A

Adenosine triphosphate, 32, 118, 129, 140

Adrenaline, 34

Aitken, A. C., 250

Alaska, 9–10

Alcohol, 62

Allen, Drew, 228, 245

Allen, Joel, 41–42

Allometry

definition, 58

ecological studies, 96

mathematics, 59, 82

patterns in body structure and function, 59, 78–79

purpose, 58, 76

See also Power laws

Alveolus, 30

Anatomy

environment and, 41–44

evolutionary theory, 11–12

Anderson, Bill, 29

Archaea, 246

Aristotle, 1, 6, 14, 32

Autotrophs, 174–175

B

Bacteria, 246

Banavar, Jayanth, 114

Banks, Joseph, 206

Bates, Henry, 220

Bell, Graham, 197

Benedict, Francis, 62–64

Bergmann, Carl, 41, 43, 44

Bertalanffy, Ludwig von, 123–125, 243

Bignoniaciae, 145–146

Biodiversity

body size and, 93–94

climate and, 206–207, 211–212, 213–216, 225, 227–229

determinants of, 171–174, 185–186, 229

distribution by altitude, 213, 218

ecosystem surveys, 145–153

energy supply and, 214–215

environmental change and, 189–190

food chain distribution, 174–177

fractal model, 181–182, 187–189

generalizability of rules regarding, 235–240

global distribution patterns, 217–218

historical factors, 219–224, 233

home-range size and, 225–227

Humboldt’s research, 212–213

limits of current knowledge, 245–248

metabolism and, 202–203, 227–229

mid-domain effect, 217–219

neutral ecology model, 196–197, 198–199, 219, 237

niche model, 177–179, 181, 186–187, 202

power laws, 187–188

predator effects, 190

probability modeling, 193–194

resource competition and sharing models, 177, 178, 179, 180–186

size of ecological zone and, 224–227

size of living things and, 233

unifying theory, 202–203

universal biodiversity number, 195–196

Biological scaling, 3, 239–240

biomechanical correlations, 80

four-dimensional conceptualization, 85, 113–114

fractal geometry and, 90, 127

network modeling, 102, 108, 110–111

patterns, 78–79

in single-cell organisms, 116–119

Biology, science of

consistency of rules in, 43–44

generalization in, 232–233, 235–240

government support, 87–88

historical development, 5–6, 11–12

information in, 244–245

limits of current knowledge, 245–248

mathematics and, 2, 18–19, 23–25, 88, 242–243

pattern recognition in, 235–236

physics and, 18, 97–98, 231–232, 234–235, 237

Thompson’s mathematical studies, 12–23

vitalist philosophy, 2, 15

Biomechanics, 80, 81–82

Blood supply, 90–92, 103, 114–115

animal size and, 107–108

fluid dynamics, 108–110

fractal geometry, 106–107, 108, 115

Blum, Jacob, 85

Body size

allometric measurement, 58–61

biodiversity and, 93–94, 233

bone structure and, 39–40

cell biology and, 72, 73

drug dosing considerations, 69

ecological research, 94–95

ecological resource competition and, 181–182

energy metabolism and, 38–40, 41, 44–50, 57, 73–78, 134

environment and, 41–44

evolutionary patterns, 42

in food chains, 176

forest growth patterns, 153–154, 167–168, 169

harvesting and, 125–126

home-range size and, 160–161

individual development and, 123, 125–126, 128–129

life span and, 88–89, 142–143

limits of tree growth, 163–164

niche model of biodiversity and, 181, 182

organ size and, 73

population density and, 154–162

prospects for cross-species model of metabolism, 83–85

reproductive biology and, 131

resource distribution network design and, 107–108

risk of extinction and, 95–96

significance of, in biological research, 3–4, 39

Boecklen, William, 184

Bolivar, Simon, 209

Boltzmann, Ludwig, 3

Boltzmann factor, 119, 120

Bone structure

biomechanics, 81–82

body size and, 39–40

Bonpland, Aimé, 208, 212

Botany, 93

Boyle, Brad, 148, 149, 151

Bradfield, Hannah Stillman, 49–50

Brain

body weight and, 73

metabolism, 31

Brody, Samuel, 49–50, 55, 61

Brown, Jim, 93–94, 96, 98–99, 101–103, 107–108, 111–112, 115–116, 119, 132, 155–156, 186, 227, 236, 239, 244

