Related papers: Metabolic rate beyond the 3/4 law
We propose a discrete model to determine the metabolic scaling exponent based on Fibonacci growth patterns and discrete biological development phases. In contrast to continuous fractal models such as the West-Brown-Enquist (WBE) theory, the…
The origin and shape of metabolic scaling has been controversial since Kleiber found that basal metabolic rate of animals seemed to vary as a power law of their body mass with exponent 3/4, instead of 2/3, as a surface-to-volume argument…
Metabolic scaling is one of the most important patterns in biology. Theory explaining the 3/4-power size-scaling of biological metabolic rate does not predict the non-linear scaling observed for smaller life forms. Here we present a new…
We examine the scaling law $B \propto M^{\alpha}$ which connects organismal metabolic rate $B$ with organismal mass $M$, where $\alpha$ is commonly held to be 3/4. Since simple dimensional analysis suggests $\alpha=2/3$, we consider this to…
Allometric scaling is one of the most pervasive laws in biology. Its origin, however, is still a matter of dispute. Recent studies have established that maximum metabolic rate scales with an exponent larger than that found for basal…
Body-mass growth is usually described by continuous models that represent the gradual increase of mass toward an adult or asymptotic value. In this work, we formulate and test an alternative description based on a Fibonacci-inspired…
Recently, West et al. claimed to derive a general quantitative model based on fundamental principles for the allocation of metabolic energy between maintenance of existing tissue and the production of new biomass, and in addition claimed to…
We extend a previously theory for the interspecific allometric scaling developed in a $d+1$-dimensional space of metabolic states. The time, which is characteristic of all biological processes, is included as an extra dimension to $d$…
Metabolism and evolution are closely connected: if a mutation incurs extra energetic costs for an organism, there is a baseline selective disadvantage that may or may not be compensated for by other adaptive effects. A long-standing, but to…
The origin of allometric scaling of metabolic rate is a long-standing question in biology. Several models have been proposed for explaining the origin; however, they have advantages and disadvantages. In particular, previous models only…
The prevailing theory for metabolic scaling is based on area-preserved, space-filling fractal vascular networks. However, it's known both theoretically and experimentally that animals' vascular systems obey Murray's cubic branching law.…
A central debate in biology has been the allometric scaling of metabolic rate. Kleiber's observation that animals' basal metabolic rate scales to the 3/4-power of body mass (Kleiber's rule) has been the prevailing hypothesis in the last…
Living systems continuously transform matter and energy through the chemical processes that constitute their metabolism. The overall metabolic rate of an organism correlates positively with its body mass, however both the exact scaling…
The ubiquitous $3/4$ metabolic scaling exponent, known as Kleiber's law, has long been attributed to the minimization of viscous dissipation within fractal transport networks. In this paper, we invert this standard narrative, demonstrating…
This paper investigates the role of size in biological organisms. More specifically, how the energy demand, expressed by the metabolic rate, changes according to the mass of an organism. Empirical evidence suggests a power-law relation…
One of the most fundamental rules in metabolic ecology is the allometric equation, which is a power-law scaling that describes the connection between body measurements and body size. The biological dynamics of this essentially empirical…
Obesity does not emerge abruptly; rather, it develops gradually over extended periods. The gradual progression often prevents early recognition of physiological changes until excess adiposity is established. A common belief is that weight…
Production of energy is a foundation of life. Metabolic rate of organisms (amount of energy produced per unit time) generally increases slower than organisms' mass, which has important implications for life organization. This phenomenon,…
Phenotypic variation is a hallmark of cellular physiology. Metabolic heterogeneity, in particular, underpins single-cell phenomena such as microbial drug tolerance and growth variability. Much research has focussed on transcriptomic and…
We revisit the modeling of the diauxic growth of a pure microorganism on two distinct sugars which was first described by Monod. Most available models are deterministic and make the assumption that all cells of the microbial ecosystem…