ASPECTS OF BIOENERGETICS AND CIVILIZATION

By means of an allometric relation between the oxygen consumption rate and the body mass of an animal a metabolic coefficient is derived tha t can be used as a measure of standard metabolism in different animal species. This coefficient increased in the course of evolution corresp onding to the time of appearance of each class of animal. It reached i ts highest values in Primates and passerine birds. A further increase across an energetic threshold was only possible with human civilizatio n. A similar approach to evolution is performed through an encephaliza tion coefficient showing that in all phases of evolution, species exis ted with a much larger relative brain volume than the other members of their class. These species might have established a non-human civiliz ation on Earth if evolution would have taken another path. Finally, so cial activities of insects and the use of external energy sources by a nimals are discussed to show further implications of this bioenergetic approach to evolution. (C) 1996 Academic Press Limited