Niklas Hohmann – “Enforced symmetry: the necessity of symmetric waxing and waning”, PeerJ
Scientists have assumed that species display a life cycle which is similar to the the life of humans, being divided into puberty, maturity, and old age. Paleobiology student Niklas Hohmann and Dr. Emilia Jarochowska showed in their recent publication that these life cycles are mathematical relics and do not carry a specific ecological meaning. They examined how different ecological factors are expressed in the life cycle of species. The main finding was that the pattern of “symmetric waxing and waning” of species described in the literature can be explained by many different ecological hypotheses, and is accordingly not informative.
The publication is freely accessible under https://peerj.com/articles/8011/