ArticleFrontiers in zoology2016
Allometric scaling of the elevation of maternal energy intake during lactation.
Article in Frontiers in zoology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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8 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- The "fire of life cycles": age-specific metabolic scaling within and among species.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2026Review
- Effect of Supplemental Bamboo Leaf Extract on Milk Production, Composition, Biochemical Indices, and Fecal Microbiota Diversity in GrazingLife (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Macroevolutionary brain scaling is a microevolutionary metaphenomenon.Nature communications · 2025Article
- In Vitro Screening of Trehalose Synbiotics and Their Effects on Early-Lactating Females and Offspring Mice.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- What is complex allometry?Biology open · 2023Article
- The Relevance of Time in Biological Scaling.Biology · 2023Review
- Effect of Supplementary Feeding on Milk Volume, Milk Composition, Blood Biochemical Index, and Fecal Microflora Diversity in GrazingAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Higher resting metabolic rate in long-lived breeding Ansell's mole-rats (Frontiers in zoology · 2017Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn most mammals, lactating mothers dramatically increase their food intake after parturition and reach a peak intake rate after a certain time while their offspring continue to grow. A common view, perpetuated by the metabolic theory of ecology, is that the allometric scaling of maternal metabolic rate with body mass limits the changes in energy intake and expenditure. Therefore these potential effects of metabolic scaling should be reflected in the elevation of maternal energy intake during lactation. To test this hypothesis, we collected published data on 24 species (13 domesticated) and established scaling relationships for several characteristics of the patterns of energy intake elevation (amplitude of the elevation, time to peak, and cumulative elevation to peak).
resultsA curvilinear allometric scaling relationship with maternal body mass (in double-logarithmic space) was found for the amplitude of maternal energy intake elevation, similarly to what has been observed for scaling relationships of basal metabolic rate in non-breeding mammals. This result indirectly supports the metabolic theory of ecology. However, this curvilinear allometric scaling does not seem to drive the scaling relationships found for the other characteristics of maternal energy intake. Both the duration and shape of the energy intake patterns showed substantial variation independently of species' body mass.
conclusionsData available for a few mammals, mostly domesticated, provides little evidence for the hypothesis that a single law of metabolic scaling governs the elevation of maternal energy intake after parturition. Obtaining further food intake data in wild species will be crucial to unravel the general mechanisms underlying variation in this unique adaptation of mammalian females.
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