Ecology can be taken too far. And sometimes we miss the whole picture. Is this the place for a debate?
I find the way this question is phrased is a bit confusing. Posting in the problem solving section and asking if it is the place for a debate then I am guessing you are proposing that there is a problem with ecology looking at things in the garden in too fine a detail and then missing the broader situation. Since it is an open forum then I don't see why it would not be a place to debate the topic.
Ecology is just a branch of science so I don't see how this in itself could be a problem until we try to apply our knowledge of ecology in the wrong way. An example I can think of from my own gardening is when I used some beer traps to catch slugs when I had a vegetable plot in my parents back garden. On one occasion I must have put the beer trap bowl too deep in the ground and while it was still attractive to something I found it full one morning with around ten of the long legged spiders that I think do a beneficial job in limiting the numbers of pest insects in the garden. I used my limited understanding that the fermented contents of the trap would attract something to the bowl to attempt to improve my vegetable garden but in fact had the opposite effect by killing these welcome predators. I also see that in my current garden area I have done a good job of increasing the numbers of pollinator insects but at the same time the number of swallow or house martin nests have increased each year so wonder am I just helping these birds get more food rather than really helping pollinator numbers.
On a bigger scale there have been examples of ecology being applied with disastrous results with the cane toad introduction to Australia springing to mind so I guess my answer is that I think ecology can be taken too far but I think we are going to interact with nature in some way so we need good ecology if we are to have any chance of making the better decisions about how we apply it.
Ecology can be taken too far. And sometimes we miss the whole picture. Is this the place for a debate?
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On a bigger scale there have been examples of ecology being applied with disastrous results with the cane toad introduction to Australia springing to mind so I guess my answer is that I think ecology can be taken too far but I think we are going to interact with nature in some way so we need good ecology if we are to have any chance of making the better decisions about how we apply it.
I think that is more an example of a failure to understand ecology.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
you cannot ‘take ecology too far’ … that is nonsensical.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thanks
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
How would people react, if the question was, physics, can we take it too far?
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border