Meeting Abstract

P2.2  Friday, Jan. 4  Effects of metabolic rate on natural mortality rate MCCOY, M. W.*; GILLOOLY, J. F.; University of Florida; University of Florida mmccoy@zoo.ufl.edu

Natural mortality rates are typically considered to be consequences of predation, disease, and resource competition and are thus highly variable across species and systems. However, recent work suggests that natural mortality rates might also be driven by intrinsic properties of individual organisms. Metabolic theory suggests the mortality rate should scale with body size and temperature in the same way as metabolic rate. Here we present a model and data that suggest that metabolic rate can explain much of the heterogeneity in natural rates of mortality for diverse aquatic animals. Moreover, we show that our model can be extended to explain natural mortality rates of viruses. These findings may have important implications for understanding nutrient and energy fluxes in aquatic ecosystems.