How one Species Can Change So Many Things

[Solitary]

[hrdlr110]

I nearly got through the day without learning something new! Thanks, that was interesting.

[SGOS]

The reintroduction of wolves is very controversial and unreasonably emotional in the Western US.  Yes wolves kill things, but they create a natural balance.  For some reason, this bothers some humans who believe that balance can only be achieved through the intervention of humans. 

Back in the 70s, when over fishing, logging, and mining began to decimate the salmon populations in Washington State, some fishermen (not all of them by any means) took to carrying rifles on board their boats, and would kill seals on the assumption that seals were eating too much of the salmon.  I used to wonder why salmon were in such phenomenal abundance before fishermen started killing seals.  It seems humans are not very good at understanding the big picture and don't really get cause and effect.  Sure we see causes.  We see effects.  But we often don't put the right cause with the appropriate effect. As a result, we invent solutions that don't work, and often make things worse.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Idaho recently allowed the killing of wolves because they were threatening the elk herds, a source of income for the state, "recreational killing of harmless animal", and the local farmers and ranchers are complaining that there are too damn many elk and the state should do something.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

http://publicradioeast.org/post/red-wolf-recovery-program-under-review

[Mermaid]

We are just one species and have managed to change basically everything. That is the nature of the natural world and something people do not generally understand. Everything we (or other species) do has an effect. Usually small, sometimes infinitesimal, but sometimes large.

[aitm]

pretty damn cool. Ty

[Gawdzilla Sama]

We are just one species and have managed to change basically everything. That is the nature of the natural world and something people do not generally understand. Everything we (or other species) do has an effect. Usually small, sometimes infinitesimal, but sometimes large.

The last species to cause this much change was the cyanobacteria, the wee beasties that sucked most of the iron out of the oceans and allowed carbon-based life to thrive.