Re: flights of fancy (or "I'm brave, but I'm chicken****")

[bob@intelenet.net (Bob Myers)]

On Dec 1, 20:29, Rob Meyerson wrote:
} Subject: Re: flights of fancy (or "I'm brave, but I'm chicken****")
> 
> Not completely true.  We see over and over again that animals that are lower=
>  on the food chain tend to produce a plethora of offspring.  This is so some=
>  of them will last long enough to reproduce (basically, the flood the=
>  system).  Invertebrates churn out vast quantities of planktonic larvae, as=
>  do amphibians.  This is actually a decent survival strategy: produce enough=
>  young to satisfy the predators, then produce a bunch more to carry on the=
>  species.  Rather harsh, but it works.
> 
>-- End of excerpt from Rob Meyerson

In the end, I don't understand how this strategy works, though.

I can understand lots of offspring to overcome "accidents" of various
types, but to "satisfy the predators"?  I don't understand why the
predators don't breed proportionately.

Now, herding I can understand, and I can see where numbers might help:
the number of opportunities for a predator might not grow linearly
with the number of prey animals if they hang out in herds.  But I
don't really see how you can ever "satisfy the predators", as you put
it, unless the predator population is limited in some way other than
food supplies.




-- 
Bob Myers                              InteleNet Communications, Inc.
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