Ecosystems Archives - Page 2 of 4 - DOES GOD EXIST? TODAY

June 21, 2023June 20, 2023

Chemical Defense Against Predators

God’s design in the natural world provides protection for animals that would appear to be unable to defend themselves. Some animals can’t bite or run, and camouflage is not an option because their environment changes too quickly. Toads and frogs are classic examples of this, but they have an effective chemical defense against predators.

The Sonoran Desert toad (Incilius alvarius) in the desert southwest (also known as the Colorado River toad) defends itself with a chemical mix secreted through its skin. This toad is very large, and its desert environment makes hiding difficult. All toads secrete toxins through their skin, but the Sonoran Desert toad secretes a substance known as 5-MeO-DMT from glands behind each eye and on its legs. This chemical is a powerful hallucinogen secreted by no other toad or frog, and predators quickly learn to avoid it.

The giant leaf frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor) in South America (also known as the giant monkey frog) secretes a chemical known as kambo, which causes violent regurgitation and seizures and even affects the heart function of predators. The chemicals differ with each species, and researchers are trying to determine how the defenses work. Sonoran Desert toads and giant leaf frogs are geographically isolated, yet they share a common problem of vulnerability. They both use a chemical defense against predators but with different chemicals.

Interest in the Sonoran Desert Toad has increased because people have found that licking the toad produces a high. The psychedelic effect has caused people to catch the frogs, threatening their survival. Although predators are smart enough to leave them alone, apparently, humans are not. Abusers call the 5-MeO-DMT toxin “the God molecule,” but researchers warn that it can cause cardiac arrest.

Researchers are studying the ability of toads and frogs to secrete a chemical defense against predators. The difference in the chemicals depending on the species is still a mystery, but it’s a testimony to the design built into the natural world, allowing diversity in living things. The statement of God’s design of humans in Psalms 139:14 is also true of every creature in God’s creation.

Reference: Science News (May 6 and 20, 2023, pages 21-22)

March 30, 2023March 27, 2023

Every Life Form Benefits Humans

Genesis 1:31 tells us, “God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” The creation is a carefully designed system that allows beauty and function, benefiting humans in every way. Every life form benefits humans in some way, but we may not understand how until we study all living things. Our websites and materials often point out surprising facts about how animals and plants benefit us.

Today we have many medicines, vaccines, and remedies for ailments derived from the creatures God created. However, many cures for human afflictions remain to be secured from other life forms that share the planet with us. Medical researchers are concerned that many creatures which might be able to help us cure disease and afflictions are becoming extinct because of the mismanagement of God’s creation.

Research on animal population changes from 1970 to 2018 shows that the number of birds, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and fish declined by 69% during those years. The research was an exhaustive study of 5,230 species in 31,821 populations. The most significant loss was in Latin America and the Caribbean, where the decline was 94%. Africa was second with a loss of 66%.

The research also studied the causes of the decline in living things and found that overexploitation and habitat degradation were the main issues resulting in 70% of the loss. Pollution contributed to less than 10% of the decline. Thus, human greed and selfishness are causing most of the problems.

An old story tells about a man at the judgment asking God why He allowed him to die in a flood. God replied, “I sent you my workers with a canoe, a row boat, a motor boat, and an airboat, but you kept saying you were waiting for me to save you.” God’s creation design provides that every life form benefits humans. He has given us everything we need, from food to medicinal agents, but we continue to allow greed and selfishness to waste God’s provisions.

Reference: March, 2023 issue of Population Connection magazine

March 22, 2023March 21, 2023

Microbes in Hydrothermal Deposits

One of the fascinating things about research on microorganisms is the diversity of species and environments in which they live. Superheated material at temperatures of up to 400 degrees celsius is extruded from vents in the deep ocean. When it contacts the cold seawater, it produces porous rocks in the form called “chimneys.” This rock differs from rocks on Earth’s surface due to the pressure at those depths. Researchers from Portland State University and the University of Wisconsin found diverse microbes in hydrothermal deposits.

The researchers sampled 40 rock communities and found 3,635 species of microbes in hydrothermal deposits. The researchers were amazed at how diverse these bacterial communities are. The lead researcher Anna-Louise Reysenbach said, “At one volcano, there was so much new diversity that we hadn’t seen elsewhere.” Not only did they find new species, but they also discovered two new phyla and at least 500 new genera. In addition, the scientists found that New Zealand samples differed from those found in other places.

