Fig. 5
From: Dynamics of starvation and recovery predict extinction risk and both Damuth’s law and Cope’s rule
Competitive outcomes for a resident species with body mass M vs. a closely related competing species with modified body mass M′ = M(1 + χ). The blue region denotes proportions of modified mass χ resulting in exclusion of the resident species. The red region denotes values of χ that result in a mass that is below the starvation threshold and are thus infeasible. Arrows point to the predicted optimal mass from our model Mopt = 1.748 × 107, which may serve as an evolutionary attractor for body mass. The black wedge points to the largest body mass known for terrestrial mammals (Deinotherium spp.) at 1.74 × 107 g31
