Metabolism and allometric scaling of the infraorder Acrididea, including four grasshopper species of the Australian Wet Tropics (suborder Caelifera)

Abstract

The metabolic rate of various grasshopper species, in particular Valanga irregularis and Austacris guttulosa, collected from around the Daintree Rainforest Observatory, was measured. This was done to investigate the relationship between mass and metabolic rate in grasshoppers, and how closely it followed Kleiber’s law. The difference in metabolic rates between Valanga irregularis and Austacris guttulosa was also investigated.  Grasshoppers are an abundant and important part of ecosystems. Additionally, Austacris guttulosa is a pest species, and information about its metabolism may be useful in controlling it. The metabolic efficiency of grasshoppers and their mass had a power relationship, but did not exactly follow the equation of Kleiber’s law.  Austacris guttulosa had a significantly lower metabolic rate than Valanga irregularis.