"Robert J. Bradbury" wrote:
>
> On Sun, 18 Mar 2001, Jim Fehlinger wrote:
>
> > This suggests that, over the course of the entire history
> > of life on Earth, r-strategy came first (and is still the most
> > common), but a few more complex organisms invented
> > k-strategy (including the ones that gave rise to us).
>
> It doesn't matter what came first. Nature will vary the
> strategy to match the hazard function. You could be a
> k-strategist, but if your environment suddenly becomes
> hazardous, only the r-leaning strategists within the
> species are going to survive.
Well, neither the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary event,
nor the whopping big Permian-Triassic one, seems to have
wiped out vertebrates all over the earth, or reversed
the long-term trend. Large amphibians in the Permian
were replaced by even larger reptiles in the Triassic.
Later, dinosaurs gave way to mammoths and megatheria.
But yes, really hostile local environments seem to end up
being populated with little, scuttling things (and
tourists).
Jim F.
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