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Science 22 March 2002:
Vol. 295. no. 5563, pp. 2273 - 2276
DOI: 10.1126/science.1067994
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Reports

A Common Rule for the Scaling of Carnivore Density

Chris Carbone,1* John L. Gittleman2

Population density in plants and animals is thought to scale with size as a result of mass-related energy requirements. Variation in resources, however, naturally limits population density and may alter expected scaling patterns. We develop and test a general model for variation within and between species in population density across the order Carnivora. We find that 10,000 kilograms of prey supports about 90 kilograms of a given species of carnivore, irrespective of body mass, and that the ratio of carnivore number to prey biomass scales to the reciprocal of carnivore mass. Using mass-specific equations of prey productivity, we show that carnivore number per unit prey productivity scales to carnivore mass near -0.75, and that the scaling rule can predict population density across more than three orders of magnitude. The relationship provides a basis for identifying declining carnivore species that require conservation measures.

1 Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London NW1 4RY, UK.
2 Department of Biology, Gilmer Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: chris.carbone{at}ioz.ac.uk

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