Is reproduction limiting growth? Comment on "Physics of metabolic organization" by Marko Jusup et al.
Résumé
Jusup et al. [1] aimed at covering the theoretical foundations of DEB theory and presenting the broadness of its applications for both physicists and biologists and they successfully do so. One of the most striking assumptions of DEB theory for biologists that is, as mentioned by the authors, at odds with an existing body of literature in fisheries sciences [2,3], is the so-called κ-rule. A constant allocation to growth and somatic maintenance throughout ontogeny is indeed at odds with the widely accepted limitation of growth at the onset of sexual maturity by the reproduction process.