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.
I agree that it was an example of a failure to understand ecology but it was in a sense applying what the farmers understood as the ecology knowledge that could be applied to help their sugar cane crop. The cane toad does eat the insects that were attacking the sugar cane crop and so that part of the ecology understanding was sound. The fact the toads are poisonous to natural predators multiply very quickly and attack all types of insects was the wider picture that was missed and so demonstrates the question posed by the opening post can be true.
As to whether physics can be taken too far I think we can just look at the bombs dropped by the USA on Japan to bring an end to World War II but that is even more remote from the usual topics of problem solving on a gardening forum. Maybe we should try to keep the discussion more to the garden.
For example some one gave me a present of one of these commercially produced bee hotels that I have hung up in the garden and seen be completely ignored by solitary bees for over six months. I have made other arrangements in the garden to provide habitat for insects so maybe the demand for the new one I hung up is not very great but is it other people's experience that these commercially produced bee accommodation products are just a gimmick as it seems to be to me?
Some folk seem to think ecology is some sort of philosophy or 'quasi-religion' ... it's not, it's a science based on empirical evidence. Introducing cane toads to Australia was not 'ecology'.
As for the bee 'hotel' , maybe the bees think you've hung it in the wrong place and it's not meeting their requirements where it is? Perhaps more ecological study and understanding is required?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
• (Ecology) the political movement concerned with protection of the environment
So this is what you are putting up for debate, the fact that the above political movement has gone ‘too far’?
Whether one thinks it has gone too far or hasn’t gone far enough, at least it makes more sense than ‘ecology has gone too far’, which I would agree is an nonsensical as saying physics or biology has gone too far. Ecology is. It exists. The ecology of the world is constantly changing, whether through natural events or manmade interventions.
So what is your opinion? Has the political movement to protect the environment gone too far/not far enough and if so how and in what way? No ducking out, if you start a debate have the courtesy to contribute!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Agree with @Nollie - ecology exists - end of story but if you are after others views on whether or not politics has swayed the environmental debate one way or another ( too little ? too far ? ), then why not actually say so ? Little opportunity to debate the issue if you don't put your view - your thread after all and you did state previously that you wanted to initiate debates as opposed to simply wanting reactions
Some folk seem to think ecology is some sort of philosophy or 'quasi-religion' ... it's not, it's a science based on empirical evidence. Introducing cane toads to Australia was not 'ecology'.
As for the bee 'hotel' , maybe the bees think you've hung it in the wrong place and it's not meeting their requirements where it is? Perhaps more ecological study and understanding is required?
I completely agree that ecology is a science but I was trying to give the opening poster some credit and assuming they were more looking for a discussion about the application of ecology rather than just meaning the study of ecology can be done too much. This is why I mentioned the introduction of the cane toad to Australia as this was done based on the understanding of the ecology of the toad as a predator of insects that the farmers found to be a pest on their crops.
The bee hotel continues to be subject to ecological study here.
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“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Of course, this might happen too.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD89wjUQZCw
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
As for the bee 'hotel' , maybe the bees think you've hung it in the wrong place and it's not meeting their requirements where it is? Perhaps more ecological study and understanding is required?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Whether one thinks it has gone too far or hasn’t gone far enough, at least it makes more sense than ‘ecology has gone too far’, which I would agree is an nonsensical as saying physics or biology has gone too far. Ecology is. It exists. The ecology of the world is constantly changing, whether through natural events or manmade interventions.
So what is your opinion? Has the political movement to protect the environment gone too far/not far enough and if so how and in what way? No ducking out, if you start a debate have the courtesy to contribute!
Little opportunity to debate the issue if you don't put your view - your thread after all and you did state previously that you wanted to initiate debates as opposed to simply wanting reactions