Evolution Since Human Intervention

[labelwench]

Evolution since Human Intervention

The purpose of this thread is to invite an examination of the process of evolution rather than an exploration of evolution as a theory of origin, more specifically, a retracing of the impacts of our particular species on this process.

At some point in our history, our intervention in the process of natural evolution has dramatically impacted the acceleration of change, and I might suggest we have skewed much of the balance of co-evolution in this regard.

By such a reflection and retracing, the intent is to remind ourselves that we are not the only players in this game. We possess awesome ability, and with such ability there comes a responsibility to use our talents wisely in stewardship of this limited ecosphere that is our habitat.

We have been involved in the process since long before we had a scientific overview or discipline to examine our actions. As hunter/gathers, our impacts were limited to those species which we hunted or harvested, and we ourselves were at the mercy of the climate which enabled natural selection. The dawn of Agriculture is a likely threshold to start from in such a review, or perhaps even from our discovery and use of the most simple of tools, by which our actions became more purposeful and selective.

We are not the only species practicing selection, I would suggest, although we are fond of our opinion in thinking so. Several prominent scientists have speculated that the success of many species is in their ability to adapt to our needs and desires.

The domestic pet industry is an interesting point in case. An examination of the diversity of such species and the economic impact of same is most enlightening. In some countries, animals have more rights than human beings. This is not a criticism, merely an observation. The point I wish to return to, is which species is doing the selecting?

The microscopic world is one which most people give little regard to, except when a virus or micro-organism poses a threat and the media raises alarm. Yet, it is the unseen world that allows for our existence and proliferation, and this same pool of life that is often impacted by our intervention.

There is much to explore and discuss in an examination of the impacts of our intervention in evolution, where we have been and where we are headed.

Your participation and observations will contribute to an interesting and informative discussion.

Best Regards,
Labelwench

[austintorn@aol.com]

Some more docile wolves hung around closer to humans and their food given and then turned into dogs (to make the story short).

Cats, too, having once been larger and more ferocious. Some of my cats growl when eating food to keep the others away.

I guess dogs and cats became the only species that adapted and then needed humans for the most part. What about horses?

Our antiviral and antibacterial methods helped some resistant strains develop, as Darwin's natural selection predicted.

We humans are just another animal doing things, although we have perhaps come to dominate some areas. In other areas, there may be still a lot of room left.

[labelwench]

Genetically Modified Foods are a current example of human intervention with far reaching implication. The following excerpt is but one arena of concern. LW

http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agric...gineering.html

New Allergens in the Food Supply

Transgenic crops could bring new allergens into foods that sensitive individuals would not know to avoid. An example is transferring the gene for one of the many allergenic proteins found in milk into vegetables like carrots. Mothers who know to avoid giving their sensitive children milk would not know to avoid giving them transgenic carrots containing milk proteins. The problem is unique to genetic engineering because it alone can transfer proteins across species boundaries into completely unrelated organisms.

Genetic engineering routinely moves proteins into the food supply from organisms that have never been consumed as foods. Some of those proteins could be food allergens, since virtually all known food allergens are proteins. Recent research substantiates concerns about genetic engineering rendering previously safe foods allergenic. A study by scientists at the University of Nebraska shows that soybeans genetically engineered to contain Brazil-nut proteins cause reactions in individuals allergic to Brazil nuts.

Scientists have limited ability to predict whether a particular protein will be a food allergen, if consumed by humans. The only sure way to determine whether protein will be an allergen is through experience. Thus importing proteins, particularly from nonfood sources, is a gamble with respect to their allergenicity

[labelwench]

I have taken the liberty of copying this piece from Graybeard's blog, relevent as phytoplankton are to this thread.

The Oceans are reservoir of life and a main engine of weather, and yet we use them as a repository for our effluent and nuclear waste. LW

Phytoplankton
Posted 04-12-2007 at 02:40 AM by Graybeard
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The Unseen Forest

An unseen "forest" of microscopic beings fills the upper 200 meters of ocean, exerting an influence on this planet every bit as profound as the forests on land. The diverse phytoplankton species inhabiting the ocean's surface waters--which mainly consist of single-celled cyanobacteria, diatoms and other kinds of algae--form the base of the marine food web.

They account for roughly half the photosynthesis on the earth, remove nearly as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as all land plants, and supply about half the oxygen we breathe. Without the activities of these free-floating plantlike organisms, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels would triple.

That phytoplankton could accomplish so much with so little recognition from the general public is surprising [see "The Ocean's Invisible Forest," by Paul Falkowski; Scientific American, August 2002]. Even more remarkable, scientists had no idea which microbial species performed the bulk of these vital functions until 15 years ago, when Sallie W. Chisholm of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Robert J. Olson of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and other collaborators discovered marine cyanobacteria from the genus they later named Prochlorococcus.

