Suppose that the population density D of a species of mammal is a decreasing function of its body mass M according to the relationship
D = cM-3/4.
Suppose that an unlikely 1 g mammal would have a density of 104 per hectare. What is the predicted density of species with mass of 1000 g? A species with a mass of 100 kg? According to the metabolic scaling law (Example 1.7.24), which species will use the most energy?
Many measurements in biology are related by power functions. For the above, graph the second measurement as a function of the first on both ordinary and double-log graphs.