Animal metabolism consists of the utilization of nutrients absorbed from the digestive tract and their catabolism as fuel for energy or their conversion into substances of the body. Metabolism is a continuous process because the molecules and even most cells of the body have brief lifetimes and are constantly replaced, while tissue as a whole maintains its characteristic structure. This constant rebuilding process without a net change in the amount of a cell constituent is known as dynamic equilibrium Grolier1996. In the combustion of food, oxygen is used and carbon dioxide is given off. The rate of oxygen consumption indicates...
currently just coming out of the winter months.

The initial objective to examine the relationship between environmental temperature and metabolic rates was carried out, although the results tabulated may not be reliable enough to consider as legitimate results. Changes in the procedure, such as using the same crayfish for each trial, may have helped to eliminate that one possible source of error. Many more trials could have been done as well, to eliminate human error, or at least make it less likely. The results of the above experiment were not reliable enough to use in stating a definite conclusion.