The vast literature on metabolic scaling, and also on allometry, challenges the idea of universal principles and generalizations.
Consider for example the Metabolic-level boundaries hypothesis of Glazier, Douglas S.
Beyond the `3/4-power law': variation in the intra- and interspecific scaling of metabolic rate in animals.
2005 Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. , Vol. 80, No. 4 p. 611-662
A unifying explanation for diverse metabolic scaling in animals and plants 2010, Biological Reviews , Vol. 85, No. 1 p. 111-138.
Factors that might affect metabolic scaling include: locating food; nutrient processing; heat balance; gas exchange; environment; climate; etc.
In favor of 3/4 scaling is the appearance of related 4/3 scaling in a variety of other biological and physical phenomena. For example:
Preprint Is biology's quarter scaling universal in physics too?
Preprint Galileo IIIb: Differential scaling principles applied to physics
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