Response to Comments on "Metabolic scaling is the product of life-history optimization".

Craig R White Lesley A Alton Candice L Bywater Emily J Lombardi Dustin J Marshall

Published in: Science (New York, N.Y.) (2023)

Froese and Pauly argue that our model is contradicted by the observation that fish reproduce before their growth rate decreases. Kearney and Jusup show that our model incompletely describes growth and reproduction for some species. Here we discuss the costs of reproduction, the relationship between reproduction and growth, and propose tests of models based on optimality and constraint.

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