ANT333Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Folivore, Ontogeny, Allometry
Document Summary
Ant333 lecture #19 effects of body size. Gould (1974) yet, however much we celebrate diversity and revel in the peculiarities of animals, we must also acknowledge a striking lawfulness in the basic design of organisms. This regularity is most strongly evident in the correlation of size and shape. Above a certain size, large terrestrial oganisms look basically alike - they have thick legs and relatively short, stout bodies. An organism assumes a form best adapted to its size. In other words, point here is, that size may influence morphology, ecology, physiology and evolution of an organism. Under identical physical forces but they are differentially affected. Cohesion force that holds things together. Relative weakness of gravitational forces also permits a mode of growth that large animals could not maintain. Insects discard their external skeleton & secrete a new one. A large mammal without any supporting structures would collapse to a formless mass under influence of gravitational forces during a molt.
