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Elements of Physical Biology
15 Oct 2018-
TL;DR: The author has the problem of evolution always before him, and considers analytically the effect on population of a change in the behaviour of individuals in Elements of Physical Biology.
About: The article was published on 2018-10-15 and is currently open access. It has received 1840 citations till now.
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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 "Elements of Physical Biology"
...All organisms have internal chemical compositions that differ from those in their environment (Lotka 1925), so they must expend metabolic energy to maintain concentration gradients across their surfaces, to acquire necessary elements, and to excrete waste products....
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TL;DR: The frequency of a given gene in a population may be modified by a number of conditions including recurrent mutation to and from it, migration, selection of various sorts and, far from least in importance, were chance variation.
4,833 citations
TL;DR: A sounder approach to insect populations based on demographic procedures is now suggested in this paper, and the parameter which Lotka has developed for human populations, and which he has variously called the 'true' or 'intrinsic' rate of natural increase, has obvious application to populations of animals besides the human species.
Abstract: The intrinsic rate of increase is a basic parameter which an ecologist may wish to establish for an insect population. We define it as the rate of increase per head under specified physical conditions, in an unlimited environment where the effects of increasing density do not need to be considered. The growth of such a population is by definition exponential. Many authors, including Malthus and Darwin, have been concerned with this and related concepts, but there has been no general agreement in recent times on definitions. Chapman (I93i) referred to it as 'biotic potential', and although he does state in one place that biotic potential should in some way combine fecundity rate, sex ratio and survival rate, he never precisely defined this expression. Stanley (I 946) discussed a somewhat similar concept which he called the 'environmental index'. This gives a measure of the relative suitability of different environments, but it does not give the actual rate of increase of the insect under these different conditions. An index for the possible rate of increase under different physical conditions would at the same time provide a measure of the relative suitability of different environments. Birch (I 945c) attempted to provide this in an index comnbining the total number of eggs laid, the survival rate of immature stages, the rate of development and the sex ratio. This was done when the author was unaware of the relevance of cognate studies in human demography. A sounder approach to insect populations based on demographic procedures is now suggested in this paper. The development of this branch of population mathematics is principally due to A. J. Lotka. From the point of view of the biologist, convenient summaries of his fundamental contributions to this subject will be found in Lotka (I925, Chapter 9; I939 and I945). A numerical example of the application of Lotka's methods in the case of a human population will be found in Dublin & Lotka (I925). The parameter which Lotka has developed for human populations, and which he has variously called the 'true' or 'inherent' or 'intrinsic' rate of natural increase, has obvious application to populations of animals besides the human species. The first determination of the intrinsic rate of increase of an animal other than man was made by Leslie & Ranson (I940). They calculated the 'true rate of natural increase' of the vole, Microtus agrestis, from agespecific rates of fecundity and mortality determined under laboratory conditions. With the use of matrices Leslie has extended these methods and, as an example, calculated the true rate of natural increase of the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus (Leslie, 1945). The author is much indebted to Mr Leslie for having drawn his attention to the possible application of actuarial procedures to insect populations. He has been completely dependent upon him for the methods of calculation used in this paper. Before proceeding to discuss the reasons for the particular terminology adopted in this paper, it is necessary first to consider the true nature of the parameter with which we are concerned.
2,342 citations
Cites background from "Elements of Physical Biology"
...Thus, although oviposition by the female is extended over a period of time, it may be considered as concentrated for each generation at one point of time, successive generations being spaced T units apart (Dublin & Lotka, 1925)....
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...The procedure does, however, serve to illustrate the nature of the parameter, and in some cases where r is small it may be a sufficiently accurate means of calculation (cf. for example, Dublin & Lotka, 1925)....
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...It has a theoretical value, since it is the parameter which necessarily enters many equations in population mathematics (cf. Lotka, 1925; Volterra, 1931; Gause, 1934; Crombie, I945)....
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TL;DR: In order to study the consequences of predator-mediated apparent competition in isolation from other complicating factors, a model community is analyzed in which there is no direct interspecific competition among the prey.
2,265 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used the random walk problem as a starting point for the analytical study of dispersal in living organisms and applied the law of diffusion to the understanding of the spatial distribution of population density in both linear and two-dimensional habitats.
Abstract: The random-walk problem is adopted as a starting point for the analytical study of dispersal in living organisms. The solution is used as a basis for the study of the expanson of a growing population, and illustrative examples are given. The law of diffusion is deduced and applied to the understanding of the spatial distribution of population density in both linear and two-dimensional habitats on various assumptions as to the mode of population growth or decline. For the numerical solution of certain cases an iterative process is described and a short table of a new function is given. The equilibrium states of the various analytical models are considered in relation to the size of the habitat, and questions of stability are investigated. A mode of population growth resulting from the random scattering of the reproductive units in a population discrete in time, is deduced and used as a basis for study on interspecific competition. The extent to which the present analytical formulation is applicable to biological situations, and some of the more important biological implications are briefly considered.
2,212 citations