Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

SS15 Biomechanics: Making the Connection Between Physics and Biology at the Organismal Level (Disciplinary Connections)

Date: Wednesday, February 14, 2001, Time: 10:30:00 AM

Location: Mesilla

Gillooly, J, F, Department of Biology, The University of New Mexico , Albuquerque, USA, gillooly@unm.edu

Charnov, E, L, Department of Biology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA, aerice@unm.edu

West, G, B, Theoretical Division, MS B285, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, USA, gbw@lanl.gov

Savage, V, M, Department of Physics, Washington University, St. Louis, USA, van@santafe.edu

Brown, J, H, Department of Biology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA, jhbrown@unm.edu

BIOLOGICAL TIME: EFFECTS OF SIZE AND TEMPERATURE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF AQUATIC ECTOTHERMS

Body size and temperature are the two most important variables affecting the rates of nearly all biological activities. The relationship of size and temperature to development is of particular interest because during ontogeny size changes and temperature often varies. Here we derive a simple and general model, based on first principles of allometry and biochemical kinetics, that predicts the time of ontogenetic development as a function of body mass and temperature. This leads to a definition of biological time that is approximately invariant and common to all organisms. The model gives excellent fits for embryonic development times for an assortment of aquatic ectotherms (fish, amphibians, aquatic insects and zooplankton) spanning a wide range of egg sizes and incubation temperatures.

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Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Albuquerque 2001

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