Does growth rate determine the rate of metabolism in shorebird chicks living in the arctic?

We measured resting and peak metabolic rates (RMR and PMR, respectively) during development of chicks of seven species of shorebirds: least sandpiper (Calidris minutilla; adult mass 20 22 g), dunlin (Calidris alpina; 56-62 g), lesser yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes; 88-92 g), short-billed dowitcher (Lim...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physiological and Biochemical Zoology
Main Authors: Williams, Joseph B., Tieleman, B. Irene, Visser, G. Henk, Ricklefs, Robert E.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2007
Subjects:
OXYGEN-CONSUMPTION
CHARADRIIFORM BIRDS
SKELETAL-MUSCLES
WATER-LOSS
ANIMALS
THERMOGENESIS
ADAPTATION
MATURATION
PARAMETERS
PHYSIOLOGY
Arctic
Calidris alpina
Dunlin
Numenius phaeopus
Whimbrel
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11370/5ba2aaba-6d25-4c64-b930-c214ba9043dc
https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/5ba2aaba-6d25-4c64-b930-c214ba9043dc
https://doi.org/10.1086/520126
https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/62399740/Does_Growth_Rate_Determine_the_Rate_of_Metabolism_in_Shorebird_Chicks_Living_in_the_Arctic.pdf
Description
Summary:We measured resting and peak metabolic rates (RMR and PMR, respectively) during development of chicks of seven species of shorebirds: least sandpiper (Calidris minutilla; adult mass 20 22 g), dunlin (Calidris alpina; 56-62 g), lesser yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes; 88-92 g), short-billed dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus; 85-112 g), lesser golden plover (Pluvialis dominicana; 150-156 g), Hudsonian godwit (Limosa haemastica; 205-274 g), and whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus; 380 g). We tested two opposing hypotheses: the growth rate-maturity hypothesis, which posits that growth rate in chicks is inversely related to functional maturity of tissues, and the fast growth rate-high metabolism hypothesis, which suggests that rapid growth is possible only with a concomitant increase in either RMR or PMR. We have found no evidence that chicks of shorebirds with fast growth rates have lower RMRs or lower PMRs, as would be predicted by the growth rate-maturity hypothesis, but our data suggested that faster-growing chest muscles resulted in increased thermogenic capacity, consistent with the fast growth-high metabolism hypothesis. The development of homeothermy in smaller species is a consequence primarily of greater metabolic intensities of heat-generating tissues. The maximum temperature gradient between a chick's body and environment that can be maintained in the absence of a net radiative load increased rapidly with body mass during development and was highest in least sandpipers and lowest among godwits. Chicks of smaller species could maintain a greater temperature gradient at a particular body mass because of their higher mass-specific maximum metabolic rates.

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