Nature - 2019.08.29

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nature research | reporting summary

April 2018

Field-specific reporting

Please select the best fit for your research. If you are not sure, read the appropriate sections before making your selection.

Life sciences Behavioural & social sciences Ecological, evolutionary & environmental sciences

For a reference copy of the document with all sections, see nature.com/authors/policies/ReportingSummary-flat.pdf

Life sciences study design

All studies must disclose on these points even when the disclosure is negative.

Sample size Sample size was determined by taxa present in the phylogeny which also had phenotypic, environmental, and geographic data. For mammals,

502 species had data for basal metabolic rate, body temperature, and body mass. 2922 species had data for ambient temperature and

latitude. For birds, 164 species had data for basal metabolic rate. body temperature, and body mass. 6142 species had data for ambient

temperature and latitude. The reversible-jump procedure we use in our analyses is specifically designed to identify significant shifts in the rate

of evolution. Where statistical power is too low to detect a shift (e.g. n is low) no such shift will be identified.

Data exclusions We excluded species that did not have data for all phenotypic variables or for ambient temperature and latitude.

Replication Five replicates of rates of evolution inference, evolutionary trends, and correlation between rates, produced qualitatively the same results.

Randomization This is not relevant to our study because it is not experimental in this way.

Blinding Blinding is not relevant to our study as it is not experimental in this way.

Reporting for specific materials, systems and methods

Materials & experimental systems

n/a Involved in the study

Unique biological materials

Antibodies

Eukaryotic cell lines

Palaeontology

Animals and other organisms

Human research participants

Methods

n/a Involved in the study

ChIP-seq

Flow cytometry

MRI-based neuroimaging