Category: Ecology

Degrowth: Small is Happy

September 15, 2010 By arne hendriks 0

In the influential collection of essays “Small is beautiful: a study of economics as if people mattered” first published in 1973, the economic thinker Fritz Schumacher proposes the idea of “smallness within bigness”. For a large organization to work it must behave like a related…

Plant-stress and Size

May 4, 2010 By arne hendriks 1

As with animals, Plants can be dwarfed through genetic engineering and selective breeding, but environmental stresses  such as soil quality, light, drought, flood, cold, infection, and herbivory, can also lead to a dwarfed stature . However the majority of dwarfing in plants does not directly occur…

The Truth About Your Height

May 1, 2010 By arne hendriks 1

Thomas T. Samaras could be considered the scientific godfather of physical shrink-thinking. His 1994 book, The Truth About Your Height. Exploring the Myths and Realities of Human Size and Its Effects on Performance, health, Pollution, and Survival states:  “Short people place fewer demands on the…

Micro-livestock

April 8, 2010 By arne hendriks 0

Micro-livestock is a term coined for species that are inherently small, such as rabbits and poultry, as well as for breeds of cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs that are less than half the size of the most common breeds. These miniature animals are seldom considered…

Bergmann’s Rule

April 4, 2010 By arne hendriks 1

Songbirds in the US are getting smaller, and climate change is suspected as the cause. A study of almost half a million birds, belonging to over 100 species, shows that many are gradually becoming lighter and growing shorter wings. This shrinkage has occurred within just…