throopw@dg_rtp.UUCP (Wayne Throop) (05/08/86)
> From: mangoe@umcp-cs.UUCP (Charley Wingate) > [...] For almost all animals the controller is predation; in some > ecosystems, we even see periodic explosions of population which are brought > down by a corresponding overabundance of predators. In some large predators > predation upon their own kind is an important factor. Hmmmm. Somthin' amis here. In particular, populations are *not* controlled by predation in many (or maybe even most) cases, but by resource starvation in one form or another. In the prey-bloom-followed-by-predator-boom-followed-by- prey-bust scenario, the predators don't increase and cut back the prey population at all. It's just that the predators were resource (in this case prey) limited, and so were the prey. The prey bloomed (for whatever reason), and so so did the predators. Then the prey went bust (again, for whatever reason, probably oversubscription of resources), and the predators would soon follow suit. Not that this invalidates the rest of the argument, of course. I agree with most all of that. -- Hmmmm. Somthin' amis here. Let's run through it "Ho." "Ha." "Guard." "Turn." "Parry." "Spin." "Thrust." <katwang> Got it! -- Daffy Duck -- Wayne Throop <the-known-world>!mcnc!rti-sel!dg_rtp!throopw