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An explanation of ecological and developmental constants

Nature volume 273, pages 375–377 (1978)Cite this article

Abstract

HUTCHINSON1 noted that congeneric species which diverge in size when sympatric tend to differ in the length of their feeding structures by a factor of about 1.28. He postulated that this average amount of character displacement represented the lower limit to similarity for competing species. It has also been noted that the relative size increase between larval instars of many arthropods (Dyar's constant)2, or between year classes in many salamanders (as reported here), has the same magnitude as Hutchinson's constant. The similarity of this developmental constant to the ecological constant suggests that the degree of divergence between age classes has the same ecological basis as that between competing species. Although many examples of these apparent ecological and developmental constants have been documented, there is yet no mechanism to explain either their relative degree of constancy or their average magnitude3. Here I offer a possible explanation for both.

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  1. Department of Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 60637

    VIRGINIA C. MAIORANA

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MAIORANA, V. An explanation of ecological and developmental constants. Nature 273, 375–377 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/273375a0

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