Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, UMR 7093, Villefranche-sur-Mer, France.
Oecologia. 2011 Jun;166(2):349-55. doi: 10.1007/s00442-010-1866-z. Epub 2010 Dec 12.
Temperature is a powerful correlate of large-scale terrestrial and marine diversity patterns but the mechanistic links remain unclear. Whilst many explanations have been proposed, quantitative predictions that allow them to be tested statistically are often lacking. As an important exception, the metabolic theory of ecology (MTE) provides a rather robust technique using the relationship between diversity, temperature and metabolic rate in order to elucidate the ultimate underlying mechanisms driving large-scale diversity patterns. We tested if the MTE could explain geographic variations in marine copepod diversity on both ocean-wide and regional scales (East Japan Sea and North East Atlantic). The values of the regression slopes of diversity (ln taxonomic richness) over temperature (1/kT) across all spatial scales were lower than the range predicted by the metabolic scaling law for species richness (i.e. -0.60 to -0.70).We therefore conclude that the MTE in its present form is not suitable for predicting marine copepod diversity patterns. These results further question the applicability of the MTE for explaining diversity patterns and, despite the relative lack of comparable studies in the marine environment, the generality of the MTE across systems.
温度是陆地和海洋大尺度多样性模式的有力相关因素，但机制联系仍不清楚。虽然已经提出了许多解释，但通常缺乏能够对其进行统计测试的定量预测。作为一个重要的例外，生态代谢理论（MTE）提供了一种相当稳健的技术，利用多样性、温度和代谢率之间的关系来阐明驱动大尺度多样性模式的最终潜在机制。我们测试了 MTE 是否可以解释海洋桡足类在全球范围和区域范围（日本东海和东北大西洋）上的地理变异。在所有空间尺度上，多样性（ln 分类丰富度）随温度（1/kT）的回归斜率值低于物种丰富度代谢缩放定律预测的范围（即-0.60 至-0.70）。因此，我们得出结论，目前形式的 MTE 不适合预测海洋桡足类多样性模式。这些结果进一步质疑了 MTE 用于解释多样性模式的适用性，尽管在海洋环境中相对缺乏可比的研究，但 MTE 在系统中的普遍性。