The design of life is so flexible that you can find living things in locations where you would not expect life to survive. It is important to note that scientists are classifying the microbes in hydrothermal deposits using the same phyla, genera, and species categories they use for life on Earth’s surface. The bacteria are not so different from surface bacteria, but they can live in environments of extreme pressures and temperatures.

We know that life forms exist in extremely cold and hot places on Earth. The design of life is exquisite, and these microorganisms support the higher life forms familiar to us. This study implies that life could exist elsewhere in the cosmos if God chose to put it there. However, there is a world of difference between finding a microbe on a distant planet or satellite and finding a sentient alien being as portrayed on the movie screen. The complexity of life and the amazing design of our own bodies shows God’s creative wisdom. I am “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalms 139:14). As we learn more about the diverse places where life can exist, we are amazed at how sophisticated life design is.

References: National Science Foundation Research News for March 7, 2023, and the journal Microbiome

February 14, 2023February 13, 2023

Elephants and Ecosystems

Yesterday we talked about ecosystems, what they are, and why they are essential. If you looked at yesterday’s picture, you saw that carbon sequestration was among the “services” provided by ecosystems. Today, there is much concern about atmospheric carbon (carbon dioxide and methane) increasing the “greenhouse effect” and causing global warming. That makes capturing carbon an essential service of ecosystems to protect our survival. One vital area involves African elephants and ecosystems.

Elephants are known as megaherbivores because of their size and the fact that they eat plants. New research has shown that elephants have a “profound” effect on forest ecosystems. We have mentioned before that beavers shape their environment to create ecosystems that support many other life forms. Researchers from Sweden, France, and the United States confirm that elephants are also “ecosystem engineers” that “significantly influence the structure and functioning of ecosystems” such as tropical rainforests in Africa.

The positive connection between elephants and ecosystems involves two aspects of elephant behavior. First, African forest elephants prefer to eat the leaves of trees with low wood density. This is because those leaves contain more protein and less fiber than the ones with high wood density. Secondly, elephants prefer to eat fruit from trees with higher wood density. By eating those fruits, the elephants disperse the seeds of the trees that sequester the most carbon.

Elephants spread more seeds of more plant species than any other animal. The elephant’s diet enables the survival and spread of the trees that store more carbon, keeping it out of the atmosphere. At the same time, elephants reduce overcrowding by the lower-density plants, allowing the larger trees to grow. This balance of elephants and ecosystems helps to protect the planet from excess carbon in the atmosphere.

The study concludes that elephant conservation will significantly affect global climate by controlling the amount of atmospheric carbon. God has designed a worldwide system of many ecosystems that make Earth suitable for advanced life to thrive. Our job is to protect the blessings God has given us to enjoy. Who doesn’t enjoy watching elephants?

Reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

February 13, 2023February 13, 2023

Ecosystem Design and Stewardship

An ecosystem is a complex network of living and non-living things interacting with one another in a specific environment. It includes all the living organisms, such as plants, animals, and microorganisms, as well as the non-living components, such as air, water, soil, and climate. These living components are adapted to the non-living components in an interdependent system, with each relying on the others. We see ecosystem design everywhere we look on planet Earth.

Ecosystems exist in water environments, from ponds to streams to rivers to the oceans. They exist on land in forests, mountains, and deserts. They vary from tropical rainforests to frozen tundra. Each ecosystem has a unique balance of species, with each species playing a specific role. This balance is maintained through various mechanisms, including competition, predation, and mutualism.

Ecosystem design provides many vital services affecting human life, such as water filtration, air purification, and food. At the same time, humans have a profound impact on ecosystem management through deforestation, destruction, and pollution. Careless actions of humans can disrupt the delicate balance of ecosystems, leading to a decline in biodiversity, the extinction of essential species, and climate change.

Conservation and management efforts aim to protect and restore ecosystems and maintain their resilience. This involves protecting habitats, reducing pollution, and managing human activities to minimize ecosystem harm. It also requires monitoring and understanding environmental change and taking steps to reduce or correct human-caused impacts. As we protect ecosystems, they provide services critical to life on this planet. That is part of ecosystem design.

An ecosystem is an ecological system. As we think about the multitude of ecosystems, large and small, localized and widespread, we must realize that they are systems. Do systems happen by accident, or do they require intelligent planning? Can complex things come together to form an efficiently-functioning ecosystem on their own? Every living thing consists of many complex systems within the cells, organs, and whole bodies. Ecosystem design involves systems within systems within systems working together in balance.

