The evolutionary ecology of body size with special reference to allometry and survivorship

Of all characteristics of animals, body size most crucially relates to the overall integration of other features. Knowing only the mature mass of a species allows fairly accurate prediction of the majority of other important functional features and life history traits. These include aspects like metabolic rates, longevities, time to mature, proportional sizes of tissues like brain and fat, fecundity, gestation time, population growth rates... …