The repeatability of metabolic rate declines with time

C.R. White, Natalie G. Schimpf, Phillip Cassey

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

90 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The evolutionary causes of variation in metabolic rate within and among species are a topic of enduring interest. Variation between individuals is the raw material on which natural selection acts, and so recent years have seen an increase in the number of studies that examine the consequences of inter-individual differences in metabolic rate for organismal performance. A minimum requirement for a trait to evolve is that it must differ consistently between individuals, and these differences must be heritable. The time constancy of a trait is assessed by estimating its repeatability, which represents the ratio of the between-individual component of phenotypic variance to total phenotypic variance. A previous meta-analysis of repeatability concluded that metabolic rate is, on average, repeatable. Here, we expand on this earlier analysis by including extra data published in the intervening years and demonstrate that the repeatability of metabolic rate decreases as the interval between measurements increases.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1763-1765
Number of pages3
JournalJournal of Experimental Biology
Volume216
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Heritability
  • Inter-individual variation
  • Intraclass correlation

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