal contribution
posted on 2018-01-01, 00:00 authored by Martino MalerbaMartino Malerba, C R White, D J MarshallSize imposes physiological and ecological constraints upon all organisms. Theory abounds on how energy flux covaries with body size, yet causal links are often elusive. As a more direct way to assess the role of size, we used artificial selection to evolve the phytoplankton species Dunaliella tertiolecta towards smaller and larger body sizes. Within 100 generations (c. 1 year), we generated a fourfold difference in cell volume among selected lineages. Large-selected populations produced four times the energy than small-selected populations of equivalent total biovolume, but at the cost of much higher volume-specific respiration. These differences in energy utilisation between large (more productive) and small (more energy-efficient) individuals were used to successfully predict ecological performance (r and K) across novel resource regimes. We show that body size determines the performance of a species by mediating its net energy flux, with worrying implications for current trends in size reduction and for global carbon cycles.
History
Journal
Ecology lettersVolume
21Issue
1Pagination
54 - 62Publisher
WileyLocation
Chichester, Eng.Publisher DOI
Link to full text
ISSN
1461-023XeISSN
1461-0248Language
engPublication classification
C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalUsage metrics
Keywords
Science & TechnologyLife Sciences & BiomedicineEcologyEnvironmental Sciences & EcologyAllometryartificial selectionevolutionary size shiftexperimental evolutiongeometric biologymetabolismnet energy fluxprimary productionscalingLIFE-HISTORY EVOLUTIONCAENORHABDITIS-ELEGANSMARINE-PHYTOPLANKTONONTOGENIC GROWTHCELL-SIZETEMPERATURECHLOROPHYLLPOPULATIONSELECTIONPHOTOSYNTHESISEvolutionary BiologyEcology
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