Recent Publications (since 2000)
pdf reprints are available upon request
2022
Finley J, Aarssen L. (2022) No evidence of a generalized potential ‘cost’ of apical dominance for species that have strong apical dominance. Journal of Plant Ecology 15:1168–1184.
Balfour KC, Greco DA, Gridzak R, Piggott G, Schamp BS, & Aarssen LW (2022). Smaller species experience mild adversity under shading in an old-field plant community. Ecology and Evolution, 12, e9006. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9006
2020
Miranda J, Finley J, Aarssen L (2020) Leafing intensity predicts fecundity allocation in herbaceous angiosperms. Folia Geobotanica 54: 191-198.
2019
Tracey A, Aarssen L (2019) Resident species with larger size metrics do not recruit more offspring from the soil seed bank in old‐field meadow vegetation. Journal of Ecology 107: 1067-1078.
Serafini J,Grogan P, Aarssen L (2019) Summer precipitation limits plant species richness but not overall productivity in a temperate mesic old‐field meadow. Journal of Vegetation Science 30: 832-844.
2018
Tracey A, Aarssen L (2018) Neighbourhood crowding severely limits seed offspring recruitment in a temperate mesic old-field meadow. Community Ecology 19: 281-288.
Aarssen L (2018) Meet Homo absurdus -- the only creature that refuses to be what it is. Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 11:90-95.
2017
MacMillan J, Aarssen L. (2017) Recruitment success for mast-year cohorts of sugar maple (Acer saccharum) over three decades of heavy deer browsing. American Midland Naturalist 178: 36–46.
Tracey A, Irwin E, McDonald B, Aarssen L (2017) Species with larger body size do not dominate neighbourhood biomass production in old-field vegetation. Journal of Vegetation Science 28 (2017) 616–626.
Aarssen L (2017) The Sapiens Advantage. Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 10: 6-11.
2016
Tracey A, Stephens K, Schamp B, Aarssen L. 2016. What does body size mean, from the ‘plant’s-eye-view’? Ecology and Evolution 6: 7344–7351.
Dombroskie S, Tracey A, Aarssen L (2016) Leafing intensity and the fruit size/number trade-off in woody angiosperms. Journal of Ecology 104: 1759–1767.
Schamp BS, Aarssen LW, Piggott GSJ, Dante SK (2016) The impact of non-reproductive plant species on assessments of community structure and species co-occurrence patterns. Journal of Vegetation Science 27: 668–678.
Aarssen LW, Crimi L (2016) Legacy, leisure and the ‘work hard – play hard’ hypothesis. The Open Psychology Journal 9: 7-24.
Aarssen LW (2016) Three common sources of error in peer review and how to minimize them. Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 9: 40-43.
2015
Aarssen LW (2015). Body size and fitness in plants: Revisiting the selection consequences of competition. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 17: 236–242.
Siefert A, Violle C, Chalmadrier L, Albert CH, Taudiere A, Fajardo A, Aarssen LW et al. (2015) A global meta-analysis of the relative extent of intraspecific trait variation in plant communities. Ecology Letters 18: 1406-1419.
Aarssen LW (2015) The problem with data. Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 8: 83-86.
2014
Moles A, Perkins S, Laffan S, Awasthy M, FloresMoreno H, Tindal M, Pitman A, Kattge J, Hui F, Aarssen L, et al. (2014) Which is more important for plants: temperature, or precipitation? Journal of Vegetation Science 25: 1167–1180.
Aarssen LW (2014) Estimating fitness from offspring counts in clonal seed plants. Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 7: 77-83.
Nishizawa T, Aarssen L (2014) The relationship between individual seed quality and maternal plant body size in crowded herbaceous vegetation. Journal of Plant Ecology 7: 330–336.
Zanne AE, Tank DC, Cornwell WK, Eastman JM, Smith SA, FitzJohn RG, McGlinn DJ, O’Meara BC, Moles AT, Reich PB, Royer DL, Soltis DE, Stevens PF, Westoby M, Wright IJ, Aarssen L, Bertin RI, Calaminus A, Govaerts R, Hemmings F, Leishman MR, Oleksyn J, Soltis PS, Swenson NG, Warman L, Beaulieu JM (2014) Three keys to the radiation of angiosperms into freezing environments. Nature 506: 89-92.
