The Scale Cluster

An emerging pattern in global warming is scale change. Some plants and animals, mostly insects, grow larger. Sardines got so much larger that the can sizes need to be changed. Glaciers and healthy forests become much smaller. Plants grow in regions where they never grew before and take over so-called native species.

But, as Maury Green says, "native is just a question of habits, and we have to accept the fact that habits change."

"Of course, when well understood, shifts in growth patterns can also lead to new economic opportunities." says Penny Woods as she refers us to the recent New York Times Magazine article on the potentially positive effects of  weeds on the climate. 

Indeed, according to famed biologist Bartholomew, "Size constrains virtually every aspect of structure and function and strongly influences the nature of most inter- and intraspecific interactions."