Friday, May 04, 2018
Who's the Darwinian 1
Linked via RCS:
In new research, however, Ivan Nagelkerken, a marine ecologist at the University of Adelaide in Australia, found that when he exposed captive barramundi larvae to acidified water, the fish fled from safe sounds and gravitated toward unsafe ones, a change that could have lethal consequences for wild fish. Nagelkerken already knew from existing research that some fish, including the barramundi and clownfish, appear to change their preferences for sights and smells when exposed to acidified water, but he didn’t know the exact mechanism driving the apparent sensory impairment. He also didn’t know if acidification affected the fish’s hearing in the same way. If barramundi could still decipher danger by sound, they might still thrive in a changing ocean.Normally a Darwinist would assume that a consistent change of behavior in different surroundings is adaptive. If these fish consistently alter their bias toward various sounds when the water is acidic, the alteration must have "evolved" to help them survive among the different set of plants and animals that are found in the acidic water. But not here! Why? Darwin is a recessive gene. All other explanations fade out when GODDESS GAIA demands to be obeyed. The fish behavior can't possibly be adaptive. The fish are DOOMED DOOMED DOOMED BY GLOBAL WARMING TRUMP RUSSIAN TROLL DENIER HERETIC TRUMP HITLER KKK TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP. And now I'm the true Darwinian. I'm using a VALID evolutionary explanation for the altered behavior of scientists when immersed in Gaian grant-water. They pursue Gaian hypotheses because they have "evolved", through tenure selection, to seek the biggest grants.
Labels: Answered better than asked
¶ 11:13 PM
