re: The National Science Foundation release: "Across All Animal Species, Abundance In Ecosystems Follows The Same Rule" I wonder what I am missing here. I am thinking, "Welcome to the world of well-tested ecological principles." Robert May, citing much earlier work and recognizing especially L. C. Birch, who was my department head at one time, provides a thorough discussion of the idea propounded here as new, noting both the diminution of total biomass as one progresses up the food chain and that of numbers as body size increases. perhaps (and I'm not very familiar wih=th recent literature) these authors serve to point out that parasites follow the same general rule. May notes that a third factor, proportion of energy consumed that is devoted to maintenance versus increase in biomass is important , mentioning the relatively higher proportion of poikilothermic reptiles to their prey as compared to mammalian predators.
Stability and complexity in model ecosystems. Robert M. May, 1973, discussed especially Chapter 9. Michael Marsh * *