Cornwell W, Westoby M, Falster D, FitzJohn R, O’Meara B, Pennell M, McGlinn D, Eastman J, Moles A, Reich P, Tank D, Wright I, Aarssen L, et al. (2014) Functional distinctiveness of major plant lineages. Journal of Ecology 102: 345-356.
Brunbjerg AK, Cavender-Bares J, Eiserhardt WL, Ejrnæs R, Aarssen LW, Buckley HL, Forey E, Jansen F, Kattge J, Lane C, Lubke RA, Moles AT, Monserrat AL, Peet RK, Roncal J, Wootton L, Svenning JC. (2014) Multi-scale phylogenetic structure in coastal dune plant communities across the globe. Journal of Plant Ecology 7: 101-114.
Schamp BS, Aarssen LW (2014) Plant species size and density-dependent effects on growth and survival. Journal of Vegetation Science 25: 657–667.
Byrnes JEK, Baskerville EB, Caron B, Neylon C, Tenopir C, Schildhauer M, Budden A, Aarssen L, Lortie C (2014) The four pillars of scholarly publishing: the future and a foundation. Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 7: 27-33.
Tracey AJ, Aarssen LW (2014) Revising traditional theory on the link between plant body size and fitness under competition: evidence from old-field vegetation. Ecology and Evolution 4: 959–967.
Aarssen LW, Schamp BS, Wight S (2014) Big plants — Do they affect neighbourhood species richness and composition in herbaceous vegetation? Acta Oecologica 55: 36-42.
2013
Lortie CJ, Allesina S, Aarssen L, Grod O, Budden AE (2013) With great power comes great responsibility: the importance of rejection, power, and editors in the practice of scientific publishing. PloS ONE 8(12): e85382. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0085382
Schamp BS, Aarssen LW, Wight S (2013) Effects of ‘target’ plant species body size on neighbourhood species richness and composition in old-field vegetation. PLoS ONE 8(12): e82036. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0082036
Lanfear, R., Ho, S.Y.W., Davies, T.J. Moles, A.T., Aarssen, L., Swenson, N.G., Warman, L., Zanne, A.E., and Allen, A.P. 2013. Taller plants have lower rates of molecular evolution. Nature Communications 4:1879 doi: 10.1038/ncomms2836.
Aarssen. L.W. 2013. Valuation branding for bioscience research in the twenty-first century. BioScience 63 (6): 417-418.
Dante, S.K., Schamp, B.S. and Aarssen, L.W. 2013. Evidence of deterministic assembly according to flowering time in an old-field plant community. Functional Ecology 27: 555–564
Aarssen, L.W. 2013. Will empathy save us? Biological Theory 7: 211-217
Scott, S.L. and L.W. Aarssen. 2013. Leaf size versus leaf number trade-offs in dioecious angiosperms. J Plant Ecol 6: 29-35.
Lortie, C.J., L.W. Aarssen, A.E. Budden, and R. Leimu. 2013. Do citations and impact factors relate to the real numbers in publications? A case study of citation rates, impact, and effect sizes in ecology and evolutionary biology. Scientometrics 94:675–682.
2012
Aarssen, L.W. and Altman, T. 2012. Fertility preference inversely related to ‘legacy drive’ in women, but not men: Interpreting the evolutionary roots, and future, of the ‘childfree’ culture. The Open Behavioral Science Journal 6: 37-43.
Aarssen, L.W. and C.J. Lortie. 2012. Science Open Reviewed: An online community connecting authors with reviewers for journals. Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 5: 78-83.
Dombroskie, S.L. and L.W. Aarssen 2012. The leaf size / number trade-off within species and within plants for woody angiosperms. Plant Ecology and Evolution 145: 38-45
Yan, E-R., Milla, R. & Aarssen, L.W. and X-H. Wang . 2012. Functional relationships of leafing intensity to plant height, growth form and leaf habit. Acta Oecologica 41: 20-29.
Lortie, C.J., Aarssen, L.W., Parker, J.S., and Allesina, S. 2012. Good news for the people who love bad news: an analysis of the funding of the top 1% most highly cited ecologists. Oikos 121: 1005–1008.
