competition

HURDLE NUMBER 45. THE COMPETITION HURDLE.

These following quotes are from the book The New Biology, by Robert Augros and George Stanciu, published by New Science Library 1987:-

Page 90:- The authors quote Darwin:- “All nature is at war, one organism with another.”

The authors quote Alfred Russell Wallace (Co-founder, with Charles Darwin of The Theory of Evolution):- “A struggle for existence, in which the weakest - - - - must always succumb.”

The authors quote Thomas Henry Huxley (Fullerian Professor at the Royal Institution 1855–58 and 1865–67; Hunterian Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons 1863–69; President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 1869–1870):- “The strongest live to fight another day - - - - no quarter is given.”

The authors quote Darwin:- “All organic beings are EXPOSED TO SEVERE COMPETITION - - - - and to the universal struggle for life.”

The authors comment:- “THIS PARADIGM - - - DOES NOT SQUARE WITH OBSERVATION.”

Page 90:- The authors quote entomologist P.S. Messenger:- “ACTUAL COMPETITION IS DIFFICULT TO SEE IN NATURE.”

The authors quote ecologist E.J. Kormondy (author of the book Concepts of Ecology, published by Prentice‐Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1969), who asserts that COMPETITION IN NATURAL CONDITIONS IS RARE.

Pages 91 to 93:- The authors tell us “Similar species living together AVOID COMPETITION by dividing the habitat into ecological niches - - - - Two species never occupy the same niche.”

Page 93:- The authors quote plant physiologist Frits Went (In 1958 Went was appointed director of the Missouri Botanical Garden and Professor of Botany at Washington University in St Louis, at a point where he had become a world recognized authority on plant growth.) “There is no - - - struggle between plants - - - but a harmonious development - - - - The cooperative principle is stronger than the competitive one.”

Page 94:- The authors provide examples of cooperation:- “Yellow Weaver Birds - - - do not fight over food, since one species eats only hard black seeds, another eats only soft green seeds. - - - - Many caterpillars will eat only one kind of plant.”

Page 94:- The authors cite insects that feed on North American White Pine without competition:- “Five species eat only foliage, three species concentrate on buds, three on twigs, two on wood - - - etc.

Page 95:- The authors tell us that “Three different species of mite occupy three different areas of the honey-bee’s body.” The authors provide many further examples of cooperation and NON-competition.

Page 101:- The authors quote Paul Colinvaux (Paul Colinvaux was an ecologist and Professor Emeritus at Ohio State University.):- “Nature is arranged so that competitive struggles are avoided - - - - peaceful co-existence, not struggle, is the rule.”

Page 158:- The authors quote Niles Eldredge (In 1969, Eldredge became a curator in the Department of Invertebrates at the American Museum of Natural History, and subsequently a curator in the Invertebrate Paleontology section. He was also an Adjunct Professor at the City University of New York.) “Ecologists skeptical of - - - - competition between species - - - - they simply cannot see any evidence for such raw battling going on nowadays in nature.”

The next two quotes are from The Encyclopedia of Evolution, by Richard Milner, published by Facts on File, 1990:-

Pages 289 to 290:- The entry states that Malthus suggested that humans reproduce faster than food resources can keep up. Darwin read Malthus, and assumed that a struggle for existence in the animal kingdom must apply where “favorable variations would - - - - - be preserved, and unfavorable ones - - - be destroyed,” resulting in “the formation of a new species.”

Page 319:- Milner tells us that:- “The popular notion that survival of the fittest means simply that the strong winners kill off weak losers IS IDEOLOGY, NOT BIOLOGY.” (My capitals.)

The next quote is from the book – The Great Evolution Mystery by Gordon Rattray Taylor (Chief Science Advisor to BBC Television), published by Secker and Warburg, 1983, page 17:-

The author quotes Darwin:- “As many more individuals of each species are born than can possibly survive, and as - - - - - there is a - - - - struggle for existence - - - - - any being, if it vary - - - - in a manner profitable to itself - - - - - will have a better chance of surviving, and thus be naturally selected.”

The next two quotes are from the book – Did Darwin Get It Right? – by John Maynard Smith (Professor of Biology at The University of Sussex), published by Penguin Books, 1988:-

Page 45:- Both Darwin and (Alfred Russell) Wallace stated that it was from the economist Malthus that they borrowed their central concept.”

Page 54:- “An influential book by V.C. Wynne-Edwards of The University of Aberdeen, called – Animal Dispersion in Relation to Social Behavior - - - - - (The) thesis was as follows:- Animal populations rarely outrun their food supply and starve, because THEIR NUMBERS ARE USUALLY REGULATED BEHAVIORALLY; ANIMALS REFRAIN FROM BREEDING BEFORE THEIR NUMBERS RISE TOO HIGH. To bring this about, special “epideictic” displays have evolved that signal to individuals the density of the population.” (My capitals.)

(My comment:- In that case, there is no “selection pressure” to cause animals to “evolve”.)

This next quote is from the book The New Biology, by Robert Augros and George Stanciu, published by New Science Library 1987, page 125:-

The authors quote ecologists Elton, Andrewartha, and Birch who argue that starvation rarely acts as a direct influence on numbers of a species.

The next quote is from the book A Devil’s Chaplain, by Richard Dawkins, published by Phoenix, 2004, page 266:-

“Ecosystems, like organisms, do indeed seem harmoniously designed.” (Dawkins then goes on to insist that this is “an illusion”.)