Nguyen 1

Influence of Temperature and Size on the Metabolic Rate of the

Painted Lady Vanessa Cardui

Khai-Minh Nguyen
Professor Fitzgerald
BIO 185 L
4/9/16

Abstract
Metabolism is an essential process of all living things and can indicate the overall health of an
organism; metabolic rates have also shown correlation with lifespan. We studied the impacts of
temperature, light, and size on metabolic rates of the Painted lady Vanessa cardui. Metabolic rate was
related to the oxygen uptake of the caterpillars. We conducted several experiments on different
caterpillars with several varying treatments. Statistical tests were conducted to indicate significant
conclusions. Our analysis suggests that there is a significant impact on metabolic rates when temperatures
and size varied. However, there was no significant impact on metabolic rates in light and darkness. Our
study can be applied to the general knowledge of the human population regarding health. This study
indicates that certain external variables can increase metabolic rate and therefore increase calorie
consumption and such.
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Introduction
Metabolism is a fundamental biochemical process that occurs in every living organism. Rates of
metabolism are often linked to the health of an individual. Metabolic rates are influenced by several
external factors (Perkins 2016). We conducted an experiment to answer this question: Does changes in
light, temperature and size of caterpillar impact the metabolic rate? We hypothesized that temperature
differences will impact the metabolic rate of caterpillars. Furthermore, we hypothesized that the presence
of light and heavier caterpillars will result in higher metabolic rates. In our experiment, the organism
used was the caterpillar (Painted lady Vanessa cardui).To quantitatively measure the metabolic rate, we
measured the volume uptake of oxygen gas. The consumption of oxygen gas and release of carbon
dioxide are the result of ATP production. The rate of enzymatic chemical processes in the caterpillars
cells is directly proportional to the consumption of oxygen gas. We measured the volume uptake of
oxygen gas at differing conditions. Mass-specific metabolic rates are calculated for data relative to the
size of each caterpillar. Mass-specific metabolic rates were calculated in the units of mlO 2 min-1 g-
1
(Perkins 2016).
A study pertaining to the impacts of temperature and size on metabolic rate determined that
temperature and size of the organism are the major influences on mass-specific metabolic rates (Gillooly
et al. 2001). Gillooly mathematically related an organisms body mass and mass specific metabolic rate
with temperature with first order reaction kinetics. Furthermore, a study done on the metabolic rate of
artic fauna was conducted in 2000. This study suggests that metabolic rate increases as the ambient
temperature decreases; they measured the oxygen consumption of these animals and related it to
metabolic rate. Several other quantitative observations such as respiratory quotients and torpor were
collected (Buck et al. 2000). A study that focuses on the correlation between body size of an organism and
its metabolic rate was conducted on birds. A mathematically manipulated equation relates the log of
metabolic rate and the log of body weight with a linear trend. This study argues that smaller birds have
higher mass-specific metabolic rates than those who are larger (Lasiewski and Dawson 1967).
In this paper, I conducted an experiment to evaluate the impact of temperature, light, and size of
the organism on metabolic rate. If metabolic rates were measured at two vastly different temperatures,
then the average metabolic rates will have a significant difference. In this experiment, the metabolic rates
will be measured at differing temperatures, ambience, and sizes of caterpillars; with basic statistical
analysis, I compared the data of relating variables and computed the statistical significance.
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Methods
Ten Painted lady Vanessa cardui were obtained. They were contained in small, well ventilated
plastic containers at room temperature, exposed to moderate intensity artificial lighting with access to
caterpillar feed. Two metabolic rate chambers were created. Instructions on the preparation of the
metabolic rate chambers are shown in Exploring Biological Diversity (Perkins 16). We weighed each
caterpillar on a top-loader balance (0.001g) and recorded its mass and identification number. In the
16C Light
Light incubation chamber, we set the temperature to 16C with the light
turned 16C Light on. We placed two metabolic rate chambers with caterpillars inside
16C Light
and 16C Dark allowed the caterpillars to acclimate for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes,
we 16C Dark recorded the initial oxygen volume reading and waited for another
10 16C Dark minutes. After 10 minutes has passed, we recorded the final
oxygen 33C volume reading (0.01 mL). This process was done one more time
33C Light
in the incubation chamber at 16C with the light on and three more times
33C Light
with 33C Light the light turned off. This process was repeated four times in a hot
water bath set at 33C.

Figure 1: A representation of the data taken at certain conditions.

As shown in figure 1, each row represents a run at the conditions stated within the row.

