An introduction to Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) models with special emphasis on parameter estimation

Theories of dynamic energy budgets (DEB) link physiological processes of individual organisms, such as ingestion, assimilation, respiration, growth and reproduction, in a single framework. In this introduction, I summarise the most encompassing DEB theory developed so far [Kooijman, S.A.L.M., 2000. Dynamic Energy and Mass Budgets in Biological Systems. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.] and compare it with various alternative approaches. I further review applications of the DEB model to particular species and discuss what sort of data sets are needed and have been used to estimate the various model parameters. Finally, I argue that more comparative work, i.e. applying DEB models to a wide range of species, is needed, to see whether we can understand the variability in parameter values among species in terms of their ecology and phylogeny.