AUTHOR=Moody Eric K. , Rugenski Amanda T. , Sabo John L. , Turner Benjamin L. , Elser James J. TITLE=Does the Growth Rate Hypothesis Apply across Temperatures? Variation in the Growth Rate and Body Phosphorus of Neotropical Benthic Grazers JOURNAL=Frontiers in Environmental Science VOLUME=5 YEAR=2017 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/environmental-science/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2017.00014 DOI=10.3389/fenvs.2017.00014 ISSN=2296-665X ABSTRACT=
The growth rate hypothesis predicts that organisms with higher maximum growth rates will also have higher body percent phosphorus (P) due to the increased demand for ribosomal RNA production needed to sustain rapid growth. However, this hypothesis was formulated for invertebrates growing at the same temperature. Within a biologically relevant temperature range, increased temperatures can lead to more rapid growth, suggesting that organisms in warmer environments might also contain more P per gram of dry mass. However, since higher growth rates at higher temperature can be supported by more rapid protein synthesis per ribosome rather than increased ribosome investment, increasing temperature might not lead to a positive relationship between growth and percent P. We tested the growth rate hypothesis by examining two genera of Neotropical stream grazers, the leptophlebiid mayfly