The Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) theory for metabolic organisation captures the
processes of development, growth, maintenance, reproduction and ageing for any kind of
organism throughout its life-cycle. However, the application of DEB theory is challenging
because the state variables and parameters are abstract quantities that are not directly
observable. We here present a new approach of parameter estimation, the covariation
method, that permits all parameters of the standard Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) model to …

The covariation method for estimating the parameters of the standard Dynamic Energy
Budget (DEB) model provides a single-step method of accessing all the core DEB
parameters from commonly available empirical data. In this study, we assess the robustness
of this parameter estimation procedure and analyse the role of pseudo-data using elasticity
coefficients. In particular, we compare the performance of Maximum Likelihood (ML) vs.
Weighted Least Squares (WLS) approaches and find that the two approaches tend to …