A colleague's new blog

Posted 8 December 2012 by Richard B. Hoppe

Drew Kerkhoff, an ecologist and associate professor in biology and mathematics & statistics at Kenyon College where I'm an Affiliated Scholar in Biology, has a new blog, Biogeocoenosis: The Grandeur in this View of Life. He plans to blog about "... the Earth as a diverse, integrated, evolving system." Drew is a sharp guy, and I commend Biogeocoenosis to your attention (even though the grey-on-white typeface is hard for my old eyes).

15 Comments

Alan(UK) · 9 December 2012

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DS · 9 December 2012

What a wonderful article and what a wonderful type of analysis. It clearly demonstrates the importance of context in the interpretation of past events, as well as the importance of an historical perspective in the evaluation or present day ecological concerns. Perhaps a similar analysis with respect to global warming would be instructive.

Robert Byers · 11 December 2012

Diverse? Well a little bit but not like in the past.
Integrated? Well a little but while things eat each other its otherwise not much connected.
Evolving? How and who and where is it evolving? what's evolved in the last little while? What is evolving before our eyes today?
I see no evolution going on today or even minor selectionism going on in the Amazon.!
Its not going on today because it never happened before as from selection on mutations plus time.
Anyways good luck on his blog.

Karen S. · 11 December 2012

what’s evolved in the last little while? What is evolving before our eyes today?

Influenza. (There are other things also)

DS · 11 December 2012

Karen S. said:
what’s evolved in the last little while? What is evolving before our eyes today?
Influenza. (There are other things also)

Actually, all extant species are evolving right before our eyes, if we bother to look. Here are some examples: http://www.cracked.com/article_19213_7-animals-that-are-evolving-right-before-our-eyes.html

DS · 11 December 2012

If you google "evolution before our eyes" you get 3,280,000 hits. I could list them all one by one, but you get the idea. Anyone who claims that evolution isn't happening in the present is just stuck in the past (and apparently incapable of doing a simple google search).

Karen S. · 11 December 2012

Actually, all extant species are evolving right before our eyes, if we bother to look.

Very true, but the flu virus is a very nice, simple example to give creationists. We don't want to confuse them too much, as their leaders do that already.

Robert Byers · 11 December 2012

Karen S. said:
what’s evolved in the last little while? What is evolving before our eyes today?
Influenza. (There are other things also)

Well creationists know these bacteria things are brought up. Yet I am referring to the glory of biology around us. What is evolving before our eyes? As for bacteria things it seems not be the same thing even while being obscure anyways. It seems the bacteria is desperately trying to survive and not just a selected bit survives. If not a mind of its own at least its a special case of very intimate type of organism. Even then its limited in its options and barriers are apparent. Still again anything beyond a microscope observance has no claim at all to evolving today. And saying marrying prettier girls makes prettier daughters and so evolution is shown is in fact minor changes within boundaries. Not evolution but selection with trivial results.

apokryltaros · 11 December 2012

You don't even know what you're babbling about, Robert Byers, even as you make a very clumsy "Moving the Goalpost" logical fallacy.

apokryltaros · 11 December 2012

You still haven't explained to us why we should regard your inane opinions of what can and can't be evolution as being holy law, after all.

Just Bob · 12 December 2012

Robert Byers said: Not evolution but selection with trivial results.

How many trivia does it take to make a significa? One cigarette. One shot of whiskey. One razor cut. One mph over the speed limit. One flirtation with another man's wife. One shade darker camouflage. By how many do you have to multiply such "trivial" things before they become very significant indeed?

Robert Byers · 13 December 2012

Just Bob said:
Robert Byers said: Not evolution but selection with trivial results.
How many trivia does it take to make a significa? One cigarette. One shot of whiskey. One razor cut. One mph over the speed limit. One flirtation with another man's wife. One shade darker camouflage. By how many do you have to multiply such "trivial" things before they become very significant indeed?

This is the line of reasoning thats been used, including Darwin used it, to make as possible bubbles to buffalos. There is a bigger concept about plausibility in all this by just any observer. Selection on trivial differences in a population is unlikely to go to that bigger step of a organ or some point that moves the creature anatomically into a different world. There is a barrier of useful bits and pieces. This is a logical observation . This is why evolution must hang its hat on the mutation. Without it one could not have selection out of rather fixed entities. Then its not plausible that mutations are the origin of the glory of biology. Its unbelievable. Evolutionists really did miss this point. How many times have they told me little steps of change equals the macro change. It doesn't. Its too big a step from the small steps that only slightly change things. Anyways its still just a line of reasoning and not scientific evidence.

DS · 13 December 2012

Sterility indeed.

Henry J · 13 December 2012

Unlikely != unilaterally prevented

Omics14 · 19 December 2012

IES is a program in the Division of Earth Sciences (EAR) that focuses specifically on the continental, terrestrial and deep Earth subsystems of the whole Earth system.Earth science research involves the study of physical, chemical, and biological processes that interact and combine in many ways to produce a wide range of dynamic Earth systems.Anyhow, nice blog Mr.Drew. Blogging has recently become a regular past-time experience among various medical professionals.Our Medical Blog is written with serious consideration of the audience and the topics to be covered.