Return to David's theory of evolution PART 1; ecosystems (Evolution)

by David Turell , Friday, July 08, 2022, 16:56 (867 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Your usual illogical complaint. The huge human population requires multiple ecosystems.

dhw: Your usual evasion. You can’t explain why every extinct ecosystem was an “absolute requirement” for sapiens plus food, and I doubt if you can even explain why the sea anemone stinger is an “absolute requirement” for us and our food.

No evasion. All life must eat in every ecosystem.. as this review tells us:

https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/ecosystems-what-they-are-and-why-they-are-important/

"...the best all-encompassing definition for an ecosystem is all of the living organisms (plants, animals, and bacteria) and the nonliving components (air, water, soil, weather) that interact with each other as a system. The size of an ecosystem can range from a small tide pool to a giant desert. All the members of the system are interconnected, so the loss or change of one factor can have large effects rippling through the entire ecosystem.

"Energy enters an ecosystem from the sun, which plants utilize, as well as carbon dioxide, which is used for photosynthesis. Animals eat the plants, moving the energy and matter through the ecosystem. When organic matter dies, decomposers break it down, releasing carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.

"Other larger external factors determine an ecosystem’s climate, time, topography, and material at the earth’s surface — these factors are not influenced by the ecosystem itself; they simply exist. Rainfall and temperature determine the amount of water and energy available to a system. Climate determines what sort of biome an ecosystem is in — these factors make one region a desert, another one fertile land, and another one a lake.

"Internal factors change how different species interact with each other. For example, if one species contracts a disease and dies off, it affects the whole system. These factors both control and are controlled by ecosystem interactions. In this way, there are different from external factors.

"Ecosystems are often a part of a larger biome, which should not be confused with an ecosystem: biomes are large areas of land based broadly on climate type and the species present. They are not based on the interactions between living and nonliving parts of a system.

"An ecosystem is defined as such because the species that interact form a network that depends on the environment. So a forest, such as the Amazon rainforest, can host many different ecosystems: a soil ecosystem, an understory ecosystem, a canopy, and a forest floor ecosystem. All the members of each system interact with one another and form a closed system.

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"The normal functioning of an ecosystem provides humans with an abundance of services that we depend upon or that can significantly improve our quality of life. For example, pollination is necessary for about 75% of our crops, trees provide us with timber, and the oceans provide us with fish. The list of ecosystem-provided services is very, very long and includes several more nuanced entries that we tend to take for granted, like clean air, a stable climate, and safe drinking water.

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"Human action is currently disrupting a large number of ecosystems. For example, by removing most of the fish from the ocean, the whole food chain and system are disrupted and can no longer function properly. The result is running out of certain types of seafood that we enjoy. Introducing invasive species also influences ecosystems because these invasive species outcompete several of the native species that are necessary for the system to work properly.

"On a larger scale, humans are even capable of influencing external factors. By causing the earth to warm via increased carbon dioxide emissions, it influences which plants and animals can live where. It is true that new species often enter ecosystems and that climate can naturally fluctuate but the current changes are so frequent and sudden that the ecosystems cannot adapt to new equilibrium. We are also shooting ourselves in the foot because disrupting ecosystems could have disastrous effects on ourselves: no pollination and hence few crops, bad air quality, fewer fish, and contaminated water are just a few examples. Maintaining the balance of the ecosystem benefits us personally."

Comment: dhw disparages my view of ecosystems, as above, so I keep trying to educate him. For more information on how humans need ecosystems use the following:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=ecosystems+importance+to+humans&t=crhs&ia=web