Quantitative morphometric analyses, particularly ontogenetic allometry, are common methods used in quantifying shape, and changes therein, in both extinct and extant organisms. Due to incompleteness and the potential for restricted sample sizes in the fossil record, palaeobiological analyses of allometry may encounter higher rates of error. Differences in sample size between fossil and extant s...

Forest managers need accurate biomass equations to plan thinning for fuel reduction or energy production. Estimates of carbon sequestration also rely upon such equations. The current allometric equations for ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) commonly employed for California forests were developed elsewhere, and are often applied without consideration potential for spatial or temporal variability...

Erythropoietin (EPO) has a highly conserved structure among mammals, and thus recombinant human EPO (rHuEPO) has biological activity in various species. This study explores the interspecies relationships of the pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) of rHuEPO. The PK parameters such as clearance (CL) and volume of distribution (V(ss)) after i.v. doses of rHuEPO were obtained in several...

Understanding evolutionary change requires phenotypic differences between organisms to be placed in a genetic context. However, there are few cases where it has been possible to define an appropriate genotypic space for a range of species. Here we address this problem by defining a genetically controlled space that captures variation in shape and size between closely related species of Antirrhi...

About two decades ago, West and coworkers established a model which predicts that metabolic rate follows a three quarter power relationship with the mass of an organism, based on the premise that tissues are supplied nutrients through a fractal distribution network. Quarter power scaling is widely considered a universal law of biology and it is generally accepted that were in-vitro cultures to ...

Allometric models of internodes are an important component of Functional-Structural Plant Models (FSPMs), which represent the shape of internodes in tree architecture and help our understanding of resource allocation in organisms. Constant allometry is always assumed in these models. In this paper, multilevel nonlinear mixed-effect models were used to characterize the variability of internode a...

Melanie E. Moses* and James H. Brown Department of Biology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA *Correspondence: Tel.: +1 505 277 2686. Fax: +1 505 277 0304. E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Abstract The flux of energy and materials constrains all organisms, and allometric relationships between rates of energy consumption and other biological rates are manif...

The lack of detailed life history (LH) information (e.g. age, growth, size at maturity, sex composition etc.) for many species of conservation importance limits the implementation of appropriate conservation measures. Typically, LH information is acquired using lethal sampling techniques, which undermines the goal of conservation. This is particularly problematic for many shark species that hav...