Animal Species Large and Small Follow Same Rule for How Common They Are in Ecosystems

Animal Species Large and Small Follow Same Rule for How Common They Are in Ecosystems
Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:01:00 -0500

Animal species all follow the same rule for how common they are in an ecosystem, scientists have discovered. And the rule is simple.

Everything from birds to fishes, crabs to snails to worms, and the parasitic animals that live inside or on them, follows it.

"You can predict how common something might be just by knowing its body weight--how big an individual is--and how high up the food chain it is," says biologist Ryan Hechinger of the University of California at Santa ...

More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=121051&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click

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