C

Calder, William, 94, 161

Calorie consumption

body mass and, 57

evolution of scientific study, 35

measurement, 36

rate, 33

Calorimetry, 35–36

Cancer, 128

Capillaries, 31, 90, 107–108

Carbon, 129, 130

Carbone, Chris, 158, 159, 161, 242

Carlos IV, King, 208–209

Carnivores, 157–159

Cell biology

aging effects, 138

animal size and, 72, 73, 74

biological resource networks and, 103

energy metabolism, 34, 71, 72–73, 104, 110, 134

free-radical damage, 137–138

genome size and, 244

growth patterns, 127–128

human metabolism, 30–32

membrane structure, 115

single-cell organisms, 116–119

surface area, 40

See also Mitochondria

Chaos theory, 91–92

Chase, Jonathan, 202

Chemistry, 1–2, 15

of individual development, 129

metabolic, 119–120

mitochondrial, 140

Climate change, 42, 164–165, 238

Cold-blooded animals. See Ectotherms

Colwell, Robert, 216–218

Complexity theory, 91–92, 243

Conservation efforts, 94–96, 159–160, 238

Costarelli, Vasiliki, 29, 32, 35

Crick, Francis, 25, 234

D

da Vinci, Leonardo, 109

Damuth, John, 114, 157

Darwin, Charles, 6, 161, 211, 222

Dayan, Tamar, 43, 44

Development, individual

animal size and, 128–129

biological diversity in, 121–122

chemical aspects, 129

determinants of, 129–130

forest growth patterns, 153–154

growth rate, 122–128

limits of tree growth, 163–164

population growth patterns and, 154–162, 167–168, 169

resource allocation in, 168–169

Diamond, Jared, 182–183, 185

Diet and nutrition

evolution of scientific study, 35–37

food chains, 174–177

food webs, 200–202

growth and, 129

home-range size and, 161

life span and, 139

metabolism and, 34, 78–79

population growth patterns, 158–162

2,4-Dinitrophenol, 140

Dosimetry, 61–62, 68–70

Drury, Maureen, 10

DuBois, Delafield, 48–49

DuBois, Eugene, 47, 48–49, 50, 54, 61, 62

Dürer, Albrecht, 16

Dyson, Freeman, 235

E

Ecological studies

ecosystem metabolism, 164–166

energy concepts in, 93, 96, 97

food web interactions, 200–202

forest growth patterns, 153–157

macroecological approach, 98–102

metabolic ecology, 202–203, 244–245

modeling ecosystem change, 199–201

physics concepts in, 96–100

prospects for unifying theory, 244–245

random change in environments, 190–197

scientific method, 183–185, 197–199

significance of animal size, 93–96

similarities among forests, 162–163, 166–168, 170, 205–206

species migration, 191, 192, 194

See also Biodiversity

Ecstasy, 140

Ectotherms, 76–77

Edinburgh Academy, 4, 5

Elastic similarity, 81–82

Elements of Physical Biology, 97

Elephants, 67–70, 160, 251

Emerson, Brent, 216

Endotherms, 41

Energy

as basis for unifying theory in biology, 243–245

biodiversity and, 214–215

biological, 3–4, 32–33

distribution in ecosystem development, 155

distribution in food chains, 175–176

ecological studies, 93, 96, 97

extra-metabolic consumption patterns, fertility and, 132–133

food, 36

human metabolism, 32–35

rate of evolution and, 228

social distribution model, 133

See also Metabolic rate

Energy equivalence rule, 157–158

Enquist, Brian, 92–93, 96, 101–103, 107–108, 111–112, 115–116, 126, 127, 146–147, 150, 151, 155–156, 162, 166, 236, 240, 241–242, 245

