Posted on 06/19/2006 9:22:26 AM PDT by RadioAstronomer
A new study of animal populations shows that even widely separated populations of a single species will go extinct together if a common external force is applied. Take the analogy of two grandfather clocks falling into synchrony through subtle vibrations in the floorboards linking the two clocks. In the same way a common stimulant, in the form, say, of predators or adverse climate conditions, can synchronize the fate of separate enclaves of an endangered species.
(Excerpt) Read more at aip.org ...
Not sure this is for the ping list, but thought you would find this interesting.
After reading a good physics article on animal extinction, I like to go to the barbershop for a good homecooked meal.
Is this way out on planet Vulcan which is sending us television signals about it?
Like the Internet causing the extinction of Dimocrats and the Antique Media?
You can lead some folks to science, but you can't make 'em think.
Might be good news for the global war on terror.
It is typical news, mistaking the meaning of decimate. Utter hysterical hyperbolic trash. The MSM, dead men walking. The sooner they fall over and rot in hell the better.
I note also, physics by analogy and I don't recall that as an effective or formal logic. Certainly in this case the parallelism fails. And I see 'Ben Stein' as co-author. I looked to see the pub date as 1 April but was further puzzled.
I can't imagine what the mechanism could be here; the author doesn't speculate. I mean, an asteroid strikes the earth and all T-Rex worldwide die out. Not because of any "sychronization of the species" but because it's way too stressful for an organism to live very well under a broiler inhaling vaporized rock. Still, I want to know more! :-)
I suppose the comments about predators and climate conditions only appear in my copy of the article.
Most interesting, but probably not for the whole list. I'll ping "the few."
I read that as an analogy to another analogy. Didn't really explain it for me. Perhaps it's perfectly clear to you. If so, please enlighten me. Guess I just don't understand how grandfather clocks can fall "into synchrony through subtle vibrations in the floorboards."
The grandfather clocks are an analogy. Preditors and climate change are literal. Is that too complicated? The author doesn't claim to know the exact mechanism, but he does provide possible causes.
Common causes work in mysterious ways.
If you think this is bad, you should see what EE's do with the term in "IEEE Transactions on Information Theory" and similar journals (like "IEE Transactions on Information Theory.")
No, it's too sloppy. I'm looking for a deeper mechanism than subtle vibrations in the floorboards, lol, about which the author says nothing. But thanks for your input.
Sometimes you have to document the existence of a phenomenon before you have an explanation. That's the usual way.
They conclude that provided there is a common threat, separated communities of the species will synchronize together before becoming extinct.
This is bad news for conservationists hoping that some decimated species could survive in isolation.
I'm just a simpleminded yokel, but wouldn't isolation only be relevant if it applies to that 'common threat'? In other words, if a common threat reaches both isolated populations, then there is no isolation as far as it is concerned.
Sorry all for being gone. I had to post and run.
I just thought this might be an interesting phenomenon (I don't know if it is real) that you all may not have seen before. I am a member of AIP and get Physics News in my email.
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