Can efficient, balanced systems happen without a system designer? If there is a Designer of Earth’s ecosystems, as I believe there is, we owe it to Him to take care of what He has given for our existence and enjoyment. Genesis tells us that God gave humans the job of managing the creatures and ecosystems of planet Earth. (See Genesis 1:28.) We must avoid the rebuke the rich man gave to his unworthy steward in a parable Jesus told. “What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward” (Luke 16:2).

February 7, 2023February 6, 2023

Venomous or Poisonous – What’s the Difference?

People often think of venom or poison as the same thing, but they are not. Even though people may use those terms interchangeably, there are differences in their origin, delivery system, and effects on the body. So, when is it correct to say that something is venomous or poisonous?

Venom is a toxin produced by animals, usually in specialized glands. It’s delivered to the victim through a bite or a sting. Animals use venom to capture prey and for defense from predators – and sometimes humans. For example, snakes, spiders, scorpions, and some species of fish, frogs, and insects produce venom. Venomous animals have specialized structures, such as fangs or stingers to deliver the venom into the victim’s body. The effects vary from mild pain and swelling to severe muscle paralysis and even death.

In contrast to venom, poison is a toxic chemical produced by plants, animals, fungi, microorganisms, or humans in a chemical lab. Poison is usually ingested, inhaled, or absorbed through the skin. For example, many plants produce poisons to protect themselves from herbivores and other potential threats. Poisonous mushrooms, toxic berries, and certain types of flowers are examples of plants that produce poisons.

The effects of poison can depend on the type and amount consumed. Some common effects include nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and even death. Many everyday household items are poisonous and must be secured so children or animals can’t ingest them. Medicines that promote healing or fight disease are often poisonous if taken in the wrong quantities or in the wrong way.

So, if someone talks about a poisonous snake or scorpion, they are using the wrong term. Those animals are venomous. Poison does its damage when ingested, inhaled, or touched. For example, a poison dart frog is poisonous, but wasps, spiders, and snakes can be venomous. Some animals or insects are poisonous if eaten but venomous if they bite or sting. Monarch butterflies are mildly poisonous to potential predators, but box jellyfish are highly venomous and deadly to humans. If in doubt, the word “toxic” covers both, but it’s not as precise.

When saying that an animal is venomous or poisonous, remember this. A poisonous animal, such as a poison dart frog, is always poisonous and does not choose to be. A venomous animal, such as a snake, must choose to administer the venom. Humans can choose to avoid poison, but often they do not. People can take poison by mouth or inject it into themselves or someone else. We call that foolishness or murder. Alcohol is a poison that people consume as a drink, sometimes resulting in death. Self-inflicted poisoning by illegal drugs such as fentanyl is causing many deaths in the United States.

Some people ask, “Why would a good God create venomous or poisonous animals?” There is a good reason because those toxins serve as a defense mechanism or a method to capture prey for food. The more troubling question is, “Why would intelligent humans choose to put poisons into their bodies?” When asking that question, remember that it all started with Adam and Eve. “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’” (Genesis 2:16-17). The good news is that God provided the cure for the poison of sin. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

January 24, 2023January 23, 2023

Sand Scorpions and Earthquake Epicenters

An environmental design feature we often overlook is the need to control insect populations. Insects do many good things, but if their numbers are not controlled, they can wipe out other forms of life – especially plants. Sand scorpions help control insects in the Mohave Desert using a method similar to how geologists locate earthquake epicenters.

Earthquakes generate longitudinal and transverse waves. Longitudinal waves travel faster. Close to the earthquake epicenters, the two wave types arrive at about the same time, but farther from the epicenter, the time difference becomes greater. Geologists can accurately compute the earthquake’s epicenter by measuring the difference at various locations.

Sand scorpions use a similar technique to locate their prey. The scorpion has eight legs that can detect vibrations of one angstrom (which is the size of a hydrogen atom). An insect traveling either under the surface or on the surface of the ground creates tiny vibrations. The scorpion detects the direction of the prey by comparing when its legs receive the signal from the prey’s movement. Legs closer to the prey detect the signal before legs further away, and the time difference between the two types of waves is a few microseconds.

By comparing the time difference, the scorpion can compute the distance and direction to the prey. The scorpion then moves in that direction and stops at the distance indicated by the arrival times of the vibrations. It then stabs with its pincers at that point and gets its meal without seeing its prey.

