Size asymmetry of resource competition and the structure of plant communities: Commentary on DeMalach et al. 2016.

The article reports that the hump-back relationship between diversity and productivity is one of the well-known patterns in ecology that have defied unequivocal explanation. Their model also casts new light on data where relationship between richness and productivity is monotonic. Finally, it should be noted that symmetry of competition is an inherent property of the resource contested and is not easily changed by natural selection.