what is isomorphic growth?
In practical 2 you are going to be coming across isomorphic growth, so I thought I'd explain to you guys what this is...
Isomorphic growth is growth that occurs at the same rate for all parts of an organism - this means that the organisms shape stays the same even though the organism gets bigger.
Take a look at this picture of salamanders, at every stage of development the tail is about the same length as the rest of the salamander - i.e. the proportions of the salamander stay the same even though the actual organism is getting bigger. This is an example of isomorphic growth!
You could impress your demonstrator by telling them about allometric growth - this is when different parts of the body grow at different rates - humans are a good example of this, think how big a babies head is in relation to its body, and how this changes for an adult!
Isomorphic growth is growth that occurs at the same rate for all parts of an organism - this means that the organisms shape stays the same even though the organism gets bigger.
Take a look at this picture of salamanders, at every stage of development the tail is about the same length as the rest of the salamander - i.e. the proportions of the salamander stay the same even though the actual organism is getting bigger. This is an example of isomorphic growth!
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| image taken from http://www.bio.miami.edu/dana/106/106F05_4.html |
You could impress your demonstrator by telling them about allometric growth - this is when different parts of the body grow at different rates - humans are a good example of this, think how big a babies head is in relation to its body, and how this changes for an adult!
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