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Ecology

Scaling, energetics and diversity

Nature volume 401, pages 865–866 (1999)Cite this article

There are few established laws in ecology. Most ecologists have to contend with systems of bewildering complexity, in which it is hard to separate the wood from the trees. Scientific disciplines without a good framework of rules and laws are generally considered the poor relations of their ilk, and, as human impacts on our planet appear to have reached alarming levels, the need for reliable ecological theory is hard to overstate. The discovery and demonstration of new laws in ecology — such as the Universal Growth Law for plants described by Enquist et al.1 on page 907 of this issue — is thus particularly noteworthy.

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Figure 1: Macroecological insights into plant diversity.

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  1. School of Geography, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3TB, UK

    Robert J. Whittaker

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  1. Robert J. Whittaker
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Correspondence to Robert J. Whittaker.

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Whittaker, R. Scaling, energetics and diversity. Nature 401, 865–866 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/44732

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