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This is a borderline nonsensical question, because this isn't something you can solve for X. What those species are and what niche they fill matters quite a lot
by jdiff 3y ago
This is a borderline nonsensical question, because this isn't something you can solve for X. What those species are and what niche they fill matters quite a lot. Genetic diversity within these species also matters. Countless other things matter. The rate of extinction has gone up drastically, and there are not new species cropping up to fill the growing holes.
- imgabe 3y agoThat's the point. If you don't even know what the optimum is or what you should even optimize for, why jump to the conclusion that some change is bad? If a species is extinct there is no hole. The hole it filled in the ecosystem is gone. If it were still there, it wouldn't be extinct. There will be a different hole and a different species. Yes, they don't come up overnight, but life will evolve to exploit an opportunity where there is one.
- jdiff 3y agoThis isn't true. Holes can become unlivable for a species for other reasons than the hole vanishing. The hole still exists, and further the collapse of the species filling it leads other species to collapse, creating growing fissures. Now, wounds heal, yes, if and only if given the time to. If you chop off your entire arm, you'll bleed out long before it scars over.
- doubloon 3y agoMonoculture is a security and resiliency risk whether it is in technological or in biological systems. You do not know the optimum because you do not know the threats.