Extensions of The Standard Model
DEB theory has been extended into many directions, such as
- effects of changes in shape during growth (e.g. V1-morphs and V0-morphs)
- inclusion of more types of food (substrate), which requires Synthesizing Units to model
- inclusion of more reserves (which is necessary for organisms that do not feed on other organisms) and more structures (which is necessary to deal with plants)
- the formation and excretion of metabolic products (which is a basis for syntrophic relationships, and useful in biotechnology)
- the production of free radicals (linked to size and nutritional status) and their effect on survival (aging)
- the growth of body parts (including tumours)
- effects of chemical compounds (toxicants) on parameter values and the hazard rate (which is useful to establish no effect concentrations for environmental risk assessment): the DEBtox method
- processes of adaptation (gene expression) to the availability of substrates (important in biodegradation)
DEB theory provides constraints on the metabolic organisation of sub-cellular processes. Together with rules for interaction between individuals (competition, syntrophy, prey-predator relationships), it also provides a basis to understand population and ecosystem dynamics. The theory, therefore, links various levels of biological organisation (cells, organisms and populations). A considerable number of popular empirical models turn out to be special cases of the DEB model, or very close numerical approximations.
Read more about this topic: Dynamic Energy Budget
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