The Design of Mammals A Scaling Approach

About this book

Despite an astonishing 100 million-fold range in adult body mass from bumblebee bat to blue whale, all mammals are formed of the same kinds of molecules, cells, tissues and organs and to the same overall body plan. A scaling approach investigates the principles of mammal design by examining the ways in which mammals of diverse size and taxonomy are quantitatively comparable. The Design of Mammals: A Scaling Approach presents an extensive reanalysis of scaling data collected over a quarter of a century, including many rarely or never-cited sources. The result is an unparalleled contribution to understanding scaling in mammals, addressing a uniquely extensive range of mammal attributes and using substantially larger and more rigorously screened samples than in any prior works. An invaluable resource for all those interested in the 'design' of mammals, this is an ideal resource for postgraduates and researchers in a range of fields from comparative physiology to ecology.

Contents

Acknowledgements

Part I. Background
1. Introduction
2. The mammals
3. The nature of scaling
4. Towards a standardized body weight table
5. A reader's guide

Part II. Empirical Analyses
6. Body length, girth and surface area
7. Body size distribution in adult mammals
8. Body composition
9. Circulatory system
10. Digestive system
11. Integumentary system
12. Musculoskeletal system
13. Neuroendocrine system
14. Reproductive system
15. Respiratory system
16. Urinary system
17. Function
18. Lethal limits

Part III. Survey of Results
19. Structural summary
20. Functional summary
21. End-sample, mid-sample and FDS
22. Human scaling

Part IV. Methodology
23. Scaling statistics
24. Scaling sums
25. A Sense of scale

Appendix 1. Recommended reading
Appendix 2. Guidelines for data screening
Appendix 3. Summary of Brody's findings
References
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

John William Prothero served on the faculty of the Department of Biological Structure at the University of Washington, Seattle, from 1965 to 1999. During this time, he taught histology for fifteen years and subsequently functional neuroanatomy for nearly twenty years. He has a long-term interest in many aspects of scaling.