Re: Predation is Good

Glenn Morton (GRMorton@gnn.com)
Tue, 23 Jul 1996 21:01:29

>GM>I would like to point out that
>>predation is good. And God uses it to increase the number of species
>>which can live on the earth.
>
>GM>You mis-understand here. I did not say predators create new species.
>>Predators keep existing species from reproducing so rapidly that all
>>others are squeezed out of the living space.
>
>GM>Your argument is based upon the assumption that predation creates new
>>species. This is not at all what this is about. It is about species
>>maintenance.
>
>GM>Once again, I am not, NOT extrapolating this into an evolutionary
>>mechanism.
>
>OK, predation is about species maintenance and not God increasing the
>number of species which can live on Earth.

Sorry about the overkill there.

>
>After posting my last response, I thought that a better test of the
>hypothesis posed in your original post would be to introduce a predator
>into a community and observe whether there is in fact an increase in
>diversity of the prey species.

There is a good test going on now. In Australia, germ warfare has been
inflicted on the rabbits. What do rabbits eat down there? And look for a
decrease in diversity of the plants they eat if the rabbits don't recover
from this epidemic.

glenn

Foundation,Fall and Flood
http://members.gnn.com/GRMorton/dmd.htm