You've thus undermined your argument for ignoring evolution as a part of
ecology.
I can think of plenty of areas of ecology -- pollination and seed
dispersal, for instance -- where evolutionary ideas are key components
of their theoretical foundation.
There is also a key historical fact that humans have long observed the
tremendous biodiversity on this planet without coming up with the idea
of evolution by natural selection. Darwin, on the other hand, observed
both the diversity and ecology of the species he encountered on the
Beagle expedition and later. Given his writings, I don't think anyone
can legitimately argue that ecology was a key component in driving his
(and Wallace's) thinking on evolution.
Dave
On 12/28/2009 11:29 AM, Jane Shevtsov wrote:
Disturbance and succession would occur. If climate changed, the
species composition of communities would change. In fact, in a world
without evolution, such changes would be MORE pronounced, as species
would be unable to adapt to environmental change.
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