Relationship Between Respiration Rate and Body Size in Marine Plankton Animals as a Function of the Temperature of Habitat
Year: 1970
Type: article
Abstract: It is generally known that the rate of oxygen consumption (metabolic rate) per unit body weight of animals increases with the decrease in body size of the animals.This concept was initiated from the finding of the "surface law" by Sarrus & Rameaux (1839), and many studies on this problem have been done on mammals and birds ever since (refer to the reviews of Krogh, 1916;Benedict, 1938;Kleiber, 1947; Prosser, 1961a).A detailed study on this subject (Kleiber, 1947) has shown that the metabolic rate is proportional to a given power function of body weight rather than to body surface.Weymouth et al. (1944) showed that this relation-, ship is also applicable to poikilothermal animals according to experiments on a kelp crab, Pugettia producta.Zeuthen (1947), working on the marine micro-fauna, found a similar relationship.The review of Zeuthen (1953) extended this concept to organisms from bacteria to large mammals.In regard to plankton animals, Raymont & Gauld (1951) first suggested that the rate of oxygen consumption in copepods is proportional to their body surface.This was confirmed by Gauld & Raymont (1953), Raymont (1959), Conover (1959) and Berner (1962).Conover (1960), working on copepods, amphipods and euphausiids, and Rajagopal (1962), working on a hydromedusa, ctenophores, copepods, decapods and a tunicate, stated that the log respiration is well correlated to the log dry body weight of animals.Recently this relationship was reported on copepods by Haq (1967) and Comita (1968), and on euphausiids by Small, Hebard & McIntire (1966), Small & Hebard (1967), Paranjape (1967) andPearcy et al. (1969).The present investigation was made in an attempt to obtain the relationship between the rate of oxygen consumption (respiration) and the body size (weight) in various marine plankton animal groups from three different areas, boreal, temperate and tropical seas.Before going further, the author wishes to express his sincere thanks to
Author: Tsutomu Ikeda
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life below water
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W655814574