Subject: Re: Question: 10% energy absorption from food
From: [email-masked] (Renate A Wesselingh)
Date: 12 Aug 1994 06:11:26 GMT
Newsgroups: sci.med.nutrition,bionet.plants

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Alec
>Edgington) writes:

>>In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked]
>>writes:
>> One orchard could sustain (let's say) 10 pigs, and
>>those would suffice for one human, whereas that same orchard can feed 10
>>persons if they eat apples instead of pork.
[deletion]
>>
>There is something wrong with this argument. The fact is that no
>ecosystem can exist in isolation. The plant world needs the animal
>world, for carbon dioxide, continuance of the nutrient cycle through
>animals' excreta, etc etc. You cannot simply take animals away or your
>"orchard" will suffer and die. So really by taking away the pigs you
>throw out the baby with the bathwater. And somebody or something will
>have to eat those pigs and carry on the cycles. Nothing, no fly or
>joule, is wasted in nature.

You forget that I replaced ten pigs with ten humans. They are as good in 
producing carbon dioxide and orchard manure as pigs are... The only thing
that is left out is the top carnivore, but you can well do without. Instead
of letting your humans be eaten by a wolf, they die of natural causes, and
the soil inhabitants have quite a meal to feast upon. They in turn produce
the food your apple trees need. In fact, the absence of the top carnivore
(and its CO2 production) is made up for by the earthworms, bacteria, fungi,
etc. As you say, nothing is wasted. So just eat your pigs, and when you're
through with them, switch to the apples.

-----
Renate A. Wesselingh ..................................................|
Institute of Evolutionary and Ecological Sciences .....................|
Leiden University, PO Box 9516, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands .......|
[email-masked] ...........................................|