general basis for quarter-power scaling in animals

It has been known for decades that the metabolic rate of animals scales with body mass with an exponent that is almost always 2/3, and often very close to 3/4. The 3/4 exponent emerges naturally from two models of resource distribution networks, radial explosion and hierarchically branched, which in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2010-09, Vol.107 (36), p.15816-15820
Main Authors: Banavar, Jayanth R, Moses, Melanie E, Brown, James H, Damuth, John, Rinaldo, Andrea, Sibly, Richard M, Maritan, Amos
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Aorta
Biological Sciences
Blood
Blood flow velocity
Blood vessels
Body mass index
Body size
Capillaries
Energy Metabolism
Erythrocytes
Flow velocity
Heart
Metabolism
Models, Theoretical
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Summary:It has been known for decades that the metabolic rate of animals scales with body mass with an exponent that is almost always 2/3, and often very close to 3/4. The 3/4 exponent emerges naturally from two models of resource distribution networks, radial explosion and hierarchically branched, which incorporate a minimum of specific details. Both models show that the exponent is 2/3 if velocity of flow remains constant, but can attain a maximum value of 3/4 if velocity scales with its maximum exponent, 1/12. Quarter-power scaling can arise even when there is no underlying fractality. The canonical "fourth dimension" in biological scaling relations can result from matching the velocity of flow through the network to the linear dimension of the terminal "service volume" where resources are consumed. These models have broad applicability for the optimal design of biological and engineered systems where energy, materials, or information are distributed from a single source.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1009974107