An individual-based stochastic model reveals strong constraints on allometric relationships with minimal metabolic and ecological assumptions

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Main Authors: Billiard, Sylvain, Brodu, Virgile, Champagnat, Nicolas, Fritsch, Coralie
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Billiard, Sylvain
Brodu, Virgile
Champagnat, Nicolas
Fritsch, Coralie
author_facet Billiard, Sylvain
Brodu, Virgile
Champagnat, Nicolas
Fritsch, Coralie
contents We design a stochastic individual-based model structured in energy, for single species consuming an external resource, where populations are characterized by a typical energy at birth in $\mathbb{R}^{*}_{+}$. The resource is maintained at a fixed amount, so we benefit from a branching property at the population level. Thus, we focus on individual trajectories, constructed as Piecewise Deterministic Markov Processes, with random jumps modelling births and deaths in the population; and a continuous and deterministic evolution of energy between jumps. We are mainly interested in the case where metabolic (i.e. energy loss for maintenance), growth, birth and death rates depend on the individual energy over time, and follow allometric scalings (i.e. power laws). Our goal is to determine in a bottom-up approach what are the possible allometric coefficients (i.e. exponents of these power laws) under elementary -- and ecologically relevant -- constraints, for our model to be valid for the whole spectrum of possible body sizes. We show in particular that assuming an allometric coefficient $α$ related to metabolism strongly constrains the range of possible values for the allometric coefficients $β$, $δ$, $γ$, respectively related to birth, death and growth rates. We further identify and discuss the precise and minimal ecological mechanisms that are involved in these strong constraints on allometric scalings.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_12257
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle An individual-based stochastic model reveals strong constraints on allometric relationships with minimal metabolic and ecological assumptions
Billiard, Sylvain
Brodu, Virgile
Champagnat, Nicolas
Fritsch, Coralie
Probability
Populations and Evolution
60G17, 60G46, 60G55
We design a stochastic individual-based model structured in energy, for single species consuming an external resource, where populations are characterized by a typical energy at birth in $\mathbb{R}^{*}_{+}$. The resource is maintained at a fixed amount, so we benefit from a branching property at the population level. Thus, we focus on individual trajectories, constructed as Piecewise Deterministic Markov Processes, with random jumps modelling births and deaths in the population; and a continuous and deterministic evolution of energy between jumps. We are mainly interested in the case where metabolic (i.e. energy loss for maintenance), growth, birth and death rates depend on the individual energy over time, and follow allometric scalings (i.e. power laws). Our goal is to determine in a bottom-up approach what are the possible allometric coefficients (i.e. exponents of these power laws) under elementary -- and ecologically relevant -- constraints, for our model to be valid for the whole spectrum of possible body sizes. We show in particular that assuming an allometric coefficient $α$ related to metabolism strongly constrains the range of possible values for the allometric coefficients $β$, $δ$, $γ$, respectively related to birth, death and growth rates. We further identify and discuss the precise and minimal ecological mechanisms that are involved in these strong constraints on allometric scalings.
title An individual-based stochastic model reveals strong constraints on allometric relationships with minimal metabolic and ecological assumptions
topic Probability
Populations and Evolution
60G17, 60G46, 60G55
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.12257