Also: 3/4 power law, Kleiber, lung branching, vascular networks
Lungs and blood vessels branch in repeating, self-similar patterns, which may explain why metabolism scales with body mass to the 3/4 power.
Values as stated in the cited paper's abstract.
| Property | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Metabolic rate scaling exponent | 3/4 | West 1997 |
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West, Brown and Enquist derived the 3/4 power law of metabolic rate from a model of space-filling fractal networks of branching tubes.
As reported in: West, Brown, Enquist (1997). A General Model for the Origin of Allometric Scaling Laws in Biology. Science. doi:10.1126/science.276.5309.122
Abstract only
Nelson and Manchester modelled lung airway growth with fractal concepts, producing structures in good agreement with measured airway data.
As reported in: Nelson, Manchester (1988). Modeling of lung morphogenesis using fractal geometries. IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging. doi:10.1109/42.14515
Abstract only
Wang and Kraman found canine airways are self-similar from macro- to microscopic scales, forming a fractal set up to seven scales.
As reported in: Wang, Kraman (2004). Fractal branching pattern of the monopodial canine airway. Journal of Applied Physiology. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00604.2003
Abstract only