Allometric population models as mechanistic predictors of macroecological patterns

Macro-ecological patterns emerge from micro scale processes. How can we scale up from the micro to the macro and understand how such patterns form? One way is to conceptualize macro-ecological patterns as equilibrium patterns, that is, as something that holds roughly still while the components move around. Macro-ecological patterns are analogous to stable equilibria from population models, because both describe the state around which a system tends to remain. As an example, I use allometric models to predict the scaling of abundance with body size. Challenges include finding sufficient data for parameterization and choosing appropriate models.