Many warm-blooded island species evolved a slower metabolic rate compared with their mainland counterparts, giving them a survival edge in resource-scarce environments but putting them at a heightened risk of extinction when humans are added to the mix.
When the environment changes or invasive animals come to islands, island species have a low ability to defend themselves, says co-lead author Ying Xiong, a zoologist at Sichuan Agricultural University in China. We found a general metabolic rule that helps to explain this.
The new study pulls together, for the first time, a more or less comprehensive dataset about island species and their metabolic rates.
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