The Metabolic Theory of Ecology (MTE) describes how body size and temperature govern the rates of metabolic processes. The body size and temperature dependence of metabolism have been expressed as scaling relationships, which are potentially applicable to all levels of ecological scale. We found that scaling exponents describing the relationship between production:biomass ratios and body mass for macroinvertebrates within temperate stream communities were consistent with predicted ¼-power scaling relationships. Residual variation of observed patterns was attributed to community-level differences in taxonomy and life history related to resource acquisition. We also found that the slope of the relationship between whole-stream respiration and temperature was indistinguishable from that predicted by the MTE (-0.6 to -0.7).  However, resource supply (high allocthonous carbon inputs) rather than temperature was a strong driver of ecosystem-level respiration rates in heterotrophic streams. The slope of the relationship between whole-stream net primary production and temperature was much steeper than that predicted by the MTE (-0.9 vs. -0.3, respectively). Though powerful, the lack of a term that describes how resources influence metabolic rate limits the application of metabolic theory to large-scale ecological processes. We will share new insights and avenues of research for incorporation of resource dynamics within the MTE.