Editing Stabilizing selection (section)

=== Plants ===

* Height − Another example of a trait, that might be acted on by stabilizing selection, is plant height. A plant that is too short may not be able to compete with other plants for sunlight. However, extremely tall plants may be more susceptible to wind damage. Combined, these two selection pressures select to maintain plants of medium height. The number of plants of medium height will increase while the numbers of short and tall plants will decrease.<ref>{{cite web | title = Natural Selection | url = http://www.sparknotes.com/biology/evolution/naturalselection/section1.rhtml | work = SparkNotes }}</ref>
* Cacti Spine Number − Desert populations of spiny cacti experience predation by [[Peccary|peccaries]], which consume the fleshy part of the cactus. This can be prevented by increasing the number of spines on the cactus. However, there is also a selection pressure in the opposite direction because there is a parasitic insect that will lay its eggs in spines if they are densely populated. This means that in order to manage both of these selection pressures the cacti experiences stabilizing selection to balance the appropriate number of spines to survive these different threats.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/ahp/LAD/C21/C21_Stabilizing.html|title=Stabilizing Selection | website=www.brooklyn.cuny.edu |access-date=13 May 2018}}</ref>