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Birds and Mammals: Comparison of Body Mass, BMR, and Mass-specific BMR for…
Birds and Mammals: Comparison of Body Mass, BMR, and Mass-specific BMR for Similarities or Differences
Methods
In order to do this experiment, data was collected from a website called Animal Diversity Web with the use of the Quaardvark tool to search for Aves and Mammalia.
Data was obtained on the Aves body mass, BMR, and Mass-specific BMR. Data was also collected on mammalia for the Body Mass, BMR, and Mass-specific BMR.
Using excel, all the data was organized and categorized for 66 species of birds and 297 species of mammals.
Comparisons of Aves and Mammals were used to decipher if there were any similarities for body mass in birds and mammals. Scatter plot graphs were used to organize the data to see if patterns were there.
Birds and mammals data were compared against one another to determine if there were any similarities or if there were differences,
Error graphs were used to compare birds and mammals body mass and to see whether these were similiar.
My hypothesis
Using a scatter plot, the data of birds body mass and mass-specific BMR were compared. This was to determine that as the body mass decrease would the mass-specific BMR increase.
Introduction
When thinking about birds, how much energy do they need in order to maintain their body's needs and fly. What about mammals, considering the many sizes of small to large, they must need a lot of BMR to maintain their body and their temperature.
Since birds can fly and have smaller bodies, their body mass must affect their BMR. Birds require more energy to take flight and maintain flight, which could affect their Basal Metabolic Rate. Would there be a similarity between the BMR of mammals with smaller body masses and birds with smaller body masses as well?
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Mammals range from small to large body masses, which would in turn lead to differences in BMR. With larger bodies, the ability to retain energy can prove useful, to have a lower BMR if the mammals do not require to use more than necessary. Would mammals and birds have similar mass-specific BMR as their body mass decreases?
Abtract
Birds and mammals use energy in their everyday lives. These animals' basal metabolic rate (BMR) depends on body mass and mass-specific BMR, which reflects the energy needed to maintain themselves.
The hypothesis is that there is a correlation that birds and mammals will have similar BMR due to their body mass. This experiment is based on Aves (birds) and mammals and whether there is a correlation between body mass and BMR. For each species of birds and mammals, body mass, BMR, and mass-specific BMR were collected and compared.
The results showed that there were very similar trends when comparing birds' and mammals' body mass to BMR. However, due to the difference in species between birds and mammals, there are major differences, since birds require more BMR than mammals do.
Results
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Tables
*T-Tests
- Bird and Mammals Body Mass Comparison
- Birds and Mammals BMR comparison
- Birds and Mammals Mass-specific BMR comparison
- My hypothesis: Birds Body Mass Comparison
Paragraph
There are some similarities between the birds and mammals body mass, BMR, and mass-specific BMR. The data when graphed had shown similar trend lines of body mass, BMR, and mass-specific BMR.
There are differences in the data since birds have more smaller and compact bodies than mammals, so the data will have a major gap between the two animal species. Mammals have a better regulatory system that allows them to maintain their temperature which allows them to use less energy.
Birds with smaller body masses will have higher mass-specific BMR since they require more energy to maintain themselves while flying. Birds lose body heat more quickly, which requires them to burn through more engery which raises their mass-specific BMR.
Discussion
Birds and Mammals have different body compositions that allow them to use more or less energy given their need. Mammals are more suited to maintain their body temperature which leads to less need of energy spent on surviving.
Birds are not able to maintain their body temperatures as well as mammals which would require them to use more energy as they progressively got smaller.
The body mass of birds and mammals will have similarities, but there are still differences in body compositions and what the animals can do.
Literature Cited
Gavrilov VM, Golubeva TB, Warrack G, Bushuev AV. 2022. Metabolic scaling in birds and mammals: How taxon divergence time, phylogeny, and metabolic rate affect the relationship between scaling exponents and intercepts. Biology. 11(7):1067. doi:10.3390/biology11071067. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9312277/.
Tang Z-R, Chen S-Y, Lu W, Zhang H- Di, Li M, Liu J-S. 2022. Morphological and physiological correlates of among- individual variation in basal metabolic rate in two passerine birds. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology. 267(111160):111160. doi:10.1016/j.cbpa.2022.111160. [accessed 2026 Sept 22]. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1095643322000186.