Flawed evidence supporting the Metabolic Theory of Ecology may undermine goals of ecosystem-based fishery management: the case of invasive Indo- Pacific lionfish in the western Atlantic
Given its ability to yield predictions for very diverse phenomena based only on two parameters—body size and temperature—the Metabolic Theory of Ecology (MTE) has earned a prominent place among ecology’s efficient theories. In a seminal article, the leading proponents of the MTE claimed that the theory was supported by evidence from Pauly’s (On the interrelationships between natural mortality, growth parameters, and mean environmental temperature in 175 fish stocks.