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Physiology

There is no single p

Nature volume 464, pages 691–693 (2010)Cite this article

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Why metabolic rates do not vary in direct proportion to body mass has long been the subject of debate. Progress has been made with the realization that no universal scaling exponent can be applied to them.

On page 753 of this issue2, Kolokotrones et al. offer a fresh perspective. They show that the standard power equation that has been used for decades to describe the relationship may not be appropriate for mammals, and they use the deviation from this equation to test one of the most prominent explanations for the relationship. In doing so, they build on theoretical and empirical studies stretching back almost 200 years3.

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Figure 1: Questions of scale.

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  1. Craig R. White is in the School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia. craig.white@uq.edu.au ,

    Craig R. White

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  1. Craig R. White
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White, C. There is no single p. Nature 464, 691–693 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/464691a

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