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Question

The paragraph below is the background information. There were no graphs provided for this question.

The debate over the nature of the relationship between body size (mass) and metabolic rate (MR) centers on the question about the coefficient of this relationship – most often assumed to be either 2/3 or 3/4. Scientists who first explored this topic predicted that MR should scale as a function of mass2/3 based on geometric considerations. However, subsequent empirical evidence from measurements on a diverse collection of organisms (including ectotherms) have led to statistical models suggesting that the scaling coefficient for the relationship between MR and mass is closer to 3/4. Scientists have recently (in the last two decades) developed new predictive, mechanistic models, which incorporate assumptions about energy conservation, exchange efficiency and space-fill fractal distribution networks. These models predict that the scaling exponent for the body mass-MR relationship should be ¾.

A) There are the two general types of models described in the background paragraph. What are they?

B) Which of those two types of models was a product of deductive reasoning? Which one inductive? Explain.

C) Which type of model is generally more informative? Explain.

Explanation / Answer

A) The two theories mentioned over here is Temperature and metabolic theory of ecology.

Q = b0Mb eE/kT is the equation which comprises two components, a power relationship describing the mass dependency (scaling) and a Boltzmann temperature correction. The value of the scaling exponent b is taken to be 0·75, derived from the physics of distribution networks in animals and plants. According to this relationship, metabolic rate is a function of an organism’s body mass and body temperature. By this equation, large organisms have higher metabolic rates (in Watts) than small organisms, and organisms at high body temperatures have higher metabolic rates than those that exist at low body temperatures.

Significant points in Metabolic Theory points out:

2) Inductive reasoning is the opposite of deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning makes broad generalizations from specific observations. In inductive inference it is from the specific to the general. There is a constant interplay between inductive inference (based on observations) and deductive inference (based on theory). Thus, the metabolic theory is more inductive reasoning.

3) The metabolic theory is more informative.

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