Waugh, J.M. and L.W. Aarssen. 2012. Size distributions and dispersions along a 485-year chronosequence for sand dune vegetation. Ecology and Evolution 2: 719-726.
Aarssen, L.W. 2012. Reducing size to increasing number: a hypothesis for compound leaves. Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 5: 1-5.
Scott, S.L. and L.W. Aarssen. 2012. Within-species leaf size / number trade-offs in herbaceous angiosperms. Botany 90: 223-235.
2011
Waugh, J.M. and L.W. Aarssen. 2011. Spatial indicators of plant community assembly from a 453-yr sand-dune chronosequence. Plant Ecology and Diversity 4: 153-165.
Higginson, M.T. and L.W. Aarssen. 2011. Gender bias in offspring preference: sons still a higher priority, but only in men — women prefer daughters. Open Anthropology Journal 4: 60-65.
Tracey, A. and L.W. Aarssen. 2011. Competition and body size in plants: the between-species trade-off for maximum potential versus minimum reproductive threshold size. Journal of Plant Ecology 4: 115-122.
2010
Aarssen, L.W. 2010.. Darwinism and meaning. Biological Theory 5: 296–311.
Aarssen, L.W. and CJ Lortie. 2010. Ideas for judging merit in manuscripts and authors. Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 3: 28-34.
Dombroskie, S. and L.W. Aarssen. 2010 Within-genus size distributions in angiosperms: Small is better. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 12: 283-293.
Aarssen, L.W., C.J. Lortie, and A.E. Budden. 2010. Judging the quality of our research: a self-assessment test. Web Ecology 10: 23-26.
Schamp, B. and L.W. Aarssen. 2010. The role of plant species size in invasibility: a field experiment. Oecologia 162: 995-1004.
Whitman, T. and L.W. Aarssen. 2010. The leaf size/number trade-off in herbaceous angiosperms. Journal of Plant Ecology 3: 49-58.
2009
Aarssen, L.W. and C.J. Lortie. 2009. Ending elitism in peer-review publication. Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 2: 18-20.
Borsuk, RM, Budden AE, Leimu, R., Aarssen, LW, and C.J. Lortie. 2009. The Influence of Author Gender, National Language and Number of Authors on Citation Rate in Ecology. The Open Ecology Journal 2: 25-28.
Borsuk, R., Aarssen, L., Budden, A., Koricheva, J., Leimu, R., Tregenza, T., & Lortie, C. 2009. To Name or Not to Name: The Effect of Changing Author Gender on Peer Review. BioScience, 59 (11), 985-989.
Aarssen, L.W., Lortie, C.J., Budden, A.E., Koricheva, J., Leimu, R. and Tregenza, T. 2009. Does Publication in Top-Tier Journals Affect Reviewer Behavior? PLoS ONE 4(7): e6283. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0006283
Keating, L.M & L.W. Aarssen. 2009. Big plants—do they limit species coexistence? Journal of Plant Ecology 2: 119-124.
Aarssen, L.W. 2009. Not my brother’s keeper: a thought experiment for Hamilton’s rule. Bioscience Hypotheses (2009) 2: 198-204.
Chambers, J. and L. W. Aarssen. 2009. Offspring for the next generation: most are produced by small plants within herbaceous populations. Evolutionary Ecology 23:737–751.
Bonser, S.P. and Aarssen, L.W. 2009 Interpreting reproductive allometry: individual strategies of allocation explain size-dependent reproduction in plants. Perspectives in Plant Ecology Evolution and Systematics 11: 31-40.
Schamp, B.S. and L.W. Aarssen. 2009. The assembly of forest communities according to maximum species height along resource and disturbance gradients. Oikos 18: 564-572.
2008
Leimu, R., Lortie, C.J., Aarssen, L., Budden, A.E., Koricheva, J. & Tregenza, T. 2008. How big are bigwigs?: A reply to Havens. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 6: 523.
Leimu, R., Lortie, C.J., Aarssen, L., Budden, A.E., Koricheva, J. & Tregenza, T. 2008. Does it pay to have a bigwig ecologist as a co-author? Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 6: 410–11.
Budden, A.E., L.W. Aarssen, J. Koricheva, R. Leimu, C. J. Lortie, and T. Tregenza. 2008. The author’s respond – Does double-blind review favor female authors? Front. Ecol. Environ. 6: 354-355.
