Allometric scaling of metabolism, growth, and activity in whole colonies of the seed harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex californicus

The negative allometric scaling of metabolic rate with body size is among the most striking patterns in biology. We investigated whether this pattern extends to physically independent eusocial systems by measuring the metabolic rates of whole functioning colonies of the seed‐harvester ant Pogonomyrmex californicus. These intraspecific scaling data were compared to the predictions of an additive model developed to estimate collective metabolic rates. Contrary to the prediction of the additive model, colony metabolic rate allometry resembled the pattern commonly observed interspecifically for individual organisms, scaling with colony mass0.75. Among the same‐aged colonies, net growth rate varied by up to sevenfold, with larger colonies exhibiting higher net growth efficiency than smaller colonies. Isolated worker groups exhibited isometric metabolic rate scaling, suggesting that the social environment of the colony is critical to regulating individual patterns of work output. Within the s...代谢速率随体型变化的负异速标度关系，是生物学中最引人注目的规律之一。本研究以加州收获蚁（Pogonomyrmex californicus）的完整功能蚁群为对象，通过测定其代谢速率，探究该规律是否可拓展至物理独立的真社会性（eusocial）系统。我们将所得种内标度（intraspecific scaling）数据与为估算群体代谢速率所构建的加性模型（additive model）的预测结果进行了对比。与加性模型的预测相悖，蚁群代谢速率的异速标度关系与单个生物体的经典种间规律一致，随蚁群质量以0.75次方进行标度。在同龄蚁群中，净生长速率差异最高可达7倍，且体型更大的蚁群相较小型蚁群具有更高的净生长效率。孤立工蚁群的代谢速率呈现等速标度（isometric scaling）关系，这表明蚁群的社会环境对调控个体工作产出模式至关重要。在社会群体内部……