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But the caterpillars are hardly benign entities. They can decimate crops and cause famine, or even destroy entire forests if left unchecked. I'm in total agreem
by AlexandrB 3y ago
But the caterpillars are hardly benign entities. They can decimate crops and cause famine, or even destroy entire forests if left unchecked. I'm in total agreement that nature a fucked up system - not pretty in its many machinations. But I struggle to see how parasitism is all that different than other types of predation in this regard.
- I_Am_Nous 3y agoI don't disagree with you, ecosystems are both delicate and robust in cycles. The focus on parasitism is also because it is believed that there is more parasite life than non-parasite life. From the article: >Or, as Kevin Lafferty, a marine ecologist for the US Geological Survey puts it, “Parasitism is the most popular lifestyle on Earth.” >So popular, in fact, that many parasites are themselves prey to their own parasites. In a phenomenon called “hyperparasitism,” parasites are invaded by parasites that are invaded by still more parasites. These Russian dolls of internal flesh-eating have been observed to five levels down, which one article describes as “an endless progression of interspecies abuse”:
- figassis 3y agoWhat they're trying to say is nature is a fractal of evil. The Wasps are just one very clear example.