Body size and metabolism
01 Jan 1932-Vol. 6, Iss: 11, pp 315-353
TL;DR: In spite of the theoretical weakness of the surface law, the computation of basal metabolism to the unit of the body surface seems at present the most satisfactory method available of equalizing experimental results for differences in the size of experimental animals.
Abstract: does not appear. First page follows.
The statement that the basal metabolism of animals differing in size is nearly proportional
to their respective body surfaces, is called the surface law.
Benedict has shown that this law is already over ninety years old, Robiquet and Tillaye
having formulated it quite clearly in 1839. The history of the surface law is given
in the paper of (Harris and Benedict (1919)). We may here only briefly mention the different ways in which it has been found.
The early writers derived the law from theoretical considerations on a rather small
experimental basis, as did Bergmann, who in 1847 had already written a book on the
subject. Respiration trials were carried out by Regnault and Reiset, and Rameaux based
the surface law on measurements of the amount of air respired per minute by two thousand
human beings of different sizes. (Rubner (1883)) demonstrated the law in accurate respiration trials on dogs and Richet rediscovered
it empirically on rabbits. The latter writes (p. 223): “C’est apree coup seulement que je me suis avise que la donnee surface etait plus interessante que la donnee poids.”
Although (Armsby, Fries, and Braman (1918), p. 55) found the surface law confirmed to a rather striking degree, this law is
not at all so clear today as it appeared to its early discoverers. (Carman and Mitchell (1926), p. 380) state the situation very well: “In spite of the theoretical weakness of
the surface law, the computation of basal metabolism to the unit of the body surface
seems at present the most satisfactory method available of equalizing experimental
results for differences in the size of experimental animals.”
Citations
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TL;DR: This work has developed a quantitative theory for how metabolic rate varies with body size and temperature, and predicts how metabolic theory predicts how this rate controls ecological processes at all levels of organization from individuals to the biosphere.
Abstract: Metabolism provides a basis for using first principles of physics, chemistry, and biology to link the biology of individual organisms to the ecology of populations, communities, and ecosystems. Metabolic rate, the rate at which organisms take up, transform, and expend energy and materials, is the most fundamental biological rate. We have developed a quantitative theory for how metabolic rate varies with body size and temperature. Metabolic theory predicts how metabolic rate, by setting the rates of resource uptake from the environment and resource allocation to survival, growth, and reproduction, controls ecological processes at all levels of organization from individuals to the biosphere. Examples include: (1) life history attributes, including devel- opment rate, mortality rate, age at maturity, life span, and population growth rate; (2) population interactions, including carrying capacity, rates of competition and predation, and patterns of species diversity; and (3) ecosystem processes, including rates of biomass production and respiration and patterns of trophic dynamics. Data compiled from the ecological literature strongly support the theoretical predictions. Even- tually, metabolic theory may provide a conceptual foundation for much of ecology, just as genetic theory provides a foundation for much of evolutionary biology.
6,017 citations
Cites background from "Body size and metabolism"
...Thus, for example, Kleiber (1932) showed that whole-organism metabolic rate, I, scales as 3/4I 5 I M0 (2) where I0 is a normalization constant independent of body size....
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TL;DR: A general model is derived, based on principles of biochemical kinetics and allometry, that characterizes the effects of temperature and body mass on metabolic rate of microbes, ectotherms, endotherms (including those in hibernation), and plants in temperatures ranging from 0° to 40°C.
Abstract: We derive a general model, based on principles of biochemical kinetics and allometry, that characterizes the effects of temperature and body mass on metabolic rate. The model fits metabolic rates of microbes, ectotherms, endotherms (including those in hibernation), and plants in temperatures ranging from 0° to 40°C. Mass- and temperature-compensated resting metabolic rates of all organisms are similar: The lowest (for unicellular organisms and plants) is separated from the highest (for endothermic vertebrates) by a factor of about 20. Temperature and body size are primary determinants of biological time and ecological roles.
3,165 citations
TL;DR: The model proposed here promises useful answers in comparisons of living things on both the microscopic and the gross scale, as part of the growing science of form, which asks precisely how organisms are diverse and yet again how they are alike.
