In nature, either very large or very small organisms dominate. The conclusion reached by the authors of this article, published On PLOS One.
To reach this conclusion, the researchers spent five years collecting and analyzing data on the size and biomass of all types of living organisms on the planet, from small single-celled organisms like soil archaea and bacteria to large ones like blue whales and trees. They found that the pattern of existence of large or small organisms (rather than medium-sized organisms) applies to all species and is more pronounced in terrestrial organisms than in the marine environment.
“Trees, grasses, fungi, mangroves, corals, fish, and marine mammals have a certain maximum body size that is roughly the same for this group of species,” the scientists write. “This could mean that there is a universal upper dimension limit due to ecological, evolutionary or biophysical constraints.”
The researchers said humans belong to the “large” portion of the size range.
“The discovery that life on Earth is predominantly packaged in the largest and smallest sizes was a discovery that surprised us,” said Malin Pinsky, author of the study. “Sometimes it seems like mosquitoes, flies, or ants should “rule” the world, and yet when we did the math, we found that our world was dominated by microbes and trees. They’re silent partners that recycle nutrients and oxygenate the air around us.”
According to the authors, body size is a fundamental characteristic of life, determining everything from metabolic rate to fertility and the rate of intergenerational exchange. Cataloging the most common body sizes is an important step in understanding the patterns of the biosphere.
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