Allometric Metabolic Scaling

Kleiber's Law: B ∝ M^{3/4} — from bacteria to blue whales
West-Brown-Enquist (1997): The 3/4 exponent arises from fractal space-filling vascular networks that minimize transport costs. Right panel shows hierarchical branching: each branch splits into N^{1/3}-scaled daughters. Metabolic rate per cell is invariant.