Data Analysis
After all the data is collected, we calculated the difference in final and initial volume readings and
the adjusted volume measurements depending on temperature. This equation is shown in Exploring
Biological Diversity (Perkins 16). The mass-specific metabolic rate is calculated for all observations. A
Linear-regression test was used to compare the mass of each caterpillar and its mass-specific metabolic
rate at only 16C. A single factor ANOVA test was used to compare the average mass-specific metabolic
rate of observations at 16C and observations at 33C. Lastly, a single factor ANOVA test was used to
compare the average mass-specific metabolic rate of observations in light conditions at 16C versus dark
conditions at 16C
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Results
We found a significant correlation between the mass of the caterpillars and the mass specific
metabolic rate at constant temperature (Regression; P= 0.0061, N=5, coef= 0.0925, 95% CI= -0.2058 to
0.3909). We received an R2 value of 0.245. We determined that there is no significant difference between
the observations at differing temperatures of the metabolic rate of caterpillars (ANOVA; P=0.000186,
N=8, F=66.10,df=1,6). We found no significant difference between the metabolic rates of caterpillars with
different ambient conditions (ANOVA; P= 0.3570, N=5, F= 1.178, df= 1,3).

0.19

0.19

0.18

0.18
Ave. Mass-specific Metabolic Rate (ml/min g)

0.17

0.17

0.16
Light Dark

Ambience

Figure 2: Effect of Light on average

mass-specific metabolic rate (ml/min
g). Error bars represents the
variation between each treatment.
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0.2

0.18

0.16

0.14

0.12

Mass-specific Metabolic Rate(ml/min g) 0.1

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02
0.18 0.1
0

Temperature (C)

Figure 3: Effect of Temperature on

average mass-specific metabolic rate
(ml/min g). Error bars represents the
variation between each treatment.
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0.2

0.19

f(x) = 0.09x + 0.16

0.18
R = 0.25

0.17
Mass-specific Metabolic Rate (ml/min g

0.16

0.15

0.14
0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35

Mass (g)

Figure 4: The linear correlation between mass of

caterpillar and its mass-specific metabolic rate
(ml/min g) at 16C.

Discussion
The linear-regression test results indicate there is a correlation between size and mass-specific
metabolic rate. Because P=0.006 < 0.05, the correlation is significant. Despite the relatively low R2 value
(0.2452). Although the regression test was used on data that did not hold ambience (light or dark)
constant, we found that there is no significant impact of ambience on the mass-specific metabolic rate
because p=0.3570 > 0.05 . Therefore, it has little to no impact on the results of the previous regression
test. Lastly, temperature had a significant impact on the metabolic rate as shown in the P= 0.000186<
0.05. Similarly, Gilloolys study suggests that temperature and the size of the organism has a major
influence on metabolic rates (Gillooly et al. 2001). Furthermore, Bucks study suggests that lower
ambient temperature causes an increase in metabolic rate which supports my experimental data (Buck et
al. 2000). Lastly, a study done on the metabolic rate of birds argues that smaller birds have higher mass-
specific metabolic rates than that of the larger birds (Lasiewski and Dawson 1967). My hypothesis is
partially supported by the statistical evidence. An interesting study that applies the my experimental
findings to the benefit of the general public argues that higher metabolic rates is correlated to the lifespan
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of an organism; the study specifically states that individuals with higher metabolic rate capacity possesses
adaptations against ageing (Niietpold and Hanski 2013).

Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Johnny Khoury, Chris Nguyen and Ammar for helping conduct this
experiment. I would also like to thank Professor Fitzgerald for the guidance and Orange Coast College for
the supplies.

Literature Cited

Buck, C. L. and B. M. Barnes. 2000. Effects of ambient temperature on metabolic rate, respiratory
quotient and torpor in an artic hibernator. AMERICAN JOURNAL of PHYSIOLOGY 279: 255-262.

Gillooly, J.F., J. H. Brown, G. [Link], V. M. Savage, and E. L. Charnov. 2001. Effects of Size and
Temperature on Metabolic Rate. SCIENCE vol 293: 72-77

Lasiewski R.C., and W.R. Dawson. 1967. A Re-examination of the Relation Between Standard Metabolic
Rate and Body Weight in Birds. The Condor 69: 13-23.

Niitepold K., I. Hanski. 2013. A long life in the fast lane: positive association between peak metabolic
rate and lifespan in a butterfly. Journal of Experimental Biology 2016: 1388-1397.

Perkins,M. 2016. Exploring Biological Diversity, 7th edition. Orange Coast College Bookstore: Costa
Mesa, CA. 97-104