Alex Wild“What is the function of Species X?” Is a question I hear often from non-biologists.
But it’s hard to answer. Species don’t exist to serve a function. They exist because they can. Everything is just trying to find a way to be.
Maxilo OveritSpeciation as job application. Go.
rsp@aka_quant_noir @alexwild While species do not exist to serve a function, they do in fact serve functions. Question: is there a word similar to function that would be more appropriate? Humans serve the function of providing a niche for follicle mites and human lice and hundreds of kinds of bacteria, viruses, ect. I wouldn't say that species have a "purpose* in the sense of fulfilling a supreme being's plan--but in the sense that other species depend on other species.
neville park@rspfau @aka_quant_noir @alexwild finally, someone looking out for the follicle mites
(it's hard to study them in the lab because they can't live long off our skin. a recent paper suggests they are evolving to become even more dependent upon us https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/39/6/msac125/6604544 )