Budden, A.E. Aarssen, L. Koricheva, J., Leimu, R., Lortie, C.J. and Tregenza, T. 2008. Response to Whittaker: challenges in testing for gender bias. TREE 23: 480-481.
Grod ON, Budden AE, Tregenza T, Koricheva J, Leimu R, Aarssen LW & Lortie CJ. 2008. Systematic Variation in Reviewer Practice According to Country and Gender in the Field of Ecology and Evolution. PLoS ONE 3(9): e3202. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003202.
Aarssen, L.W., Tregenza, T., Budden, A.E., Lortie, C.J., Koricheva, J., Leimu, R. 2008. Bang for your buck: rejection rates and impact factors in ecological journals. Open Ecology 1: 14-19.
Budden AE, Lortie CJ, Tregenza T, Aarssen A, Koricheva J, Leimu R. 2008. Response to Webb et al.: Double-blind review: accept with minor revisions. TREE 23: 353-354.
Aarssen, L.W. 2008. Group-selection for ‘goodness’? An account of chickens, a comparison with plants, and implications for humans. Open Evolution 2: 41-43.
Neytcheva, M. and Aarssen, L.W. 2008. More plant biomass results in more offspring production in annuals, or does it? Oikos 117: 1298-1307.
Aarssen, L.W. 2008. Death without sex – the ‘problem of the small’ and selection for reproductive economy in flowering plants. Evolutionary Ecology 22: 279-298.
Schamp, B.S., Chau, J. and Aarssen, L.W. 2008. Dispersion of traits related to competitive ability in an old-field plant community. Journal of Ecology 96: 204-212.
Budden, AE, Tregenza, T, Aarssen, LW, Koricheva, JK, Leimu, R, Lortie, CJ. 2008. Double-blind review favours increased representation of female authors. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 23: 4-6.
2007
Aarssen, L.W. 2007. Some bold evolutionary predictions for the future of mating in humans. Oikos 116: 1768-1778.
Lortie, C.J., Aarssen, L.W., Budden, A.E., Koricheva, J.K., Leimu, R., Tregenza, T. 2007. Publication bias and merit in ecology. Oikos 116: 1247-1253.
Schamp, B.S. Schurer, M. and Aarssen, L.W. 2007. Testing hypotheses for stem bending in tree saplings. International Journal of Plant Sciences 168: 547-553.
Kleiman D. and Aarssen, L.W. 2007. The leaf size / number trade-off in trees. Journal of Ecology 95: 376-382.
2006
Aarssen, L. W. and S. T. Altman. 2006. Explaining below-replacement fertility and increasing childlessness in wealthy countries: Legacy drive and the “transmission competition” hypothesis. Evolutionary Psychology 4: 290-302.
Aarssen, L.W., B. Schamp, and J. Pither. 2006. Why are there so many small plants? Implications for species coexistence. Journal of Ecology 94: 569-580.
Pither, J. and L. W. Aarssen. 2006. How prevalent are pH-specialist diatoms? A reply to Telford et al. Ecology Letters 9: E6-E12.
Bonser, S.P. and L. W. Aarssen. 2006. Meristem allocation and life history evolution in herbaceous plants. Can. J. Bot 84: 143-150.
2005
Aarssen, L.W. 2005. Why don’t bigger plants have proportionately bigger seeds? Oikos 111: 199-207.
Aarssen, L.W. 2005. Why is human fertility lower in wealthier countries? The role of relaxed fertility selection. Population and Development Review 31: 113-126.
Snell, R. and L.W. Aarssen. 2005. Life history traits in selfing versus outcrossing annuals: exploring the ‘time-limitation’ hypothesis for the fitness benefit of self-pollination. BMC Ecology 5: 2
Pither, J. and L.W. Aarssen. 2005. Environmental specialists: their prevalence and their influence on community-similarity analyses. Ecology Letters 8: 261-271.
Laird, R. and L.W. Aarssen. 2005. Size inequality and the tragedy of the commons phenomenon in plant competition. Plant Ecology 179: 127-131.
Pither, J. and L. W. Aarssen. 2005. The evolutionary species pool hypothesis and patterns of freshwater diatom diversity along a pH gradient. J. Biogeography 32: 503-513.
