In the plant world, It’s not all about size.

A breakthrough in plant research made at Queen’s University in Canada has nearly reversed the way that people view forest-dwelling plant’s hierarchies. Previously, scientists considered bigger trees to be more durable and more influential on their surroundings. However, it has recently been found that the situation is, in fact, quite the opposite.

The study investigated the differences in plants’ reproductive success and influence on the surrounding ecosystem by examining two plots of diverse vegetation in the Okanagan Valley area of British Columbia.

The findings showed that, though bigger trees take up more space and create “physical space niches” which affect their community, it is the smaller plants that are truly king of the turf. Small plants have the versatility to either coast along under the cover of larger plants or thrive on their own in an open area. They are more efficient in that their reproductive turnover is much shorter than that of larger plant species and as a result they have an increased ability to mobilize their colonies. Additionally, small plants are much more adept at utilizing nearby resources and gleaning maximum nutrients from their surroundings than their larger counterparts.

Furthermore, it was found that the large plant species have “no effect on the number of species with which they coexist”. Although their physical and spatial influences on their neighbors are high, the biological dependency and symbiosis between one another is quite low. Smaller plants are more likely to be critical members of a community and through this dependency can manipulate the overall growth of the territory.

“A growing body of literature is calling for re-evaluation of traditional views on the role of plant size in affecting competitive ability, community assembly and species coexistence,” Queen’s biology professor Lonnie Aarssen added. As the wealth of research supporting these findings blossoms, the new hierarchy of plants may begin to change the way people view nature’s most powerful species. The lion may be the king of the animals, but the giant sequoia isn’t so lucky in the plant world.

Discussion Question: Is there a comparable argument for powerful small creatures in the animal world? Where else can these parallels be found?

News Article: http://www.seeddaily.com/reports/Study_finds_big_isnt_better_for_plants_999.html

Journal Article:http://jpe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/rtp012v1