ArticleScientific reports2024
No evidence for a signal in mammalian basal metabolic rate associated with a fossorial lifestyle.
Article in Scientific reports, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Allometric scaling and social modulation of resting metabolic rate in a eusocial mammal (Heterocephalus glaber).Biology open · 2026Article
- Metabolic acclimation to captivity in highveld mole-rats (Cryptomys hottentotus pretoriae) is driven by sex-specific body mass increases.The Journal of experimental biology · 2026Article
- Metabolic expenditure of submaximal locomotion in naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber) and Damaraland mole-rats (Fukomys damarensis).The Journal of experimental biology · 2025Article
- Evolutionary shifts in the thermal biology of a subterranean mammal: the effect of habitat aridity.The Journal of experimental biology · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
A vast array of challenging environments are inhabited by mammals, such as living in confined spaces where oxygen levels are likely to be low. Species can exhibit adaptations in basal metabolic rate (BMR) to exploit such unique niches. In this study we use 801 species to determine the relationship between BMR and burrow use in mammals. We included pre-existing data for mammalian BMR and 16 life history traits. Overall, mammalian BMR is dictated primarily by environmental ambient temperature. There were no significant differences in BMR of terrestrial, semi-fossorial and fossorial mammals, suggesting that species occupying a subterranean niche do not exhibit baseline metabolic costs on account of their burrowing lifestyle. Fossorial mammals likely show instantaneous metabolic responses to low oxygen in tunnels, rather than exhibit adaptive long-term responses in their BMR.
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Registered trials
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