Bivariate line‐fitting methods for allometry

Fitting a line to a bivariate dataset can be a deceptively complex problem, and there has been much debate on this issue in the literature. In this review, we describe for the practitioner the essential features of line-fitting methods for estimating the relationship between two variables: what methods are commonly used, which method should be used when, and how to make inferences from these lines to answer common research questions. A particularly important point for line-fitting in allometry is that usually, two sources of error are present (which we call measurement and equation error), and these have quite different implications for choice of line-fitting method. As a consequence, the approach in this…