Allometric equations are widely used in many branches of biological science. The potential information content of the normalization constant b in allometric equations of the form Y = bXa has, however, remained largely neglected. To demonstrate the potential for utilizing this information, I generated a large number of artificial datasets that resembled those that are frequently encountered in biological studies, i.e., relatively small samples including measurement error or uncontrolled variation. The value of X was allowed to vary randomly within the limits describing different data ranges, and a was set to a fixed theoretical value. The constant b was set to a range of values describing the effect of a continuous environmental variable. In addition, a normally distributed random error was added to the values of both X and Y. Two different approaches were then used to model the data. The traditional approach estimated both a and b using a regression model, whereas an alternative approach set the exponent a at its theoretical value and only estimated the value of b. Both approaches produced virtually the same model fit with less than 0.3% difference in the coefficient of determination. Only the alternative approach was able to precisely reproduce the effect of the environmental variable, which was largely lost among noise variation when using the traditional approach. The results show how the value of b can be used as a source of valuable biological information if an appropriate regression model is selected.
References
[1]
Savage VM, Gillooly JF, Woodruff WH, West GB, Allen AP, et al. (2004) The predominance of quarter-power scaling in biology. Funct Ecol 18: 257–282.
[2]
Marquet PA, Quinones RA, Abades S, Labra F, Tognelli M, et al. (2005) Scaling and power-laws in ecological systems. J Exp Biol 208: 1749–1769.
[3]
West GB, Brown JH (2005) The origin of allometric scaling laws in biology from genomes to ecosystems: towards a quantitative unifying theory of biological structure and organization. J Exp Biol 208: 1575–1592.
[4]
Tang H, Mayersohn M (2005) A mathematical description of the functionality of correction factors used in allometry for predicting human drug clearance. Drug Metab Dispos 33: 1294–1296.
[5]
Etienne RS, Apol MEF, Olff H (2006) Demystifying the West, Brown & Enquist model of the allometry of metabolism. Funct Ecol 20: 394–399.
[6]
Enquist BJ, Kerkhoff AJ, Stark SC, Swenson NG, McCarthy MC, et al. (2007) A general integrative model for scaling plant growth, carbon flux, and functional trait spectra. Nature 449: 218–222.
[7]
M?kel? A, Valentine H (2006) Crown ratio influences allometric scaling in trees. Ecology 87: 2967–2972.
[8]
Isobe T, Feigelson ED, Akritas MG, Babu GJ (1990) Linear regression in astronomy. I. Astrophys J 364: 104–113.
[9]
Lumer H (1936) The relation between b and k in systems of relative growth function of the form y = bxk. Am Nat 70: 188–191.
[10]
Kaitaniemi P (2004) Testing the allometric scaling laws. J Theor Biol 228: 149–153.
Dodds PS, Rothman DH, Weitz JS (2001) Re-examination of the “3/4-law” of metabolism. J Theor Biol 209: 9–27.
[13]
Chen XW, Li BL (2003) Testing the allometric scaling relationships with seedlings of two tree species. Acta Oecol 24: 125–129.
[14]
White CR, Seymour RS (2005) Sample size and mass range effects on the allometric exponent of basal metabolic rate. Comp Biochem Physiol A 14: 74–78.
[15]
Muller-Landau HC, Condit RS, Chave J, Thomas SC, Bohlman SA, et al. (2006) Testing metabolic ecology theory for allometric scaling of tree size, growth and mortality in tropical forests. Ecol Lett 9: 575–588.
[16]
Mahmood I (2006) Prediction of drug clearance in children from adults: a comparison of several allometric methods. Br J Clin Pharmacol 61: 545–557.