Allometric scaling in animals and plants

Byline: Olaf Dreyer (1), Raymond Puzio (2) Keywords: Key words or phrases: Allometric scaling -- Metabolism -- Mass Abstract: In this paper we give a derivation for the allometric scaling relation between the metabolic rate and the mass of animals and plants. We show that the characteristic scaling exponent of 3/4 occurring in this relation is a result of the distribution of sources and sinks within the living organism. We further introduce a principle of least mass and discuss the kind of flows that arise from it. Author Affiliation: (1) Center for Gravitational Physics and Geometry, The Pennsylvania State University, 104 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802--6300, USA. e-mail: dreyer@phys.psu.edu, US (2) Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Mississippi, 108 Lewis Hall, University, MS 38677, USA. e-mail: puzio@phy.olemiss.edu, US Article note: Received: 13 August 1999/Revised version: 21 November 2000/APPublished online: 17 July 2001