/newsroom/taxonomy/term/18784/all en /newsroom/channels/news/nature-favours-creatures-largest-and-smallest-sizes-348260 <p>Surveying the body sizes of Earth’s living organisms, researchers from ƽÌØÎå²»ÖÐ and University of British Columbia found that the planet’s biomass – the material that makes up all living organisms – is concentrated in organisms at either end of the size spectrum.</p> <p>The researchers spent five years compiling and analyzing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283020">data</a> about the size and biomass of every type of living organism on the planet—from tiny one-celled organisms like soil archaea and bacteria to large organisms like blue whales and sequoia trees.</p> Tue, 09 May 2023 21:36:47 +0000 shirley.cardenas@mcgill.ca 299677 at /newsroom /newsroom/channels/news/ecological-rule-breaker-shows-effects-climate-change-body-size-evolution-343871 <p>Does evolution follow certain rules? Can these rules be predicted? Southeast Asia’s tree shrews break multiple rules when it comes to body size variation – with an unexpected twist – according to researchers from ƽÌØÎå²»ÖÐ, University of Cambridge, and Yale University. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-23774-w">findings</a> shed new light on the effects of climate change on the evolution of body size in animals.</p> Fri, 25 Nov 2022 19:14:10 +0000 shirley.cardenas@mcgill.ca 288538 at /newsroom