Science News Daily

Evolution drives many plants and animals to be bigger, faster

For the vast majority of plants and animals, the 'bigger is better' view of evolution may not be far off the mark, says a new broad-scale study of natural selection. Organisms with bigger bodies or faster growth rates tend to live longer, mate more and produce more offspring, whether they are deer or damselflies, the authors report.Researchers working at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center compiled and reviewed nearly 150 published estimates of natural selection, representing more than 100 species of birds, lizards, snakes, insects and plants. The results confirm that for most plants and animals, larger body size and earlier seasonal timing ? such as earlier breeding, blooming or hatching ?confer significant survival advantages."It's a very widespread pattern," said co-author Joel Kingsolver of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.What's puzzling, the authors say, is not why the 'bigger is better' model of evolution is so common, but why the 'Goldilocks' model is so rare: If organisms are su

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