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Runoff from modern life is feeding an explosion of primitive organisms

latimes.com

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Re: Runoff from modern life is feeding an explosion of primitive organisms

#11

Post by bootload »

"... Jellyfish populations are growing because they can. The fish that used to compete with them for food have become scarce because of overfishing. The sea turtles that once preyed on them are nearly gone. And the plankton they love to eat are growing explosively. ..."

Interesting comment.

Remarkably similiar to the scenario of "species collapse" outlined in Jarad Diamonds work, Collapse. [0] As species loose their ability to adapt in the environment the whole adjacent species start to be effected. Loose enough and whole groups that are closely inter-related disappear. You have to start questioning what are we doing wrong when the stable marine environments start to change so quickly.

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_...

Re: Runoff from modern life is feeding an explosion of primitive organisms

#12

Post by bootload »

sutro wrote: post #2

Why post an article from a year-and-a-half ago? This link has made the rounds of Reddit et. al. multiple times since it was first published. It seems neither "Hacker" related nor "News."

"... Why post an article from a year-and-a-half ago? ..."

Self preservation is one. [0]

One of the places mentioned is about 500Km north of me. [1] Here's a question for you. Aboriginals were first spotted at "Quandamooka" as Cpt. Cook sailed up the east coast of Australia in 1770. What did the locals do right that we are doing wrong? How did they manage to maintain the habitat for probably the 6K years the bay has existed and we (Australians) managed to bugger it up in less than 100 years?

"... This link has made the rounds of Reddit ..."

Since when has reddit been the bastion of informed comment?

[0] http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/bbing/stories/s743310.htm

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moreton_Bay

Re: Runoff from modern life is feeding an explosion of primitive organisms

#13

Post by aaco »

cstejerean wrote: post #10
sutro wrote: post #2

Why post an article from a year-and-a-half ago? This link has made the rounds of Reddit et. al. multiple times since it was first published. It seems neither "Hacker" related nor "News."

Comments like "why post ...?" don't seem to add much to the discussion. Obviously someone thought the article was interesting enough to post and several people thought it was worth reading (and perhaps worth commenting on). I for one didn't see the article a year ago.

"I for one didn't see the article a year ago."

Neither did I.

That's the way information are spread. Duplicating them is a side effect and there's nothing wrong with that. If they are still interesting, people will upvote them again, and again...

Re: Runoff from modern life is feeding an explosion of primitive organisms

#14

Post by DanielBMarkham »

It used to be a caveman walked across the top of a mountain looking for deer to eat. He left trash wherever he went and even introduced "fire hunting" where entire mountainsides would be burnt in order to get the most game.

Now we go visit mountains where we stay on closely-guarded trails and hope to see a deer to frame in a picture. We drive up in our internal combustion engines and hike "leaving nothing behind, taking nothing but memories"

And we feel guilty for doing it.

I'm thinking the caveman got the better deal.

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