You’re Hot N You’re Cold: The Relationship between Temperature and Metabolic Rates of Mus musculus, Gromphadorhina portenosa, and Acheta domestic.

Abstract

What role does temperature play in the metabolic rate of different species?  This experiment was designed to determine the effects of temperature on metabolic rate which can be measured by an indicator, the carbon dioxide release rate. Three different species of endotherms and ectotherms were held at three different temperatures for five minutes while the carbon dioxide levels were measured every ten seconds. The experiment determined that temperature did have an effect on metabolic rates as measured by the indicator. It was also observed that the animals did in fact reduce their surface to area volume ratio by arching their bodies. According to Gordon (1993), “When the ambient temperature falls below a mammals lower critical temperature, the metabolic rate is increased so that heat production by the body matches heat loss to the environment to maintain a constant body core temperature.”  The results support this statement because there was a  visual difference between the metabolic rates of different species in varying elevations of temperature.