New Zealand orthopteran standard metabolic rate

This is the dataset for the article ‘Standard metabolic rate variation among New Zealand Orthoptera’

We examined variation in standard metabolic rate (SMR) among fifteen species of New Zealand orthopteran. These species represent a heterogeneous group with a wide geographic distribution, differing morphologies and life histories. Gathering original data on morphological and physiological traits of individual species is a first step towards understanding existent variability. Individual metabolic rates of ectotherms are one of the first traits to respond to climate change. Baseline SMR datasets are valuable for modelling current species distributions and their responses to a changing climate. At higher latitudes, the average environmental temperature decreases. The pattern that cold-adapted ectotherms display higher SMR at colder temperatures and greater thermal sensitivity to compensate for lower temperatures and the shorter growing and reproductive seasons is predicted from the metabolic cold adaptation (MCA) hypothesis. We predict higher SMR for the orthopteran species found at higher latitudes. We further compared the index of thermal sensitivity Q10 per species. We used closed-system respirometry to measure SMR, at two test temperatures (4ºC and 14ºC), for the fifteen species acclimated to the same conditions.

Abbreviations used in the dataset

Species = The scientific name of each of the fifteen species of orthopterans studied.

ID = The laboratory identification number that each individual received.

Sex = Female or male.

Mass = Body mass measured in grams.

SMR4C* = Standard metabolic rate measured as at 4ºC in ml O2/hour.

SMR14C* = Standard metabolic rate measured at 14ºC in ml O2/hour.

Q10 = The index of thermal sensitivity, calculated using the equation: Q10 = (R2/R1)10/(T2-T1) (Schmidt-Nielsen 1997), where R1 is the rate at the lower temperature (T1), and R2 the rate at the higher temperature (T2).

Latitude = Latitude at which the insect was collected, in ºS.

Longitude = Longitude at which the insect was collected, in ºE.

Elevation = Elevation at which the insect was collected, in m.a.s.l.

Chamber_O2_volume_minus_insect_volume = The volume of the glass chamber minus the volume occupied in the chamber by the insect, expressed in ml.

*Rates of O2 consumption (ml O2/h) were calculated as a proxy for SMR using the equation: V(Fi-Ff)/(1-Ff)t  (Vleck 1987) where V is the volume of air in the chamber, Fi and Ff are the initial and final O2 lifetime, respectively, and t is the duration of the measurement period, expressed in hours.

References

Schmidt-Nielsen, K., 1997. Animal Physiology: Adaptation and Environment. Fifth ed. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, UK.

Vleck, D., 1987. Measurement of O2 consumption, CO2 production, and water vapor production in a closed system. J. Appl. Physiol. 62, 2103–2106.