The Rise of Slime: Marine Evolution in Reverse

[marcus]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ocean30jul30,0,7764272.story?page=1


"...In many places — the atolls of the Pacific, the shrimp beds of the Eastern Seaboard, the fiords of Norway — some of the most advanced forms of ocean life are struggling to survive while the most primitive are thriving and spreading. Fish, corals and marine mammals are dying while algae, bacteria and jellyfish are growing unchecked. Where this pattern is most pronounced, scientists evoke a scenario of evolution running in reverse, returning to the primeval seas of hundreds of millions of years ago.

Jeremy B.C. Jackson, a marine ecologist and paleontologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, says we are witnessing "the rise of slime."..."

 

[marcus]

Lyngbya Majuscula grows in long dark filaments. It is a strain of cyanobacteria. Very primitive. harks back to before multicell life.

would like to get some comment on this article from bio people

 

[Rade]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ocean30jul30,0,7764272.story?page=1"...In many places — the atolls of the Pacific, the shrimp beds of the Eastern Seaboard, the fiords of Norway — some of the most advanced forms of ocean life are struggling to survive while the most primitive are thriving and spreading. Fish, corals and marine mammals are dying while algae, bacteria and jellyfish are growing unchecked. Where this pattern is most pronounced, scientists evoke a scenario of evolution running in reverse, returning to the primeval seas of hundreds of millions of years ago. Jeremy B.C. Jackson, a marine ecologist and paleontologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, says we are witnessing "the rise of slime."..."

Nothing new under the sun of ecology theory--what we have here is the classic interference of humans on ecology succession--nutrient enriched ecosystems are kept in a state of low maturity (e.g., less species diversity) with high rate of energy flow and destruction of homeostatic mechanisms. The species that suffer the most are those with a low reproductive rate, species such as algae, bacteria dominate. My only argument with J. Jackson is his use of term "evolution running in reverse"--this is not the case, cases of nutrient enrichment as discussed in this article is "succession running in reverse". If I may suggest an excellent classic work on this topic by Ramon Margalef, "Perspectives in Ecological Theory", 1968, U. of Chicago Press. Of course any of the Ecology textbooks by Eugene Odum. Both of these ecologists take a cybernetic approach to ecological theory, which should be of interest to a physicist.