Environment

anatomy and, 41–44

climate change, 164–165

individual and population growth patterns, 158–162

metabolism and, 76

See also Ecological studies

Eukaryotes, 117

Evolutionary theory

animal size, 42

biological distribution networks, 118

climate and, 227–228, 238

energy model, 98

environmental diversity and rate of evolution, 216

life span and, 141–143

neutral model, 196

optimality modeling and, 105–106

resource competition in, 178, 180–181

Thompson’s research and beliefs, 11–12, 19, 20–21

Extinction

body size and risk of, 95–96

home-range size and risk of, 225–226

patterns, 199–200

probability model of biodiversity change, 193–194

F

Fat, dietary, 34

Feldman, Henry, 83

Ferguson, Steven, 42

Fisheries research, 9–10

Fluid dynamics, 108–110, 168–169

FLUXNET, 165

Food webs, 174–177, 200–201

Foraminifera, 12–13, 212, 228, 245

Forest Dynamics Plot, 193

Forster, Georg, 208

Foster, Michael, 13–14

Four dimensional modeling, 85, 113–114

Fractal geometry

biological resource networks, 106–107, 108, 111–112, 116, 236, 242

blood supply modeling, 90–92, 115

conceptual basis, 89–90

implications for biological research, 90

scaling of metabolic rate, 127

species diversity and, 181–182, 187–189

Free radicals, 137–138, 140, 141, 142

Fuhrman, Frederick, 71–72

G

Galileo, 39–40, 91

Gamelan, 143–144

Gamgee, Arthur, 7–12

Gamgee, Fanny, 5

Gamgee, Joseph, 5

General Systems Theory, 124–125

Genetic science

chemistry, 129

information theory, 244

limits of current knowledge, 245–246

temperature effects on mutation, 227–228

Thompson and, 19–20

Gentry, Alwyn, 145–146

Gillooly, Jamie, 119

Ginzburg, Lev, 236

Gittleman, John, 158, 242

Glossary of Greek Birds, The, 14

Glossary of Greek Fishes, A, 22

Gould, Stephen Jay, 24, 105

Gravity, 74

Growth

individual, 122–123, 125–127

population, 161–162

Gulliver’s Travels, 57–58

H

Haber, Fritz, 130

Haldane, J. B. S., 40, 113

Harman, Denham, 137–138

Harris, Arthur, 63

Hartog, Marcus, 250

Heart rate, 134

Hemoglobin, 30–31

Heterotrophs, 174–175

Heusner, Alfred, 82–83

Hindu religion, 32

Historium Animalium, 6, 14

Homeotherms, 41

Home-range size and patterns, 160–161, 217, 225–227

Horn, Henry, 182

Hubbell, Steve, 167, 192, 193, 194–196, 245

Humboldt, Friedrich Heinrich Alexander von, 207–213, 231, 240, 250

Humboldt current, 206

Hutchinson, G. Evelyn, 171, 172, 173–174, 175, 176, 182, 214, 219, 250

Huxley, Aldous, 60

Huxley, Andrew, 60

Huxley, Julian, 60–61

Huxley, Thomas Henry, 60, 64

I

Ideas for a Physiognomy of Plants, 211

Information, role in biology, 244–245

Invasive species, 191

J

Jablonski, David, 228

Joule, 33

K

Kant, Immanuel, 231–232

Keller, Evelyn Fox, 24

Kerkhoff, Drew, 150, 151, 242

Keystone species, 200–201

Kleiber, Max, 51–53, 55–58, 61, 64, 71, 73–75, 77, 79, 82

Kolm, Niclas, 216

Krebs, Hans, 71

L

Laplace, Pierre Simon, 35

