The audience for this piece would be other researchers interested in plant ecology. In this paper, the researcher could focus on the data and results, emphasizing how varying levels of carbon and nitrogen differently influence plant root length and structure. Because of her audience (other ecologists) and purpose (communicating her results), the researcher doesn’t need to explain the significance of her findings in the same way she would if, for example, she was explaining her results to the public. A conventional farming audience, or an audience interested in sustainable farming might differently interpret this representation of the research differently than the scientific audience reading the scientific article covering the same research and data. The difference lies in the purpose for which the writer is interpreting the data and how she must represent what is at issue, given the conventions and expectations of the genre of scientific article, versus popular news coverage of scientific research.