As a changing climate threatens the persistence of terrestrial and marine ecosystems by altering community composition and function, differential performance of taxa highlights the need for predictive metrics and mechanistic understanding of the factors underlying positive performance in the face of environmental disturbances. Biochemical reactions within cells provide a snapshot of molecular regulation and flexibility during exposure to environmental stressors. However, because the organism is the unit of selection there is a need for the integration of metabolite data with organism physiology to understand mechanisms responsible for individual success under a changing climate.