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My daughter who did her master's thesis in computational biology on modelling the western pine beetle would agree with this. Her research showed that western pi

My daughter who did her master's thesis in computational biology on modelling the western pine beetle would agree with this. Her research showed that western pine beetle populations were expanding (no need to tell Californian's this but there it is) in part because their available habitat is expanding with changes in the climate. Her take was that the mix is changing because the climate is changing. It takes time for ecosystems to adapt and as they do some species "lose" and some "win".

rb808 8y ago
You're right, it also highlights another of the problems, the new insects cause more problems than the old ones they're replacing. Seems we lose stable populations of friendly insects we're familiar with, and replace them with aggressive new ones like pine beetles, stink bugs, disease carrying mosquitos and ticks etc
- matis140 8y ago
  Looking at extinction and new niches created like our happy little stickle back fish sees an advantage. The stickle back fish contains the genes of past versions fresh water adapted or salt water adapted. Maybe more (alkilin vs acidic vs high o2 or low 02)? These happen within a generation or few. I wish we were longer lived to see what happens. it seems like it would be very interesting to watch. I cannot imagine the stickleback is the only invertebrate carrying this genetic baggage. Watching the niches change and genetic variations of current creatures fill them would be very interesting. I wish we had some form of stacis we could put ourselves in to observe what happens.
jacobolus 8y ago
“We are replacing all of the pollinators with bark beetles as our forests die of heat/drought, and the latter don’t seem to be getting wiped out by pesticides” is not an especially encouraging take. Though I guess it’s better than “nearly all insects on earth will die out in the next century” or whatever.
- gizmo686 8y ago
  It the difference between "the entire ecosystem is collapsing" and "the ecosytem is shifting to a new steady state"

rb808 8y ago

You're right, it also highlights another of the problems, the new insects cause more problems than the old ones they're replacing. Seems we lose stable populations of friendly insects we're familiar with, and replace them with aggressive new ones like pine beetles, stink bugs, disease carrying mosquitos and ticks etc

matis140 8y ago
Looking at extinction and new niches created like our happy little stickle back fish sees an advantage. The stickle back fish contains the genes of past versions fresh water adapted or salt water adapted. Maybe more (alkilin vs acidic vs high o2 or low 02)? These happen within a generation or few. I wish we were longer lived to see what happens. it seems like it would be very interesting to watch. I cannot imagine the stickleback is the only invertebrate carrying this genetic baggage. Watching the niches change and genetic variations of current creatures fill them would be very interesting. I wish we had some form of stacis we could put ourselves in to observe what happens.

jacobolus 8y ago

“We are replacing all of the pollinators with bark beetles as our forests die of heat/drought, and the latter don’t seem to be getting wiped out by pesticides” is not an especially encouraging take. Though I guess it’s better than “nearly all insects on earth will die out in the next century” or whatever.

gizmo686 8y ago
It the difference between "the entire ecosystem is collapsing" and "the ecosytem is shifting to a new steady state"