... organism. It is a major tool in making meaningful comparisons between structures and processes in organisms of different body sizes. One of the simplest and easiest to measure allometric characters is body mass, M. The basic equation for an allometric relationship between a physiological or anatomical character (Y) and body mass is: Y=b(Ma) Where a and b are the coefficient of allometry and the exponent of allometry respectively. Taking logs of both sides then creates an equation that yields a straight line. logY = aLogM + Logb y = m + c The gradient of this graph, a, is key to understanding the relationship between the two features in question. If a=1 then Y is directly proportional to M and the character is said to change isometrically with body mass, if a<-1 then there is said to be a negative allometry where the increase in size of the character is less that that of ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now