@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.

@rspfau @aka_quant_noir I like to think of ecological gravity in a multi-dimensional space, where a particular organism affects the trajectory of other organisms. That's not their purpose, but it's their result, and if it's stable enough over time then other things adjust to it.