Survival of the laziest might prevail

Researchers analyse over 299 species to predict extinction

Washington, Aug. 22: Laziness may be a fruitful evolutionary strategy for the survival of individuals and species, a large scale study of fossils from the last five million years from the Atlantic Ocean has found.

The researchers analysed metabolic rates — or the amount of energy the organisms need to live their daily lives — of about 299 mollusk species, and found higher metabolic rates were a reliable predictor of extinction likelihood. “We wondered, ‘Could you look at the probability of extinction of a species based on energy uptake by an organism?’” said Luke Strotz, postdoctoral researcher at University of Kansas in the US.

“We found a difference for mollusk species that have gone extinct over the past 5 million years and ones that are still around today. Those that have gone extinct tend to have higher metabolic rates than those that are still living,” Strotz said.

“Those that have lower energy maintenance requirements seem more likely to survive than those organisms with higher metabolic rates,” he said.

“Maybe in the long term the best evolutionary strategy for animals is to be lassitudinous and sluggish — the lower the metabolic rate, the more likely the species you belong to will survive,” said Bruce Lieberman, from University of Kansas.

“Instead of ‘survival of the fittest,’ maybe a better metaphor for the history of life is ‘survival of the laziest’ or at least ‘survival of the sluggish’,” said Lieberman.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, could have important implications for forecasting which species may be likely to vanish in the near term in the face of impending climate change. — PTI

■ THE STUDY, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, could have important implications for forecasting