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Dik-Dik Van Dik
Skeptic Friend
United Kingdom
76 Posts |
 Posted - 04/22/2005 : 19:05:12
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4461827.stm
Hmm was reading this article and the question posed at the end seemed quite simple to me but was never answered.
There is more species diversity in hot climates because more species of animal wouldd survive there over the ice age and most species in colder areas would be killed off or forced to migrate, so you would get a concetration around the equator. This is certainly true for plant life, and would seem to work especially well for islands such as the canaries or hawaiian islands since the isolation would be continued after the climate warms up.
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DARWIN 3:16
"The simple believeth every word." - Proverbs 14:15
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
Posted - 04/22/2005 : 20:07:33 [Permalink]
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The question posed at the end being:They are saying that if you have biodiversity it will create more biodiversity - I can buy that. But it still doesn't explain the initial step: how do you get more biodiversity in the first place? And the answer seems obvious to me.
The two things the article doesn't mention are- that species change their own environment, and
- that each species is a potential "ecological niche" for some other species
Taken together, it seems clear to me that given a single species in some environment, it will - through its own existence - put selection pressures on its own offspring to grow larger or faster (generally: more successfully) than the "parent" individuals. A little bit of isolation (like a freak flood cutting a path of death in the middle of a field of plants), and you've got everything you need for speciation.
And the reason it's important to know that every species is a potential ecological niche is that most animals (and even some plants) have found it much easier to feed off other life-forms than it is to build food from scratch. This is why we have parasites and predators (if you want to consider cows to predate grass). A mutation which allowed a plant to parasitize it's own parent (even in some small way) could present a big advantage over its neighboring plants. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 04/23/2005 : 01:45:43 [Permalink]
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Haven't seen any robbers yet this year.
Interesting article. I think that the island with the fewer species would evolve more varients of those species than the other. The Galapagos Archepeligo is a prime example. Not a lot of species, but extraordinary diversity from the original settlers. Darwin's finchs are the most famous.
Well, I'm off to a reptile expo in SC. Catch ya later...
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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