Aarssen, L.W. 2005. On size, fecundity and fitness in competing plants. In Reekie, E, and F.A. Bazzaz (eds.) Reproductive allocation in plants. Elsevier, New York. pp. 215-244.
2004
Aarssen, L. W. 2004. Interpreting co-variation in species richness and productivity in terrestrial vegetation: making sense of causations and correlations at multiple scales. Folia Geobotanica 39: 385-403.
Aarssen, L. W. and Francq, A. 2004. Effects of ice storm canopy gaps on shoot architecture in young sugar maple (Acer sachharum). Ecoscience 11: 201-208.
Paquin, V. and Aarssen, L.W. 2004. Allometric gender allocation shows adaptive plasticity in Ambrosia artemisiifolia (Asteraceae). American Journal of Botany 91: 430-438.
Schamp, B., Aarssen, L.W and Lee, H.. 2003. Local plant species richness increases with regional habitat commonness across a gradient of forest productivity. Folia Geobotanica 38: 273-280.
2003
Laird, R., Pither, J. and Aarssen, L.W. 2003. Species evenness, not richness has a consistent relationship with productivity in old-field vegetation. Community Ecology 4: 21-28.
Aarssen, L.W., Laird, R. and Pither, J. 2003. Is the productivity of vegetation plots higher or lower when there are more species? Variable predictions from interaction of the ‘sampling effect’ and ‘competitive dominance effect’ on the habitat templet. Oikos 102: 427-432.
Bonser, S.P. and Aarssen, L.W. 2003. Allometry and development in herbaceous plants: functional responses of meristem allocation to light and nutrient availability. American Journal of Botany 90: 404-412
2002
Aarssen, L.W. and B. Schamp. 2002. Predicting distributions of species richness and species size in regional floras: applying the species pool hypothesis to the habitat templet model. Perspectives in plant ecology, evolution and systematics 5: 3-12.
Schamp, B., Laird, R, and Aarssen, L. 2002. Fewer species because of uncommon habitat? Testing the species pool hypothesis for low plant species richness in highly productive habitats. Oikos 97: 145-151.
Aarssen, L.W. & Keogh, T. 2002. Conundrums of competitive ability in plants: what to measure? Oikos 96: 531-542.
2001
Aarssen, L. W. & Jordan, C.Y. 2001. Between-species patterns of covariation in plant size, seed size and fecundity in monocarpic herbs. Ecoscience 8: 471-477.
Aarssen, L.W. 2001. On correlations and causations between productivity and species richness in vegetation: predictions from habitat attributes. Basic and applied ecology 2: 105-114.
Henry, H.A.L. & Aarssen, L.W. 2001. Inter- and intra-specific relationships between shade tolerance and shade avoidance in temperate trees. Oikos 93: 477-487.
Bonser, S.P. & Aarssen, L.W. 2001. Allometry and plasticity of meristem allocation throughout development in Arabidopsis thaliana. Journal of Ecology 89: 72-79.
McPhee, C. & Aarssen, L.W. 2001. The separation of above- and below-ground competition in plants: A review and critique of methodology. Plant Ecology 152: 119-136.
2000
Huston, M.A., L.W. Aarssen, M.P. Austin, B.S. Cade, J.D. Fridley, E. Garnier, J.P. Grime, J. Hodgson, W.K. Lauenroth, K. Thompson, J. Vandermeer, D.A. Wardle. 2000. No consistent effect of plant diversity on productivity. Science 289: 1255.
Viswanathan, D. & L.W. Aarssen. 2000. Why biennials are so few: Habitat availability and the species pool. Ecoscience 7: 461-465.
Lortie, C.J. & Aarssen, L.W. 2000. Fitness consequences of branching in Verbascum thapsus (Scrophulariaceae). American Journal of Botany 87: 1793-1796.
Lortie, C.J. & Aarssen, L.W. 2000. A test of the reserve meristem hypothesis using Verbascum thapsus (Scrophulariaceae). American Journal of Botany 87: 1789-1792.
Aarssen, L.W. 2000. Why are most selfers annuals? A new hypothesis for the fitness benefit of selfing. Oikos 89: 606-612.