Population/Resources/Release

[Kondla, Norbert FOR:EX]

In a recent posting the following statements were made: "The level of the
population of a given butterfly species is determined by the resources
available to the population. You can only
increase the population by increasing the resources. The release of extra
individuals will merely displace others. Releasing extra butterflies does
not help the "web of life". "  While I believe it to be true (truth is not
an absolute; it is what one believes to be the truth) that resources
available to caterpillars and adults does have an effect on population size;
the matter of what determines population size is considerably more complex
and subject to stochastic events that defy the efforts of mathematical
modellers to capture.  Temperature, moisture, predator numbers can all play
a significant role in the population level of a butterfly species at a given
point in time; population numbers change.  I do not agree with the
observation that it is only possible to increase a population by increasing
the resources.  Increase in fecundity due to increased quality of resources
is possible as is increasing the population by reducing predation; neither
requires an increase in available resources (at least not in a quantitative
sense).  I am not aware of any literature that presents data for the release
of 'extra' butterflies displacing others.  I would welcome any citations in
this regard.  It may be that releasing extra butterflies does not help the
web of life but at this point in my life I see no reason to believe that
this would be unhelpful or harmful (the fact that some people hold such an
opinion does not make it so).  The web of life is what it is, it is
constantly changing, the balance of nature is a myth, there is no such thing
as waste (everything gets used by something)  -- what else can I pontificate
about to prompt some spirited debate :-)  how about, "the web of life has
more complexity than the sum total of all the atomic vibrations since the
beginning of time" -- prove me wrong :-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Norbert Kondla  P.Biol., RPBio.
Forest Ecosystem Specialist, Ministry of Environment
845 Columbia Avenue, Castlegar, British Columbia V1N 1H3
Phone 250-365-8610
Mailto:Norbert.Kondla at gems3.gov.bc.ca       
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca