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  • Title: The standard metabolic rate of a land snail (Cepaea hortensis) is a repeatable trait and influences winter survival.
    Author: Bech C, Christiansen MT, Kvernland P, Nygård RM, Rypdal E, Sneltorp SK, Trondrud LM, Tvedten ØG.
    Journal: Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol; 2020 Nov; 249():110773. PubMed ID: 32711162.
    Abstract:
    Phenotypic selection on physiological parameters is an underrepresented topic in studies of evolutionary biology. There is especially a lack of studies involving invertebrate organisms. We studied the repeatability of the standard metabolic rate (SMR) and the effect of individual variation in SMR on the subsequent winter survival in a terrestrial shell-bearing mollusc, the white-lipped snail (Cepaea hortensis) in mid-Norway. SMR was measured twice during the autumn and - after an experimental overwintering at controlled conditions - twice during the following spring. We found a significant repeatability of SMR over all three time periods tested, with a clear effect of time, with a high repeatability of 0.56 over 4 days during spring, 0.44 over 12 days in the autumn and 0.17 over 194 days from autumn to spring. That SMR is a repeatable physiological trait across the winter period during which a possible selection might occur, suggests that SMR could be a potential target of natural selection. We indeed found that the autumn SMR significantly influenced the probability of survival during the winter period, with a combination of a positive linear (P = .011) and a quadratic stabilizing (P = .001) effect on SMR. Our results hence support the view that metabolic rate is an important physiological component influencing the fitness of an organism.
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