GILLOOLY, JF; BROWN, JH; ALLEN, AP; WEST, GB; CHARNOV, EL; SAVAGE, VM; University of New Mexico; University of New Mexico; University of New Mexico; Los Alamos National Labs; University of New Mexico; Los Alamos National Labs; ; : The Central Role of Metabolism from Genes to Ecosystems

Metabolism provides a basis for using first principles of physics, chemistry, and biology to link the biology of individual organisms to the ecology of populations, communities, and ecosystems. Metabolic rate, the rate at which organisms take up, transform, and expend energy and materials, is the most fundamental biological rate. We have developed a quantitative theory for how metabolic rate varies with three primary drivers: body size, temperature, and rate of supply of a limiting material resource. Combining these three drivers yields explicit, quantitative predictions for many biological rates and times, including rates of molecular evolution, individual and population growth rates, rates of interspecific interactions, and even ecosystem-level nutrient flux rates. Here we will focus on the predictions of the theory for rates of molecular evolution and growth rates.