Lariviere, Serge, 42

Lavoisier, Antoine, 33, 35, 241

Lees, David, 218

Leibold, Matthew, 202

Leptin, 34

Lewontin, Richard, 105

Life span

biological determinants of, 88–89

body size and, 88–89, 142–143

cell biology and, 140

diet and, 139

evolutionary factors, 141–143

free-radical damage and, 137–138

growth patterns, 122–128

metabolism and, 88, 133–137, 139–140, 142–143

reproductive biology and, 141–142

Lindemann, Ray, 175, 176–177

Lotka, Alfred, 96–97, 124

LSD, 67–69

M

MacArthur, Robert, 179–181, 184–185, 193–194, 233, 234

Macroecology, 98–102

Madagascar, 218

Malthus, Thomas, 161

Marine biology

chemistry, 130

metabolism of sea creatures, 76

mid-domain effect, 218

Thompson’s studies, 7–10, 12–13

Maritan, Amos, 114

Marsupials, 139

Martin, Arthur, 71–72

Mathematics

allometric calculations, 59

biology and, 2, 18–19, 23–25, 88, 242–243

ecological modeling, 197–198

theoretical ecology, 98

Thompson’s biological studies, 12–23

Maurer, Brian, 100

Maxwell, James Clerk, 2

May, Robert, 182, 234–235, 237–238, 243

Mayr, Ernst, 44, 234

McMahon, Thomas, 80–82, 83

McNab, Brian, 142–143

Medawar, Peter, 11, 23, 26

Medical science

dosimetry, 61, 68–70

use of body surface area measurements, 61–63

Meditation, 34–35

Meeh, Karl, 45, 47

Meiri, Shai, 43, 44

Mencken, H. L., 135

Metabolic rate

allometric calculations, 59

animal size and, 38–40, 41, 44–50, 57, 73–78, 83–85

basal rate, 47–48

as basis for unifying theory in biology, 243–245

biodiversity and, 202–203, 227–229, 244–245

biological networks and, 102–114, 115–116

biomechanics and, 81–82

blood supply modeling and, 91–92

body mass and, 56–58, 63, 64–65

body temperature regulation and, 70, 119–120

calorie consumption, 33, 36

cell biology, 71, 72–73, 74, 104, 110, 115, 134

change in, 33, 34

comparisons between species, 63, 75–77, 82–83

diurnal variation, 82

drug dosing considerations, 69

earliest research, 35–37, 70

of ecological communities, 175

energy equivalence rule, 157–158

environment and, 76

fractal scaling patterns, 90, 236

Harris–Benedict equations, 62–63

home-range size and, 160–161

individual growth patterns and, 124–125

life span and, 88, 133–137, 139–140, 142–143

metabolic ecology, 202–203, 244–245

plant biology, 100–102

population growth patterns and, 155–159

regulation, 34–35, 70–73

reproductive biology and, 131–133

respiratory process, 30–32

resting rate, 35, 48

of single-cell organisms, 117–119

surface area law, 44–50, 53–55, 61–62, 64, 74–75

tissue and organ studies, 70–72

Microbes, 246–248

Mid-domain effect, 217–219

Mitochondria

chemistry, 140

concentration, 72

life span and, 140

structure and function, 31–32, 40, 104, 118

uncoupling, 140

Morphology, 3

Moses, Melanie, 132

Muscle biomechanics, 81–82

Musical instruments, 143–144, 182

Musth, 67–68

N

Napoleon, 212

Natural selection, 11, 12, 19, 20, 98, 221–222.

