Oxygen Consumption of Animals and Tissues as a Function of Temperature

The generally accepted view that rates of oxygen consumption of tissues and poikilotherms increase regularly with rising temperature was subjected to careful examination using brain slices and skin of rats and nine different species of aquatic and terrestrial animals. It was found that, although there are statements in the literature to the contrary, the influence of temperature is a regular one and respiration increases with rising temperature so that when rates of oxygen consumption are plotted against temperature the resulting curve is regular without dips or peaks except the maximum expected at the optimum temperature.