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This kind of thing is the most amazing thing about Madagascar. When I visited, I saw a frog that literally only exists and has ever existed in a 10 sq. mile are
by teeray 6y ago
This kind of thing is the most amazing thing about Madagascar. When I visited, I saw a frog that literally only exists and has ever existed in a 10 sq. mile area. The other cool thing about chameleons there is that they are like everywhere (though apparently there’s still surprises!). Open any random bush outside your hotel and half a dozen will stare back at you.
- smabie 6y agoThere's some paper called roughly "why mountain passes are higher in the tropics." Basically the closer you get towards the equator, the more unique species that exist in a very small amount of land. My theory is that the more stable climate promotes diversity and specialization, since species don't have to be general enough to live through significant temperature changes
- omgwtfbyobbq 6y agoThat reminds me of some stuff on entropy and biodiversity. https://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/bio_info/ https://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/bio_info/ I think my sense of things is similar to what you articulating. Take something like a water bear. It can survive in extreme environments and is very specialized to do so. If it changes certain characteristics, it's range of habitable environments may decrease significantly. To maximize it's survivability it minimizes it's evolutionary flexibility. Species in more stable/predictable environments on the other hand can change more characteristics without impairing their ability to survive in their environment, so their stable/predictable environment allows them to maximize their evolutionary flexibility at the expense of being confined to that environment.