Tooth size and metabolic requirements in Primates: The 'equivalence between exponents' under discussion

The functional significance of teeth size, specifically postcanine tooth size has contributed a vast amount of scientific literature. Nevertheless, these studies have been based on 'equivalence between exponents'. That is, when the tooth size scales to the 0.75 power of body size exponent...

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Autor principal:	Jiménez-Arenas,Juan Manuel
Lenguaje:	English
Publicado:	Sociedad Chilena de Anatomía 2013
Materias:	Postcanine tooth size Basal metabolic rate Allometry Body size
Acceso en línea:	http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0717-95022013000400008
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spelling	oai:scielo:S0717-950220130004000082014-02-18Tooth size and metabolic requirements in Primates: The 'equivalence between exponents' under discussionJiménez-Arenas,Juan Manuel Postcanine tooth size Basal metabolic rate Allometry Body size The functional significance of teeth size, specifically postcanine tooth size has contributed a vast amount of scientific literature. Nevertheless, these studies have been based on 'equivalence between exponents'. That is, when the tooth size scales to the 0.75 power of body size exponent is interpreted as reflecting differences in metabolic requirements. On the contrary, if the obtained exponent is close to isometry, such slope is interpreted as that variation in teeth size is an incidental consequence of body size variation. In this paper, we show the results of a study in which the relationship between postcanine tooth occlusal area (PCOA) and basal metabolic rate (BMR) has been evaluated in 28 primate species. On one hand, the results obtained indicate that there is a high correlation between the BMR and the size of the PCOA, even when phylogenetic control tests are used, and that isometry cannot be discarded in both cases. However, if the effects of body mass are removed, a null slope cannot be discarded. On the other hand, when body mass (BM) is taken as the independent variable and PCOA as the dependent one, the slope obtained evidences a negative allometry, and this holds also when phylogenetic control is used. Given these contradictory results, we suggest that the rule of 'equivalence between exponents' is not a good approach for obtaining inferences on the function of postcanine teeth. The argument for the existence or absence of a given relationship between two variables is based on the p value used for testing the null hypothesis H0 (ß1=0), which is independent of the value taken by the slope of one of these variables when regressed on a third one. In any case, BM emerges as a key factor in the relationship between PCOA and BRM.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessSociedad Chilena de AnatomíaInternational Journal of Morphology v.31 n.4 20132013-12-01text/htmlhttp://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0717-95022013000400008en10.4067/S0717-95022013000400008
institution	Scielo Chile
collection	Scielo Chile
language	English
topic	Postcanine tooth size Basal metabolic rate Allometry Body size
spellingShingle	Postcanine tooth size Basal metabolic rate Allometry Body size Jiménez-Arenas,Juan Manuel Tooth size and metabolic requirements in Primates: The 'equivalence between exponents' under discussion
description	The functional significance of teeth size, specifically postcanine tooth size has contributed a vast amount of scientific literature. Nevertheless, these studies have been based on 'equivalence between exponents'. That is, when the tooth size scales to the 0.75 power of body size exponent is interpreted as reflecting differences in metabolic requirements. On the contrary, if the obtained exponent is close to isometry, such slope is interpreted as that variation in teeth size is an incidental consequence of body size variation. In this paper, we show the results of a study in which the relationship between postcanine tooth occlusal area (PCOA) and basal metabolic rate (BMR) has been evaluated in 28 primate species. On one hand, the results obtained indicate that there is a high correlation between the BMR and the size of the PCOA, even when phylogenetic control tests are used, and that isometry cannot be discarded in both cases. However, if the effects of body mass are removed, a null slope cannot be discarded. On the other hand, when body mass (BM) is taken as the independent variable and PCOA as the dependent one, the slope obtained evidences a negative allometry, and this holds also when phylogenetic control is used. Given these contradictory results, we suggest that the rule of 'equivalence between exponents' is not a good approach for obtaining inferences on the function of postcanine teeth. The argument for the existence or absence of a given relationship between two variables is based on the p value used for testing the null hypothesis H0 (ß1=0), which is independent of the value taken by the slope of one of these variables when regressed on a third one. In any case, BM emerges as a key factor in the relationship between PCOA and BRM.
author	Jiménez-Arenas,Juan Manuel
author_facet	Jiménez-Arenas,Juan Manuel
author_sort	Jiménez-Arenas,Juan Manuel
title	Tooth size and metabolic requirements in Primates: The 'equivalence between exponents' under discussion
title_short	Tooth size and metabolic requirements in Primates: The 'equivalence between exponents' under discussion
title_full	Tooth size and metabolic requirements in Primates: The 'equivalence between exponents' under discussion
title_fullStr	Tooth size and metabolic requirements in Primates: The 'equivalence between exponents' under discussion
title_full_unstemmed	Tooth size and metabolic requirements in Primates: The 'equivalence between exponents' under discussion
title_sort	tooth size and metabolic requirements in primates: the 'equivalence between exponents' under discussion
publisher	Sociedad Chilena de Anatomía
publishDate	2013
url	http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0717-95022013000400008
work_keys_str_mv	AT jimenezarenasjuanmanuel toothsizeandmetabolicrequirementsinprimatestheequivalencebetweenexponentsunderdiscussion
_version_	1718444843424808960

Tooth size and metabolic requirements in Primates: The 'equivalence between exponents' under discussion

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