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Science 22 March 2002:
Vol. 295. no. 5563, pp. 2229 - 2230
DOI: 10.1126/science.1070587
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Perspectives

ECOLOGY:
Of Predators, Prey, and Power Laws

Pablo A. Marquet

Power laws are used by biologists to express how physiological, ecological, and life-history attributes relate to body size in animals (scaling or allometric relationships). In his Perspective, Marquet discusses new data (Carbone and Gittleman) that explain the anomalous nature of the power law for carnivore population density and body size.

The author is at the Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, Chile. E-mail: pmarquet{at}genes.bio.puc.cl

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Allometric scaling of mammalian metabolism.
C. R. White and R. S. Seymour (2005)
J. Exp. Biol. 208, 1611-1619
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Scaling and power-laws in ecological systems.
P. A. Marquet, R. A. Quinones, S. Abades, F. Labra, M. Tognelli, M. Arim, and M. Rivadeneira (2005)
J. Exp. Biol. 208, 1749-1769
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Scaling of Animal Space Use.
W. Jetz, C. Carbone, J. Fulford, and J. H. Brown (2004)
Science 306, 266-268
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)