Abstract: Arguments based on elastic stability and flexure, as opposed to the more conventional ones based on yield strength, require that living organisms adopt forms whereby lengths increase as the ⅔ power of diameter. The somatic dimensions of several species of animals and of a wide variety of trees fit this rule well. It is a simple matter to show that energy metabolism during maximal sustained work depends on body cross-sectional area, not total body surface area as proposed by Rubner (1) and many after him. This result and the result requiring animal proportions to change with size amount to a derivation of Kleiber9s law, a statement only empirical until now, correlating the metabolically related variables with body weight raised to the ¾ power. In the present model, biological frequencies are predicted to go inversely as body weight to the ¼ power, and total body surface areas should correlate with body weight to the ⅝ power. All predictions of the proposed model are tested by comparison with existing data, and the fit is considered satisfactory. In The Fire of Life, Kleiber (5) wrote "When the concepts concerned with the relation of body size and metabolic rate are clarified, . . . then compartive physiology of metabolism will be of great help in solving one of the most intricate and interesting problems in biology, namely the regulation of the rate of cell metabolism." Although Hill (23) realized that "the essential point about a large animal is that its structure should be capable of bearing its own weight and this leaves less play for other factors," he was forced to use an oversimplified "geometric similarity" hypothesis in his important work on animal locomotion and muscular dynamics. It is my hope that the model proposed here promises useful answers in comparisons of living things on both the microscopic and the gross scale, as part of the growing science of form, which asks precisely how organisms are diverse and yet again how they are alike.
1,147 citations
TL;DR: A review of factors influencing heat stress in lactating dairy cows and how it affects milk production is provided in this article, where the thermoneutral zone, heat production and heat gain, heat dissipation mechanisms, and how the lactating cow responds to heat stress are discussed.
1,100 citations
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28 Mar 2000TL;DR: A comparison of species and living together and the effects of non-essential compounds and multivariate DEB models shows the need to consider the role of language in the acquisition and use of energy.
Abstract: The Dynamic Energy Budget theory unifies the commonalties between organisms, as prescribed by the implications of energetics, and links different levels of biological organisation (cells, organisms and populations). The theory presents simple mechanistic rules that describe the uptake and use of energy and nutrients and the consequences for physiological organization throughout an organism's life cycle. All living organisms are covered in a single quantitative framework, the predictions of which are tested against a variety of experimental results at a range of levels of organisation. The theory explains many general observations, such as the body size scaling relationships of certain physiological traits, and provides a theoretical underpinning to the method of indirect calorimetry. In each case, the theory is developed in elementary mathematical terms, but a more detailed discussion of the methodological aspects of mathematical modelling is also included.
985 citations
Cites result from "Body size and metabolism"
...The numerical behaviour is remarkably close to the well-known observation by Kleiber [231] that respiration scales with body weight....
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References
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01 Aug 1917
69 citations
TL;DR: It is remarkable to see the great differences of opinion expressed by the many observers as to the amount of blood contained by various animals: thus the ratio of blood weight to body weight in the following animals is given.
Abstract: The question of the blood volume in man and animals has for more than 70 years been the subject of numerous investigations. This is but natural, considering its great practical and theoretical importance in the study of diseases and their treatment. Although so much work has been done upon this subject, it is remarkable to see the great differences of opinion expressed by the many observers as to the amount of blood contained by various animals: thus we may give, as examples, the ratio of blood weight to body weight in the following animals:—
44 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, a Paraplasmalehre wird gezeigt, and the bestimmende weder die au-ere Haut- noch die eine oder andere innere Schleimhautoberflache sein konne, sondern eher die gesamte Assimilationsflache, das ist die Summe der Oberflachen aller am Stoffwechsel teilnehmenden Elemente and zwar nach Ma\gabe dieser Teilnah
Abstract: Das Absinken des Energieumsatzes pro Masseneinheit im Laufe der Entwicklung hat man hauptsachlich auf zweierlei Weise zu erklaren versucht: einerseits durch die Annahme, es handle sich beim Energieumsatz nicht um eine Massen-, sondern um eine Flachenfunktion, anderseits durch die Annahme, es werde die lebende tatige Masse im engeren Sinne des Wortes, das Protoplasma, in fortschreitendem Ma\e durch eine im Stoffwechsel minder aktive Masse, das Paraplasma, ersetzt. Zur Flachenfunktionslehre wird im Vorstehenden ausgefuhrt, da\ unter gewissen Voraussetzungen das Bestimmende weder die au\ere Haut- noch die eine oder andere innere Schleimhautoberflache sein konne, sondern eher die gesamte Assimilationsflache, das ist die Summe der Oberflachen aller am Stoffwechsel teilnehmenden Elemente und zwar nach Ma\gabe dieser Teilnahme — weiter, da\ die Struktur des Protoplasmas in diesem, mithin im Organismus uberhaupt ein Flachensystem erblicken la\t. Zur Paraplasmalehre wird gezeigt, da\ — wieder unter gewissen und zwar biologisch begrundbaren Voraussetzungen — die fortschreitende Paraplasmierung den Umsatz der Gewichtseinheit in solchem Grade reduzieren mu\, da\ er als eine (allerdings unreine) Korperflachenfunktion erscheinen kann.
15 citations