See also Evolutionary theory

Networks, biological

blood system modeling, 103, 106–111

body size and, 107–108, 110–111

cell biology and, 103–104

conceptual basis, 102, 126, 236

current scientific thinking, 115–116

fractal geometry, 106–107

metabolic theory, 155–157, 236, 242

minimal flow models, 114–115

optimality modeling, 104–106

plant biology, 112–114

response to, 111–112

single cell organisms, 116–119

Neurophysiology of metabolism, 34–35

Neutral ecology, 196–197, 198–199, 219, 237

Neutral evolution, 196

Newborns, 72–73, 140

Niches, ecological, 177–179, 181, 186–190, 202

Niklas, Karl, 126–127, 162, 168–169

Nitrogen, 129, 130

ecosystem metabolism, 165–166

O

Obesity, 34, 73

Olff, Han, 187, 188–189

On Growth and Form, 3, 15, 16–18, 21–23, 24, 25–26, 106, 112, 123, 231

Optimality modeling, 104–106

Orozco, Gabriel, 26

Otto, Frei, 26

P

Parasites, 157

Pearl, Raymond, 135–137

Pearson, Karl, 135

Penis bones, 42

Petrie, George, 13

Phosphorus, 129, 130

ecosystem metabolism, 165–166

Physics, science of

biological resource network modeling, 108–112

biology and, 2, 15–16, 18, 97–98, 231–232, 234–235, 237

biomechanics, 80, 81–82

government support, 87

scaling problems in, 88–89

scientific method, 198, 234–235

Pierce, Chester, 67–68

Pither, Jason, 150–151

Plant biology

distribution networks, 112–114

diversity surveys, 145–153

ecosystem metabolism, 164–166

forest growth patterns, 153–157, 169, 192–193

individual growth patterns, 78, 126–127, 169

limits of tree growth, 163–164

metabolism studies, 100–102

resource allocation in individual development, 168–169

similarities among forests, 162–163, 166–168, 170, 205–206

tropical forest ecology, 206–207

Power laws

biodiversity and size of ecological zone, 225

definition, 59

fractal geometry and, 89–90

model of biodiversity, 187–188

significance of, 243

size of individuals and population density, 154–162

See also Allometry

Principles of Botany and of Vegetable Physiology, The, 206

Private Life of the Gannets, The, 60

Problems of Relative Growth, 60

Prokaryotes, 246

Protein, 129

in diet, 36, 37

Purvis, Andy, 233

Q

Quantum physics, 88–89

Quarter-power laws, 78–79

R

Rameaux, Jean-Francois, 41

Redfield, Alfred, 130

Relativity, theory of, 88–89

Reproductive biology

birth rate, 132

growth and, 130–131

life span and, 141–142

metabolism and, 131–133

of microbes, 247

population patterns, 132, 161–162

species diversity, 121, 122

species size and, 131

Respiratory process

efficiency, 104

metabolism, 30–32, 33

in plants, 101, 164–165

in single-cell organisms, 118

Richet, Charles, 46

Rinaldo, Andrea, 114

Ritchie, Mark, 187, 188–189

Rosenzweig, Michael, 225–226

Rubner, Max, 36, 37, 38–39, 45, 46, 51, 54, 64, 70, 134, 241

S

Santa Fe Institute, 91–92

Sarrus, Pierre, 41

Scaling

botany studies, 93

physics studies, 88–89

plant metabolism, 100–102

See also Biological scaling

Seals, 9–10

Self-similarity, 89–90

Self-thinning, 154–155

Simberloff, Daniel, 183–184, 185

Skillets, 182

Slobodkin, Lawrence, 234, 243

Speakman, John, 139, 140

Sponges, 13

Statistical research, 135–136

Stefansson, Vilhjalmur, 49

Stevenson, Robert Louis, 4

Superconducting Supercollider, 87

Surface area law, 44–50, 53–55, 61–62, 64, 74–75, 85

Surface tension, 15

Svensson, Nate, 148–150, 167–168

T

Taoism, 32

Temperance movement, 62

Temperature

biodiversity and, 227–229

body size and, 41–44, 45–46, 57

comparisons between species, 75–76

ecosystem metabolism and, 165–166

metabolism and, 38–39, 70, 119–120

population patterns and, 162

rate of evolution and, 227–228

Terborgh, John, 225–226

Theory of Transformations, 19

Thermodynamics, 36, 97

Thomas, Chris, 238

Thomas, Warren, 68

Thompson, D’Arcy Wentworth, 1–3, 40, 60–61, 106, 112, 122, 123, 231, 249–251

achievements and contributions, 23–27

early biological research, 7–12

early life and education, 5–6

On Growth and Form, 3, 16–18, 21–22, 25–26, 106, 123

last years, 22–23

multidisciplinary studies, 12–21

personal qualities, 6–7, 23

translation of Aristotle, 1, 6, 14

Thompson, D’Arcy Wentworth (father), 4–5

Thompson, John Skelton, 4

Tilman, David, 186, 243

Tropical Nature, 221

Tusko, 67–69

Tyrannosaurus rex, 80

U

Unifying theory

biodiversity dynamics, 202–203

biological energy, 93

in biology, 232–233, 235–240, 243–245

ecological niche sharing, 181

function of, 240–243

General Systems Theory, 124

goals of, 2–3

of metabolism and body size, 83–85

physical approaches to biology, 97–98

prospects for, 251–252

Thompson’s multidisciplinary studies, 12–17, 23

Universal biodiversity number, 195–196

V

Vegetarians, 63

Vital Energetics, 63

Vitalism, 2, 15, 24, 36

Voit, Carl, 35, 37

Volterra, Vito, 250

W

Wallace, Alfred Russel, 219–224

Water, biodiversity and, 213, 214

Watson, James, 25

Wentworth, D’Arcy, 4

West, Geoffrey, 87–89, 90–92, 102–103, 107–108, 111–112, 115–116, 155–156, 236, 243, 245

West, Louis Jolyon, 67–68, 69

Willdenow, Carl Ludwig, 206–207

Wilson, E. O., 193–194

X

Xylem, 112–113, 163–164

Y

Yoda, Kyoji, 154, 155