22-03-2004, 09:35 AM
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Lack of invertebrates / house sparrows (was Reed Buntings)
On Monday, in article
"Oz" wrote:
In passing one seems to have spars seen regularly in a (small) area for
a couple of years and then they are gone, only returning some four or
five years later.
Yes, and it took a long time to persuade some ecologists that even very
simple mathematical models could show chaotic behaviour. That's now
fairly well-understood, and short-term population crashes are not viewed
with the same professional alarm. The trouble is that it's hard to
distinguish the chaotic pattern from some real disaster, and, since
birds are so mobile, breeding populations are hard to localise.
Still, there is a difference between local boom-bust patterns and the
larger-scale population. If Oz sees a population crash, with no
apparent reason, it'd not a big worry. If a lot of other people see the
same...
--
David G. Bell -- SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.
"History shows that the Singularity started when Sir Tim Berners-Lee
was bitten by a radioactive spider."
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