Bas Kooijman from the Dept. of Theoretical Biology, Vrije University, Amsterdam, will give a talk on Thursday March 13 entitled: Life history events in Dynamic Energy Budget theory for metabolic organisation.
 Bas Kooijman |
Metabolic organization of individual organisms is basic to life. It seems to follow simple quantitative rules that can be understood from basic physical-chemical principles. These rules quantify how individuals acquire and utilize energy and nutrients, while cycling through their life stages. Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) theory identifies the most basic rules, and links them together in a consistent framework.
The DEB theory applies to all species of organisms (unicellular as well as multicellular ones) and links various levels of biological organization; this multi-level approach is considered to be essential for the understanding of life processes. Many popular empirical models turn out to be special cases of the standard DEB model, or very close numerical approximations.
The lecture will discuss the following topics
- the standard DEB model
- homeostasis & indirect calorimetry
- allocation
- embryonic development
- life history events and the role of maturity
- body size scaling relationships
- parameter estimation
More information about research on DEB theory can be found at
http://www.bio.vu.nl/thb/deb/
A general introductory paper to the DEB theory can be found at
http://www.bio.vu.nl/thb/research/bib/SousDomi2008.html
For more information on Bas Kooijman and his work: http://www.bio.vu.nl/thb/personnel/members/kooijman.html
