BMR and Body Mass Comparison between Endothermic and Ectothermic Organisms
Abstract
Introduction
Methods
Question Hypothesis
Methods
Results
Literature Cited
Materials
Figures
End Citation
Discussion
Middle Paragraph
Results
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Background
Approach
Design
Procedure
First Paragraph
Concluding Paragraph
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In-Text Citation
Background
Kleiber's law explains that an organisms' metabolic rate is equivalent to the animal's body mass raised to the 3/4 power.
Hypothesis
One can hypothesize that reptiles and amphibians have a lower-mass specific metabolic rate.
Data-mining
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Database
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Poikilotherm vs. Homeotherm
Basal metabolic rate can be computed by quantifying the amount of energy expended by an animal at rest
Kleiber's Law
Data-mining Inductive Method
Is the basal metabolic rate lower for that of ectotherms or endotherms?
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An excel sheet was created to statistically analyze and assess the relationships between the dataset.
This data was obtained by utilizing the query forum to retrieve data (body-mass and BMR) for the Amphibia, Aves, and Mammalia classes.
Several species were removed (prior to graphing) from the dataset because their data points were far greater or smaller than the mean data-point. Potential factors that could alter the outcome of this experiment are outliers.
This information was extracted using the University of Michigan’s Animal Diversity database.
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Several species were removed (prior to graphing) from the dataset because their data points were far greater or smaller than the mean data-point.
Data mining refers to the practice of examining large databases to generate new information.
In the classes Mammalia and Aves, there is a negative correlation between mass-specific BMR and body mass.
In the classes Mammalia and Aves, there is a positive correlation between BMR and body mass.
One can state that ectotherms are dependent on external sources of heat; endotherms support themselves by the internal generation of heat. Under these conditions, one could hypothesize that reptiles and amphibians have a slower mass-specific metabolic rate.
Figure 1a. Mammalia: BMR vs Body Mass
Mass-Specific BMR vs. Body Mass
BMR vs. Body Mass
Figure 1b. Aves: BMR vs Body Mass
Figure 2a. Mammalia: Mass-Specific BMR vs Body Mass
Figure 2b. Aves: Mass-Specific BMR vs Body Mass
Figure 3a. Amphibians vs Mammals Bar Graph
The independent variable would be the body masses of the amphibians and birds; the dependent variable would be the basal metabolic rate.
T-Tests support this claim
Hypothesis was supported; endotherms have a greater mass-specific BMR.
Amphibians do not follow Kleiber's law.
Data demonstrates no correlational relationship (among Amphibia) between the basal metabolic rate and body mass.
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Kleiber's law does not adhere the class of Amphibia.
Mammals have a higher BMR than amphibians.
This study proves there is a significant relationship between body mass and metabolic rate in homeotherms and poikilotherms.
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Effects of an organisms' metabolic level on its body size
Homeotherms have a greater metabolic rate than poikilotherms.
Glazier DS. 2008. Effects of Metabolic Level on the Body Size Scaling of Metabolic Rate in Birds and Mammals. Royal Society. 275:1405–1410.
Speakman J. 2005. Body size, energy metabolism and lifespan. The Journal of Experimental Biology 208 (9): 1717-1730.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity database
Zari TL. 2016. Seasonal metabolic acclimatization in the herbivorous desert lizard Uromastyx philbyi (Reptilia: Agamidea) from western Saudi Arabia. Journal of Thermal Biology. 60:180–185. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtherbio.2016.07.014
(Zari 2016)
(Speakman 2005)
(Glazier 2008)
Describe proportional relationship of Aves and Mammals.