Scaling Why Is Animal Size So Important?

About this book

Physical laws provide possibilities and opportunities for an organism, yet they also impose constraints, setting limits to what is physically possible. This book aims to give an understanding of these rules because of their profound implications when we deal with animals of widely different size and scale.

Contents

Preface; 1. The size of living things; 2. Problems of size and scale; 3. The use of allometry; 4. How to scale eggs; 5. The strength of bones and skeletons; 6. Metabolic rate and body size; 7. Warm-blooded vertebrates: what do metabolic regression equations mean?; 8. Organ size and tissue metabolism; 9. How the lungs supply enough oxygen; 10. Blood and gas transport; 11. Heart and circulation; 12. The meaning of time; 13. Animal activity and metabolic scope; 14. Moving on land: running and jumping; 15. Swimmng and flying; 16. Body temperature and temperature regulation; 17. Some important concepts; Appendixes; References; Index.

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