Allometry
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| - | ''[[On Growth and Form]]'' (1917) is a book by [[D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson]]. | ||
| - | D'Arcy's most famous work, ''On Growth and Form'' was written in Dundee, mostly in 1915, though wartime shortages and D'Arcy's many last-minute alterations delayed publication until 1917. The central theme of ''On Growth and Form'' is that biologists of its author's day overemphasized [[evolution]] as the fundamental determinant of the form and structure of living organisms, and underemphasized the roles of [[physics|physical laws]] and [[classical mechanics|mechanics]]. He advocated [[structuralism (biology)|structuralism]] as an alternative to [[survival of the fittest]] in governing the form of species. | + | '''Allometry''' is the study of the relationship of body size to [[shape]], [[anatomy]], [[physiology]] and finally behaviour, first outlined by [[Otto Snell]] in 1892, [[D'Arcy Thompson]] in 1917 and [[Julian Huxley]] in 1932. |
| - | + | ==See also== | |
| - | On the concept of [[allometry]], the study of the relationship of body size and shape, Thompson wrote: | + | * [[Biomechanics]] |
| - | + | * [[Comparative physiology]] | |
| - | :"An organism is so complex a thing, and growth so complex a phenomenon, that for growth to be so uniform and constant in all the parts as to keep the whole shape unchanged would indeed be an unlikely and an unusual circumstance. Rates vary, proportions change, and the whole configuration alters accordingly." | + | * [[Constructal theory]] |
| - | + | * [[Evolutionary physiology]] | |
| - | Thompson pointed out example after example of correlations between biological forms and mechanical phenomena. He showed the similarity in the forms of [[jellyfish]] and the forms of drops of liquid falling into [[viscosity|viscous]] fluid, and between the internal supporting structures in the hollow bones of birds and well-known engineering [[truss]] designs. His observations of [[phyllotaxis]] (numerical relationships between spiral structures in plants) and the [[Fibonacci number|Fibonacci sequence]] has become a textbook staple. | + | * [[Metabolic theory of ecology]] |
| - | + | * [[Phylogenetic comparative methods]] | |
| - | Perhaps the most famous part of the work is chapter XVII, "The Comparison of Related Forms," where Thompson explored the degree to which differences in the forms of related animals could be described by means of relatively simple [[Transformation (mathematics)|mathematical transformations]]. | + | * [[Power law]] (also known as a [[scaling law]]) |
| - | + | * [[Rensch's rule]] | |
| - | Utterly ''[[sui generis]],'' the book has never conformed to the mainstream of biological thought. It does not really include a single unifying thesis, nor, in many cases, does it attempt to establish a causal relationship between the forms emerging from physics with the comparable forms seen in biology. It is a work in the "descriptive" tradition; Thompson did not articulate his insights in the form of experimental hypotheses that can be tested. Thompson was aware of this, saying that "This book of mine has little need of preface, for indeed it is 'all preface' from beginning to end." | + | |
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| - | This huge (the current Dover edition is 1116pp long), classically composed and extensively illustrated tome has enchanted and stimulated several generations of biologists, architects, artists, mathematicians, and, of course, those working on the boundaries of these disciplines. There is a shorter (328pp) edition which preserves most of the material that is of interest to the modern reader. | + | |
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Allometry is the study of the relationship of body size to shape, anatomy, physiology and finally behaviour, first outlined by Otto Snell in 1892, D'Arcy Thompson in 1917 and Julian Huxley in 1932.
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See also
- Biomechanics
- Comparative physiology
- Constructal theory
- Evolutionary physiology
- Metabolic theory of ecology
- Phylogenetic comparative methods
- Power law (also known as a scaling law)
- Rensch's rule
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