This is one of the fundamental ecological questions bothering me. No other organism seems to contemplate ecosurvival or exercise any discretion in its activities. Their activities are merely curtailed by natural limits. For example, a virus is contained not because it worries about sustainability, but because of host mortality. Rodents will and do outrun into enormous populations where they are left unchecked. In fact, it seems like they still havent reached food limits despite that. Wild animals like leopards have even adapted to specifically target domesticated fauna as prey and have voluntarily returned to urban areas after relocation. You get the drift. In such a scenario, what makes humans so special that their actions are deemed to destroy life altogether? Yes, they may overshoot and quite likely end up extinct as a species. Probably very soon. And, change entire ecosystems in the process. But, ecosystems do keep changing and er... adapting to change whatsoever. Maybe, the consequence will be the emergence of radically different species and rising into greater prominence of some taxa e.g. certain microbes, metal eating fungi, high temperature survivors and so on. Im not saying this is how itll pan out, but we need a strong case to say otherwise. The most uncomfortable part for me in conceding that case is that we then need to say humans are somehow special. That is, even in the assessment of a species-neutral anthroplogist or an ecologist.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 14:31:12 +0000
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