Mortality amongst Plants and its Bearing on Natural Selection

Abstract

THE interest for the theory of natural selection of the researches on the mortality of seedlings reported by Dr. E. J. Salisbury (NATURE, May 31) is so great, as is, in all its aspects, the development of a quantitative ecological technique, that it seems important not to allow the interpretation of the new observational material to be prejudiced by the use of an argument which contains a concealed fallacy. This argument could not be more briefly stated than in Dr. Salisbury's words, “The mortality and therefore the operation of natural selection is almost entirely confined to the juvenile stages of development”.