Chixculub: may not be the whole story (Introduction)
DAVID: This article could not be more exact in its notation of how important ecosystems (econiches) are and how their imbalance leads to extinctions, and also how important are extinctions which allow new species to appear, while we still have no idea how speciation happens.
Of course econiches and systems are important, and of course imbalance leads to them ending. And that makes it all the more illogical that your God should specially design each one – not, according to you, to “allow new species to appear”, but simply to provide food, then different food, then more different food, until he could specially design H. sapiens which, according to you, he could have done directly anyway since he has full control. (See "Divine purposes and methods".)
DAVID: The flip side is that it is not every day survival that is important for evolution to happen but extinctions, which result in tremendous changes and challenges. And not all extinctions have to be as dramatic as Chixculub, but can be quite local. There is no evidence that the old theory that species competition drives evolution has any basis.
Dead species do not produce anything, and we have dealt with "competition" already. It is environmental changes, global or local, that present the challenges to which organisms must respond. Most fail, but the survivors adapt, and I propose that in some cases the new conditions will allow organisms also to invent. I’m delighted that you now acknowledge that these conditions and changes may also be local. Hence the proposal that pre-humans may have taken to ground life in one location while their fellow primates stayed in the trees elsewhere; pre-whales may have entered the water because local conditions meant go fishing or die. Changing conditions mean that organisms must change if they are to SURVIVE. It is therefore patently absurd to argue that survivability has played little or no role in evolutionary change.
Complete thread:
- Chixculub and volcanoes: dinosaurs die! -
David Turell,
2015-10-02, 13:59
- Chixculub and volcanoes: dinosaurs die! -
David Turell,
2016-07-16, 05:01
- Chixculub: was it a precise hit on purpose? -
David Turell,
2017-05-18, 23:34
- Chixculub: was it a precise hit on purpose? -
David Turell,
2017-11-11, 04:56
- Chixculub: was it a precise hit on purpose? -
dhw,
2017-11-11, 12:52
- Chixculub: was it a precise hit on purpose? -
David Turell,
2017-11-11, 14:31
- Chixculub: may not be the whole story -
David Turell,
2018-12-17, 01:23
- Chixculub: may not be the whole story -
dhw,
2018-12-17, 11:53
- Chixculub: may not be the whole story -
David Turell,
2018-12-17, 16:06
- Chixculub: may not be the whole story -
David Turell,
2021-02-28, 15:01
- Chixculub: changed the South American jungles -
David Turell,
2021-04-01, 22:31
- Chixculub: giant tsunami ripples found -
David Turell,
2021-07-13, 14:57
- Chixculub: a book based a special area -
David Turell,
2022-04-26, 18:42
- Chixculub: are more possible -
David Turell,
2023-03-21, 23:30
- Chixculub: a new view -
David Turell,
2023-08-14, 17:11
- Chixculub: more on volcanic contribution - David Turell, 2023-11-28, 17:35
- Chixculub: the dust did it - David Turell, 2023-10-30, 19:03
- Chixculub: are more possible - David Turell, 2023-12-05, 23:39
- Chixculub: a new view -
David Turell,
2023-08-14, 17:11
- Chixculub: are more possible -
David Turell,
2023-03-21, 23:30
- Chixculub: a book based a special area -
David Turell,
2022-04-26, 18:42
- Chixculub: giant tsunami ripples found -
David Turell,
2021-07-13, 14:57
- Chixculub: changed the South American jungles -
David Turell,
2021-04-01, 22:31
- Chixculub: may not be the whole story -
David Turell,
2021-02-28, 15:01
- Chixculub: may not be the whole story -
David Turell,
2018-12-17, 16:06
- Chixculub: may not be the whole story -
dhw,
2018-12-17, 11:53
- Chixculub: may not be the whole story -
David Turell,
2018-12-17, 01:23
- Chixculub: was it a precise hit on purpose? -
David Turell,
2017-11-11, 14:31
- Chixculub: was it a precise hit on purpose? -
dhw,
2017-11-11, 12:52
- Chixculub: was it a precise hit on purpose? -
David Turell,
2017-11-11, 04:56
- Chixculub: was it a precise hit on purpose? -
David Turell,
2017-05-18, 23:34
- Chixculub and volcanoes: dinosaurs die! -
David Turell,
2019-02-21, 21:55
- Chixculub and volcanoes: dinosaurs die! -
David Turell,
2019-03-30, 16:22
- Chixculub: new findings from the crater -
David Turell,
2019-09-09, 20:27
- Chixculub: definitely caused dinosaur extinction - David Turell, 2020-01-16, 20:10
- Chixculub and volcanoes: dinosaurs die! -
David Turell,
2020-02-10, 21:53
- Chixculub: cold, darkness and soot did it for dinosaurs -
David Turell,
2020-03-22, 00:03
- Chixculub: cold, darkness and soot did it for dinosaurs - David Turell, 2020-03-25, 21:12
- Chixculub: created a nasty cauldron -
David Turell,
2020-05-29, 23:35
- Chixculub: created a nasty cauldron and more -
David Turell,
2020-06-01, 18:57
- Chixculub: created a nasty cauldron and more -
David Turell,
2020-06-30, 00:33
- Chixculub: fine-tuned angle of attack? -
David Turell,
2020-07-12, 22:08
- Chixculub: rapid evolutionary recovery -
David Turell,
2020-07-14, 20:06
- Chixculub: rapid evolutionary recovery -
David Turell,
2020-09-16, 17:59
- Chixculub: perfect spot to blot out sunlight -
David Turell,
2020-10-22, 22:46
- Chixculub: crocodiles survived it - David Turell, 2021-01-07, 19:43
- Chixculub: perfect spot to blot out sunlight -
David Turell,
2020-10-22, 22:46
- Chixculub: rapid evolutionary recovery -
David Turell,
2020-09-16, 17:59
- Chixculub: rapid evolutionary recovery -
David Turell,
2020-07-14, 20:06
- Chixculub: fine-tuned angle of attack? -
David Turell,
2020-07-12, 22:08
- Chixculub: created a nasty cauldron and more -
David Turell,
2020-06-30, 00:33
- Chixculub: created a nasty cauldron and more -
David Turell,
2020-06-01, 18:57
- Chixculub: cold, darkness and soot did it for dinosaurs -
David Turell,
2020-03-22, 00:03
- Chixculub: new findings from the crater -
David Turell,
2019-09-09, 20:27
- Chixculub and volcanoes: dinosaurs die! -
David Turell,
2019-03-30, 16:22
- Chixculub and volcanoes: dinosaurs die! -
David Turell,
2016-07-16, 05:01