Trophic guilds differ in blood glucose concentrations: A phylogenetic comparative analysis in birds

Glucose is a central metabolic compound used as a source of energy across all animal taxa. There is high interspecific variation in glucose concentration between taxa, the origin and the consequence of which remain largely unknown. Nutrition may affect glucose concentrations because carbohydrate content of different food sources may determine the importance of metabolic pathways in the organism. Birds sustain high glucose concentrations that may entail the risks of oxidative damage. We collected glucose concentration and life history data from 202 bird species from 171 scientific publications; classified them into seven trophic guilds and analysed the data with a phylogenetically controlled model. We show that glucose concentration is negatively associated with body weight and is significantly associated with trophic guilds with a moderate phylogenetic signal. After controlling for allometry, glucose concentrations were highest in carnivorous birds, which rely on high rates of gluconeog..., , , # Trophic guilds differ in blood glucose concentrations: A phylogenetic comparative analysis in birds

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## Description

This study is a broad-scale comparative analysis of the association between avian glucose concentration and nutritional types (trophic guilds) and how this variation is related to the longevity of bird species. To explore this relationship, we applied phylogenetically controlled PGLS and MCMCglmm models while controlling for the allometric relationship between body weight and blood glucose concentration. We collected glucose concentration data from 202 bird species from scientific publications, and we also collected body weight data of these species. We classified the bird species into seven different trophic guilds (with equivocal cases having an alternative classification). We also used an independent trophic classification (AVONET trophic niches, see below). The dataset also consists of longevity data of 159 bird species with references.

## Authors:

Endre Z. S...