Size Distribution of Life in my Garden ?

[t00fri]

Hi all,

this morning I had a most relaxed Sunday breakfast with my wife in our garden that presently overflows with summer blossoms and lots of animals ..



During the 3rd cup of coffee, the following interesting question occured to me:

Apparently our garden is liked by quite many animals of VERY different sizes: 2 pretty big ones (my wife and I ), several not so big ones (various cats from neighbors hunting here), and amazingly many smaller ones ( birds in many varieties), mice, worms, snails, insects...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++
So we asked ourselves, what the size distribution in such a biologically active volume would look like??

-- Would it perhaps exhibit universality properties?
-- How would that distribution change if the biological
volume (garden) increases?
-- would the distribution rather scale with the volumes of the animals rather than with their linear sizes??

etc.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++

As a good measure of the size, one should probably take the 3rd root of the volume to compensate for strong asymmetries in the animals' extension... In practice one would derive the size distribution as follows:

One subdivides a sensible total range of possible animal sizes into 50 bins, say, of given width and then --for each of these bins-- one counts the number of animals with fitting sizes in the garden. It's just the usual...

Actually, since my 4th cup of coffee this morning my wife and I are hunting, measuring and counting animals in our garden

So what would you guess the result will be ??

Will it once more be a Normal distribution (Gaussian) that is already governing so many things in Nature??

Cheers,
Fridger

[Fenerit]

A maxwellian's one? Insect as gas?

[ElChristou]

Raahh Physicists!

I prefer not hunting in my own garden because animals over here can be bigger than I!

[t00fri]

A maxwellian's one? Insect as gas?

No no, we are not only looking at insect sizes!

Men, cats, pigeons, martens, foxes, ANACONDAS, moles, mice, smaller birds,.....,

Bye Fridger

[t00fri]

Raahh Physicists!

I prefer not hunting in my own garden because animals over here can be bigger than I!

Yes, I know e.g. in Brazil, bird spiders are pretty popular guests in people's bath rooms .


E as serpentes venenosas são naturalmente abundantes no centro do São Paolo hi hi



Cheers,
Fridger

[Chuft-Captain]

I would like to know how you plan to allow for the uncertainty principle in your experiment.

Overt observation and measurement techniques are likely to have a significant influence on the likelihood of an animal being found within the "orbit" of your garden (particularly for the more timid species).

For example, I recommend that you do not attempt to interview your subjects:


Conversely, more covert methods, whilst less likely to skew the positioning of animals, will affect the ability to achieve an accurate measurement of size.

In any case, I think you will find it difficult to conduct von Neumann measurements.



PS. Not wishing to be completely un-helpful, here I offer a guide which you may find useful if you encounter the featured species:
http://minihighlandcattle.com/HeightDiagram.bmp

[t00fri]

I would like to know how you plan to allow for the uncertainty principle in your experiment.

Clearly that experiment is being conducted at sufficiently big length scales such that Planck's constant and thus the uncertainty principle are still entirely NEGLIGIBLE.

Overt observation and measurement techniques are likely to have a significant influence on the likelihood of an animal being found within the "orbit" of your garden (particularly for the more timid species).

While the familiar quantum-mechanical influences of the measuring devices on the measurements were certainly negligible in our case, you were quite right that our noise and macroscopic appearance might have chased a few animals from our biological volume (garden) into another one.

In any case, I think you will find it difficult to conduct von Neumann measurements.

Certainly, but von Neumann was again mainly concerned about quantum mechanical measurements.

Anyhow, today we both skipped work and -- after 28 hours and 17 cups of coffee -- we are still counting and measuring animals. We have reached by now the size of bacteria and will give up shortly ...in a state of total exhaustion, hi hi

Bye Fridger

[Chuft-Captain]

Clearly that experiment is being conducted at sufficiently big length scales such that Planck's constant and thus the uncertainty principle are still entirely NEGLIGIBLE.

I mistakenly assumed that with your occupation you would be measuring down to quantum scales. This would however require somewhat more than 17 cups of coffee, so please replace uncertainty principle with Observer Effect. in my previous post.

[rthorvald]

since my 4th cup of coffee this morning my wife and I are hunting, measuring and counting animals

There is decaf, you know...


-rthorvald

[t00fri]

since my 4th cup of coffee this morning my wife and I are hunting, measuring and counting animals

There is decaf, you know...


-rthorvald

Uff, thanks for the tip, Runnar! We are still hunting, measuring and counting animals, and meanwhile I have arrived at the 893 rd cup of STRONG coffee


Cheers,
Fridger

[LordFerret]

893rd cup! What, are you running around out there with a catheter and a bag? My bladder would have burst already!

[t00fri]

My God...

after almost one month of continuous hunting, measuring and counting animals, and 6453 cups of strong coffee (!), it is still unclear whether the size distribution of life in our garden is more like a normal distribution or a binomial one...



Hang on,....I'll keep in touch

Bye Fridger

[Fenerit]

6453 : 30 (average) = 215.1 : 24 = 8.9625 x 2/3 (I suppose that you sleep 8h) = 5.975 cup of coffee/hour.

You have a persistence coffee's flebo!

[t00fri]

6453 : 30 (average) = 215.1 : 24 = 8.9625 x 2/3 (I suppose that you sleep 8h) = 5.975 cup of coffee/hour.

You have a persistence coffee's flebo!

That's about right, except I only sleep 6h: 20mins.
Normal physicist's coffee consumption, no?

Bye Fridger

[Fenerit]

6453 : 30 (average) = 215.1 : 24 = 8.9625 x 2/3 (I suppose that you sleep 8h) = 5.975 cup of coffee/hour.

You have a persistence coffee's flebo!

That's about right, except I only sleep 6h: 20mins.
Normal physicist's coffee consumption, no?

Bye Fridger

Ugh! The hours that you sleep are the same of the coffee cup/h. But mathematically speak you drink 2 Pi coffee cup/h. I asking for how you can sleep after that all coffee!