Energetic dissociation of individual and species ranges

The
use of energy is universal to all life forms and all levels of
biological organisation, potentially linking processes operating at
variable scales. Individual and species ranges might be energetically
constrained, yet divergent metabolic limitations at both scales can
disassociate these individual and species traits. We analysed
comparative energetic and range data to unravel the mechanistic basis
of the dissociation between individual and species range sizes
observed among mammalian species. Our results demonstrate that basal,
or maintenance, metabolism negatively correlates with individual
ranges but at the same time it positively correlates with species
ranges. High aerobic capacity, i.e. maximum metabolic rate,
positively correlates with individual ranges but it is weakly related
to species range size. These
antagonistic energetic constraints on both ranges could lead to a
disassociation between individual and species traits,
and to a low covariation between home and species range sizes. We
show that important organismal functions, such as basal and maximum
metabolic rates, have the potential to unravel mechanisms operating
at different levels of biological organisation, and to expose links
between energy dependent processes at different scales.