M. J. Reiss, Michael J. Reiss

The Allometry of Growth and Reproduction

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

The technique of allometry investigates the effects of size on such variables as food intake, energy requirements, growth rates and age at first reproduction. This book, now available in paperback, brings together much of what is known about the consequences of size and provides a new and mathematically rigorous framework within which many quantitative predictions are made and tested using published and unpublished data. New explanations are proposed for many previously unexplained phenomena such as why in some species females are thousands of times heavier than males, whereas in no species are males more than about eight times heavier than females. The models presented afford a new synthesis of the effects of size and open up more pathways for further theoretical investigation and experimental testing. Care has been taken to give verbal presentations of all the mathematical conclusions to ensure that the text is widely intelligible.

Table of contents:
Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. The scaling of average daily metabolic rate and energy intake; 3. Why do larger species invest relatively less in their offspring?; 4. The intraspecific relationship of parental investment to female body weight; 5. Growth and probability; 6. Quantitative models of body size; 7. Sexual dimorphism in body size; 8. Are larger species more dimorphic in size?; 9. Surface area/volume arguments in biology; 10. Prospectus; Glossary of mathematical terms; References; Index.

Allometry investigates the effects of size on such variables as food intake, growth rates and age at first reproduction. New explanations are proposed for many previously unexplained phenomena.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Cambridge University Press
• Seitenzahl: 200
• Erscheinungstermin: 27. September 2006
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 152mm x 11mm
• Gewicht: 298g
• ISBN-13: 9780521423588
• ISBN-10: 0521423589
• Artikelnr.: 21920817

Inhaltsangabe

Preface
1. Introduction
2. The scaling of average daily metabolic rate and energy intake
3. Why do larger species invest relatively less in their offspring?
4. The intraspecific relationship of parental investment to female body weight
5. Growth and productivity
6. Quantitative models of body size
7. Sexual dimorphism in body size
8. Are larger species more dimorphic in body size?
9. Surface area/volume arguments in biology
10. Prospectus
Concluding discussion
Glossary of mathematical terms
References
Index.