They are the smallest and most numerous photosynthetic organisms known and arguably the most plentiful species on the earth, responsible at times for more than half the photosynthesis in the seas. Cyanobacteria such as Prochlorococcus were the planet's first oxygen-producing creatures and are, in a broad sense, the ancestors of all higher plants.
[Source Unknown]

[austintorn@aol.com]

Sapiens have to be smart enough to preserve nature from their own tampering, plus from natural environmental changes affecting all species. For the first time, then, we and all would not be at the mercy of the latter, these things even causing 99% extinctions. So, thank God for science! How science gets used is up to humans. Hard to predict the good uses from the bad, sometimes. Airplanes are great, but they can be used as weapons. Cars are useful, too, so the huge numbers of traffic fatalities is 'accepted'. Nuclear energy could be a good source of energy if we need it, but the discoveries also allowed bombs to be made.

[Graybeard]

The purpose of this thread is to invite an examination of the process of evolution rather than an exploration of evolution as a theory of origin, more specifically, a retracing of the impacts of our particular species on this process.

Hmmmm ... its hard to do one, without arriving at the other ... lol

At some point in our history, our intervention in the process of natural evolution has dramatically impacted the acceleration of change, and I might suggest we have skewed much of the balance of co-evolution in this regard.

I think the fact that we have become sapient, or aware and reflective, tends to give us an idea that we are outside evolution, affecting it artificially, and not a part of it. But we can't remove ourselves from it, even if we reduce the planet to uninhabitable by humans, evolution will go on as tho we had never been. Surviving species, and new species, will adapt and go on. Given time and a fair wind, one or some of them will become sapient because natural selection drives towards complexity and trades off extinction.

He cometh up and is cut down like a flower, and continueth not in one stay ..... thats for Pat .. lol

Awareness in this sense, at first gives us a sense of separation, a detachment, but this is overconfidence, and initially allowed us to take grave risks in the belief that we could 'make-it-right' later. America once detonated a nuclear device (70 megaton) in the atmosphere that knocked the magnetic field off both poles, destroying the magnoshield, and causing it to surge and swing violently, destroying all communications throughout the world, and exposing us to the solar wind for 11 minutes. No one knew in those 11 minutes if it would stabilise. And yet QM was enriched by these experiments. After they had finished changing their diapers, they never did it again, and strongly opposed anyone else doing it. No pain, no gain.

But a deeper reflection, more considered, and you realise that we have no control, and if we are to survive, because we can't get out of it, then we must try to understand how to navigate an ocean liner with little more than a lawn mower engine. If the skipper wants to turn or stop, he must start slowing down 2 days before ... lol

cool bananas ... greg

[austintorn@aol.com]

America once detonated a nuclear device (70 megaton) in the atmosphere that knocked the magnetic field off both poles, destroying the magnoshield, and causing it to surge and swing violently, destroying all communications throughout the world, and exposing us to the solar wind for 11 minutes. No one knew in those 11 minutes if it would stabilize.


(I changed an 's' to a 'z' in 'stabilise'. My spell-check didn't know about that usage.)

Anyway, Wow! I didn't know about all that. Holy Cripes! We were almost all goners. Really. At the time, I thought it was just me having some kind of weird feeling.

[labelwench]

But a deeper reflection, more considered, and you realise that we have no control, and if we are to survive, because we can't get out of it, then we must try to understand how to navigate an ocean liner with little more than a lawn mower engine. If the skipper wants to turn or stop, he must start slowing down 2 days before ... lol

cool bananas ... greg
__________________

Promoted to the top of the class, to date, Greg.

We do not have total control, but we have ability to influence and a responsibility to future generations. Even I, with no begats, feel a sense of responsibility to the other beings and lifeforms that share this journey.

My concerned hypothesis is that we may be in exactly that position,.....2 days before....

How good are you with that lawn mower engine?

All hands on deck!

Regards,

Labelwench

[Graybeard]

(I changed an 's' to a 'z' in 'stabilise'. My spell-check didn't know about that usage.)

This has only been publicly revealed since the freedom of information campaign, but still public now for very many years.

Also we don't use the 'zedd' or as you would say, the 'zee' .... lol

cool bananas ... greg

[austintorn@aol.com]

Also we don't use the 'zedd' or as you would say, the 'zee'

Lucky that just one flap of a butterfly wing long ago didn't cause many more changes—or an odor would smell much more sweet when being spelled as 'odour'.

Boy, you different kind of people are so weird.