Posted on 01/18/2011 7:50:54 AM PST by The Comedian
Anecdotal evidence. And two can play at that game.
The potato blight which caused the Irish famine and migration affected 1 plant in 1 country.
I am perplexed at your use of “anecdotal evidence” in either of the two cases. The whale/krill case is well documented, and anyone who doubts the Irish Potato Blight has only to look at the Kennedy Klan to realize that all levels of Ireland’s talent pool came here.
Perhaps correlation argument would fit better? As in 90% of all heroin addicts have a history of smoking pot. May be true, but so what - virtually 100% of heroin addicts have a milk history.
Causation is the essential issue, and whaling did reduce the whales, and reduced whales allowed for a larger krill population.
“...indicative of how any particular ecosystem predator die-off would affect the prey population.”
I think the more worrisome aspect of any of these relationships is not so much what happens if the predator dies off, but what if the prey is gone.
The over-fishing of some areas is a concern. And pollution from third-world countries. But I always get a kick out of the environmentalists always pointing their fingers at the U.S. of A. when it comes to pollution, etc. If they were REALLY concerned about the environment they would want more drilling, minining, factories etc. in America where our environmental rules are so much better. (And many rules are over the top).
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