Metabolic theory or metabolic models?

The metabolic theory of ecology (MTE) claims to derive ecological relationships from the structure of resource distribution networks, which is assumed to determine the scaling of metabolism with body mass, and from the effect of temperature on the rate of biological processes. MTE is controversial....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Trends in ecology & evolution (Amsterdam) 2008-05, Vol.23 (5), p.256-260
Main Author: del Rio, Carlos Martínez
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Ecology - trends
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
Metabolism
Models, Biological
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Summary:The metabolic theory of ecology (MTE) claims to derive ecological relationships from the structure of resource distribution networks, which is assumed to determine the scaling of metabolism with body mass, and from the effect of temperature on the rate of biological processes. MTE is controversial. I propose that some of the controversy stems from the implicit adoption of different views of science by the proponents and critics of MTE. The perspective of proponents is consistent with the theory-centric view of science called the received view, whereas many of the critics implicitly adopt an alternative view consistent with a model-centric view of science. I propose that adopting the model-centric view can help to settle some of the differences among proponents and critics of MTE.
ISSN:0169-5347
1872-8383
DOI:10.1016/j.tree.2008.01.010