Bill, the term parasite is used here in its proper biological/ecological
meaning: an organism that obtains some of its resources from others, without
benefitting the hosts. It is not used as a pejorative in this context (from a
biological point of view, I regard parasites with some awe and
From this rigid point of view almost no human communities are
self-sustaining. The city-dwellers do not grow their own food and the
farmers do not build their own tractors.
I think that this line of reasoning is absurd. There is definitely a benefit
to the countryside in selling food to
Before educators use activities to help students understand trophic
efficiency or pyramids, it is important that they recognize the
common misconceptions children have about these topics. Otherwise, an
activity can end up reinforcing these naive conceptions. Tina Grotzer
from the Harvard
Hi,
anyone out there into markovian models who could throw me an email?
Malcolm
--
Malcolm L. McCallum
Associate Professor of Biology
Texas AM University-Texarkana
Editor, Herpetological Conservation and Biology
http://www.herpconbio.org
Fall Teaching Schedule Office Hours:
Ecology: M,W
Joe:
No, this isn't proper use of the word parasite. A parasite is a
relationship between two species, not between ecosystems. Moreover, if
you classify a system as parasitic because it obtains external
resources, are you prepared to call estuaries, bee hives, and termite
mounds parasites?
