Indeterminate growth
09/05/2012 by jgluvna
Fish and trees continually grow, but their growth is restricted, so as they grow older they grow proportionately more slowly. Determine how long it would take for a pet shop goldfish (5cm in length) to reach the size of a whale shark (12m in length) with and without restricted growth constraints. Alternatively, determine how long it would take for the trunk of a Christmas tree (15cm trunk diameter) to reach the size of a giant sequoia (10m trunk diameter) with and without restricted growth constraints.
Theory
- von Bertalanffy equation (Neuhauser, Claudia. Calculus for Biology and Medicine. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2000. 167, 359)
References
- Fieber, L. A. et al. 2005. Von bertalanffy growth models for hatchery-reared Aplysia californica. Bulletin of Marine Science. 76(1): 95-104.
- Priestley, S.M., A.E. Stevenson, and L.G. Alexander. 2006. Growth Rate and Body Condition in Relation to Group Size in Black Widow Tetras (Gymnocorymbus ternetzi) and Common Goldfish (Carassius auratus). The Journal of Nutrition. 136: 2078S–2080S.
- Candy, S. G. et al. 2007. A von bertalanffy growth model for toothfish at heard island fitted to length-at-age data and compared to observed growth from mark-recapture studies. Ccamlr Science. 14: 43-66.
- Rumi, A. et al. 2007. Growth rate fitting using the von Bertalanffy model: analysis of natural populations of Drepanotrema spp. snails (Gastropoda : Planorbidae). Revista De Biologia Tropical. 55(2): 559-567.