The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of allometric scaling on the relationship between mechanical work and long-distance running performance in recreational runners. Fourteen recreational long-distance runners (male, mean ± SD - age: 29 ± 7 years; body mass: 70.0 ± 10.2 kg; body height: 1.71 ± 0.07 m; maximal oxygen uptake: VO2max 52.0 ± 4.9 ml·kg(-1)·min(-1)) performed two tests...

The relationship between tree height and diameter is fundamental in determining community and ecosystem structure as well as estimates of biomass and carbon storage. Yet our understanding of how tree allometry relates to climate and whole organismal function is limited. We used the Forest Inventory and Analysis National Program database to determine height-diameter allometries of 2,976,937 indi...

Although the evolution and function of "exaggerated" bony projections in ornithischian dinosaurs has been subject to significant debate recently, our understanding of the structure and morphology of their epidermal keratinized coverings is greatly limited. The holotype of Borealopelta, a new nodosaurid ankylosaur, preserves osteoderms and extensive epidermal structures (dark organic residues), ...

The design of living beings is not only a matter of molecular biology but also of geometry and physics. This was once more demonstrated with a biophysical model by G. B. West et al. (1) that had been fine-tuned to predict the famous scaling law of metabolism (2), namely a 3/4 power relation between body mass and energy consumption. While properties and predictions of the model are remarkable, a...

Traditional classifications of the Old World monkey tribe Papionini (Primates: Cercopithecinae) recognized the mangabey genera Cercocebus and Lophocebus as sister taxa. However, molecular studies have consistently found the mangabeys to be diphyletic, with Cercocebus and Mandrillus forming a clade to the exclusion of all other papionins. Recent studies have identified cranial and postcranial fe...

Male dimorphism has been thought to correlate with alternative reproductive behaviors. Alternative reproductive behaviors promote asymmetry in sperm competition, and the differences in fertilization success could promote adaptations in ejaculate characteristics in relation to each reproductive behavior. Using allometric analysis, we show that ejaculate dimorphism clearly exists in males of the ...

The predominance of molar teeth in fossil hominin assemblages makes the patterning of molar shape variation a topic of bioanthropological interest. Extant models are the principal basis for understanding dental variation in the fossil record. As the sister taxon to the hominin clade, Pan is one such model and the only widely accepted extant hominid model for both interspecific and intraspecific...

The allometric equations developed by Whittaker et al. (1974) at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest have been used to estimate biomass and productivity in northern hardwood forest systems for over three decades. Few other species-specific allometric estimates of belowground biomass are available, because of the difficulty of collecting the data, and such equations are rarely validated. Using...