Before revision:  Our results show that our theoretically-informed feature spaces-especially those that determine blood flow rate-combined with Kernel Density Estimation are best at distinguishing networks. Our categorization of networks enhances the mapping between biologic function-such as the dependence of metabolic rate on body mass-to vascular branching traits URLanisms URLans. We accomplish this by analyzing how variation in metabolic scaling exponents-around the canonical value of 3/4-arises despite differences in vascular traits.
After revision:  Our results show that our theoretically-informed feature spaces-especially those that determine blood flow rate-combined with Kernel Density Estimation are best at distinguishing branching networks. We also show how variation in metabolic scaling exponents-around the canonical value of 3/4-arises despite differences in vascular traits.