Metabolic traits are shaped by phylogenetic conservatism and environment, not just body size

Metabolic rate dictates life’s tempo, yet how ecological and environmental factors integrate to shape metabolic traits remains contentious. Considering metabolic traits of 114 species of ants from seven subfamily clades along a 1,500 km climatic and soil phosphorus availability gradient in Australia, we tested four hypotheses relating to variation in metabolic rate due to niche conservatism, temperature, aridity, and ecological stoichiometry. We also tested the contested hygric hypothesis, which predicts that insect ventilation patterns can be modified to reduce water loss in arid environments. Mass-independent metabolic rate was phylogenetically conserved. The ant clade Myrmecia had metabolic rates 3 to 10x higher than other species, likely related to their large eye size, a correlate of cognitive complexity. Metabolic rate was higher in ants from warm, arid sites relative to those from wet, cool sites. A weak positive interaction ..., Study sites and ant sampling
Ants were sampled from six locations along the east coast and inland of south-eastern Australia representing a precipitation (421 – 1283 mm Mean Annual Precipitation) and temperature (13 – 20˚C Mean Annual Temperature) gradient. Locations were each sampled over a one-week period between June 2022 and April 2023, with locations sampled during the warmer months. Within each location, two sites with contrasting soil phosphorus status were chosen within which four plots (10 x 10 m), separated by ~200 m, were established (total of eight plots per site) and soil cores taken to confirm soil phosphorus levels. We collected as many live ant species as possible from each site over three days of sampling. We trialled a minimum of 10 individuals per colony taken from 1-3 colonies per species (30 individuals per species) from each site for metabolic assays.
Metabolic assays
Ants were housed at 20˚C in plastic nest boxes and provided with water and honey soaked in cotton ..., , # Metabolic traits are shaped by phylogenetic conservatism and environment, not just body size

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.d7wm37qb7](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.d7wm37qb7)

## Description of the data and file structure

See the methods section for details on metabolic data collection and analysis.

**Files:**

mr_ant_525.csv: Main data CSV containing metabolic rate data and ventilation patterns for individual ants collected from six environmental locations, including climatic and soil P variables and activity data

metadata_mr_ant.csv: A list of the column headings from mr_ant_525.csv with the metadata and detailed descriptions, units, and NA value indications for each parameter and trait

mr_ant_models.R: An annotated R script with the data wrangling and main analysis for the findings presented in the manuscript

mr_ant_supp_analysis.R: An annotated R script with supplementary tests to support findings from the main models

mr_genus_tree.tre: A genus phylogenetic tree of 34 ant ...,