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Certain species of cicadas have evolved a life cycle which is a prime number of years long (I know of 13 and 17 years). This prevents predators from synchronizi
by cmsmith 12y ago
Certain species of cicadas have evolved a life cycle which is a prime number of years long (I know of 13 and 17 years). This prevents predators from synchronizing their life cycle to that of the cicadas.
- riffraff 12y agoI believe the reason for avoiding synchronization is that different swarms avoid competition for resources. Wouldn't predators just sync up with them otherwise?
- pedrocr 12y ago> Wouldn't predators just sync up with them otherwise? Not easily. They need to get the frequency and phase correct, which is probably hard to do with decade long cycles. If they align with the cycle but are out of phase they never match. If they "choose" another cycle they'll only match at best at twice the period, so 30 year cycles. That probably makes it very hard for any predator species to specialize on them, although not of taking advantage of them when they do happen to be around.
- ZenPro 12y agoA sub-plot of Episode 3 of Silicon Valley; a genius one at that. http://valleywag.gawker.com/the-peter-thiel-sesame-seed-scene-from-silicon-valley-i-1567814812 http://valleywag.gawker.com/the-peter-thiel-sesame-seed-scen...