Summary
Relationships between basal and fed metabolic rates and whole-body protein turnover rates were examined in three species of wallabies, the red-necked pademelon (Thylogale thetis), parma wallaby (Macropus parma) and tammar wallaby (M. eugenii).
There were no significant differences among wallaby species in basal metabolic rate (BMR) which was 30% below eutherian mammals. However, the fed metabolic rate of the tammar was lower than that of the other two species (P<0.05), as was the protein turnover rate (P<0.01) which is consistent with its lower voluntary feed intake and with its lower maintenance nitrogen requirement.
Protein turnover rates in the wallabies were 23–47% lower than in eutherian mammals. Similarly, protein synthesis made a lower contribution to fed metabolic rates in the wallabies (7–8%) than in eutherians (17–25%).
Thus, compared with several eutherian species, macropodid marsupials have low rates of both energy and protein metabolism, but within the macropodids there is not necessarily a close link between basal metabolic rate and whole-body protein turnover.
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Abbreviations
- BMR :
-
basal metabolic rate
- DEE :
-
daily energy expenditure
- EE :
-
energy expenditure
- LSD :
-
least significant difference
- RQ :
-
respiratory quotient
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White, R.G., Hume, I.D. & Nolan, J.V. Energy expenditure and protein turnover in three species of wallabies (Marsupialia: Macropodidae). J Comp Physiol B 158, 237–246 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01075838
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01075838