Consider this:
According to traditional plant competition theory, bigger is better. Plants with a large body size are better at capturing resources and space from their neighbours and they have a clear advantage in the race towards the canopy. The bigger plant would be a better competitor and would likely have a higher fitness.
The above ideas have been part of the underlying focus of much of the research done in the Aarssen lab to date. But what makes that so interesting? Why do we care?
Consider this:
Plant size distribution is right-skewed at virtually all scales. This means that the majority of plants have a relatively small plant body size.
Wait...so it’s generally accepted in the literature that bigger is better. But if bigger really was better...why then are there so many small plants?
Consider this yourself. Post some comments with potential explanations for this paradox.
My next post will discuss a beautiful, natural experiment done in the Aarssen lab, which provides a mind-blowing potential explanation for this paradox.
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