West G B, Brown J H, Enquist B J
Theoretical Division, MS B285, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA.
Science. 1999 Jun 4;284(5420):1677-9. doi: 10.1126/science.284.5420.1677.
Fractal-like networks effectively endow life with an additional fourth spatial dimension. This is the origin of quarter-power scaling that is so pervasive in biology. Organisms have evolved hierarchical branching networks that terminate in size-invariant units, such as capillaries, leaves, mitochondria, and oxidase molecules. Natural selection has tended to maximize both metabolic capacity, by maximizing the scaling of exchange surface areas, and internal efficiency, by minimizing the scaling of transport distances and times. These design principles are independent of detailed dynamics and explicit models and should apply to virtually all organisms.
类分形网络有效地赋予生命一个额外的第四空间维度。这就是生物学中普遍存在的四分之一次幂标度律的起源。生物体进化出了分层分支网络，这些网络终止于大小不变的单元，如毛细血管、树叶、线粒体和氧化酶分子。自然选择倾向于通过最大化交换表面积的标度来最大化代谢能力，并通过最小化运输距离和时间的标度来提高内部效率。这些设计原则独立于详细的动力学和明确的模型，几乎适用于所有生物体。
