Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Basic concepts
- 2 Standard DEB model in time, length and energy
- 3 Energy, compounds and metabolism
- 4 Univariate DEB models
- 5 Multivariate DEB models
- 6 Effects of compounds on budgets
- 7 Extensions of DEB models
- 8 Covariation of parameter values
- 9 Living together
- 10 Evolution
- 11 Evaluation
- References
- Glossary
- Notation and symbols
- Taxonomic index
- Index
8 - Covariation of parameter values
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Basic concepts
- 2 Standard DEB model in time, length and energy
- 3 Energy, compounds and metabolism
- 4 Univariate DEB models
- 5 Multivariate DEB models
- 6 Effects of compounds on budgets
- 7 Extensions of DEB models
- 8 Covariation of parameter values
- 9 Living together
- 10 Evolution
- 11 Evaluation
- References
- Glossary
- Notation and symbols
- Taxonomic index
- Index
Summary
The range of body sizes is enormous. Prokaryotes span a huge cellular size range; the largest is the colourless sulphur bacterium Thiomargarita namibiensis with a cell volume of 2 × 10−10 m3, the smallest is Pelagibacter ubique at 10−20 m3. This small size has the remarkable implication that it has less than a single free proton in its cell if its internal pH is 7 as is typical for bacteria, see {430}. This has peculiar consequences for the molecular dynamics of metabolism. A typical bacterium with full physiological machinery has a volume of about 0.25 × 10−18 m3. The blue whale has a volume of up to 135 m3. A sequoia may even reach a volume of 2000 m3, but one can argue that it is not all living matter. Ironically, the organism with the largest linear dimensions is usually classified as a ‘micro-organism’: the fungus Armillaria bulbosa is reported to occupy at least 15 hectares and exceeds 10 Mg or 10 m3. The factor between the volumes of bacterium and whale is 5.4 × 1020, that between the volume a water molecule occupies in liquid water and that of a bacterium is ‘only’ 1010. The interdivision interval of a bacterium can be as short as 20 min; the life span of whales may exceed a century, while some plants live for several millennia.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Dynamic Energy Budget Theory for Metabolic Organisation , pp. 295 - 335Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009