Natures balance (Introduction)
by David Turell 
, Thursday, October 30, 2014, 18:42 (3677 days ago)
A good example of how it works as the environment changes. Hide or be eaten:-http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/inkfish/2014/10/30/resourceful-crustaceans-turn-invasive-seaweed-into-homes/
Natures balance
DAVID: A good example of how it works as the environment changes. Hide or be eaten:- http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/inkfish/2014/10/30/resourceful-crustaceans-turn-invas... you for another fascinating example of organisms using environmental change to their advantage. I hope you will agree, David, that this is an excellent - though very simple - example of the amphipods' IM independently working out how to exploit new conditions. Perhaps, though, we could take the example one step further and consider my very dear friends the ants, who rather than using existing habitats actually build their own, complete with all the mod cons they need for their own survival and comfort. Usual question: divinely preprogrammed, product of a divine dabble, or working it out for themselves?
Natures balance
by David Turell , Friday, October 31, 2014, 22:14 (3676 days ago) @ dhw
dhw: Perhaps, though, we could take the example one step further and consider my very dear friends the ants, who rather than using existing habitats actually build their own, complete with all the mod cons they need for their own survival and comfort. Usual question: divinely preprogrammed, product of a divine dabble, or working it out for themselves?-I think an IM can handle this. It occurs by learned experience.
Natures balance; disruption example problem
by David Turell , Thursday, January 22, 2015, 22:47 (3592 days ago) @ David Turell
Planting the wrong milkweed to help the monarchs is destroying them:-http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2015/01/15/gardeners-good-intentions-killing-monarch-butterflies/#5465-"To counteract the loss of milkweed on farm fields, sympathetic gardeners in southern states are giving monarchs a meal by planting milkweed in their backyards. Unfortunately, the milkweed they're planting is an exotic tropical species called Asclepias curassavica that grows year-round, unlike the native species, Asclepias incarnata, that dies off seasonally. So, rather than fly south for the winter when the milkweed dies off, monarchs are forgoing the Mexico migration, living and breeding year-round in the south. And that's trouble.- "That's because of a protozoan parasite called Ophryocytis elektroscirrha (OE). This parasite, if eaten by monarch caterpillars, causes wing deformities in the adult butterfly and shortens their lifespan. Infected butterflies shed spores that can then go on to infect other youngsters.-"OE isn't usually a problem, though, because of two things: the butterflies' annual migration, and the type of milkweed they eat."