Using a method similar to the way geologists locate earthquake epicenters, sand scorpions, hunting primarily at night, can control insect populations in the Mohave Desert. The many ways the natural system maintains balance is an excellent testimony for design. The creation is not an accident but the product of a Supreme Intelligence that has built these systems into our world.

Reference: Halliday, Resnick, and Walker Fundamentals of Physics 6th edition in the “Waves” chapter, and a research report by Dr. Bijan Nemati at the University of Alabama at Huntsville.

January 19, 2023January 18, 2023

Spider Webs Have Great Diversity

Not all spiderwebs are the same. The web shape and use are different from one spider species to another. However, scientists have identified more than 49,000 species, so spider webs have great diversity.

Araneidae spiders make a round web with a hub in the center and radii projecting outward with rings of sticky spirals surrounding it. Most people have seen those webs in their gardens or other outdoor locations. Spiders in the family Agelenidae build horizontal sheet webs that insects fall onto. The web is not sticky, but when an insect lands on the platform, the spider quickly rushes over and injects venom into the victim.

The Deinopis spiders are net-casters. They make a small square web and hide above it until an insect walks below. The spider drops the net on the unsuspecting prey and then wraps it in silk. One New Guinea spider species makes a long ladder web to capture moths. The moth’s protective coating falls off when sliding down the ladder, and then it gets stuck. In Australia, a species of orb-weaving spiders produce giant net-like webs up to three feet in diameter.

We can see that spiders have enormous diversity in their webs. Spider silk is very acidic, so fungi and bacteria can’t exist on it. Because of that, humans have used spider webs as a treatment for wounds. Medical research has also found uses for spider venom. Researchers estimate that spiders catch up to 800 million tons of insects every year worldwide. Without spiders, we might be overrun by insects.

We tend to have a negative view of spiders, but they are one of God’s great tools to protect us and help make the world a better place. Spiders are not aggressive toward humans, but they can inflict a painful and sometimes dangerous bite when we invade their spaces. Like many other things, we must learn how to manage spiders and their varied webs designed to remove the plague of insects from our lives.

Reference: The International Society of Arachnology in the Old Farmer’s Almanac 2023, pages 186-7.

January 9, 2023January 8, 2023

Global Biomass and Human Responsibility

You may be surprised to know that the total biomass of bacteria in the ground is 1000 times more than the mass of humans. Mass is the total number of molecules present, and we usually measure it by weight, which is the pull of gravity on the molecules. For example, the mass of living things in the ocean equals 100 times the mass of all humans on planet Earth. In other words, if you totaled the quantity of matter in whales, fish, corals, clams, etc., you would have 100 times more molecules than in all living humans. If you counted the number of individual life forms in the oceans, the ratio would be even greater than 100-to-one, but that is quantity, and we are talking about global biomass.

Not only is the mass of underground bacteria greater than that of humans, but even worms have three times our mass. Even more surprising, the mass of viruses on Earth exceeds human mass by more than three times, and the global biomass of all bacteria is more than 1100 times that of all humans. There are some important messages in these numbers. One is that we must understand that we can’t eliminate viruses or bacteria in the world. Furthermore, we wouldn’t want to. Bacteria and viruses are essential in sustaining all other forms of life.

Another thing we need to consider is that humans keep (as livestock, poultry, and pets) a third of all mammal biomass on the planet and two-thirds of all bird mass. In Genesis 1:28, God gave humans the responsibility of managing all living things. We are now beginning to understand the importance of the conservation and management of life on our planet.

The global biomass of plants is another area where we have had a poor understanding. The mass of all plants is 7500 times greater than human mass, and like bacteria and viruses, plants are essential to life on our planet. Human destruction of forests worldwide and the replacement of vegetation with concrete are major factors in pollution and climate change.

The Genesis account says, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth, and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give every green plant for food” (Genesis 1:29-30). Earth’s design is no accident. The role of plants, bacteria, worms, viruses, and all life is a product of an infinitely intelligent and understanding mind.

The dictionary definition of “science” is “knowledge,” and it can never conflict with the mind that created all we see and are. When God challenges us to consider the wisdom in the creation, the human response is like Job’s, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know” (Job 42:3). We know a lot more than Job did, but, like him, there is much we don’t know.

Reference: “The Biomass Distribution on Earth” in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) May 21, 2018

December 30, 2022December 30, 2022

The Appearance of Design

Look around, and you will see amazing things in the natural world that give the appearance of design. Atheist evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins has said that biology is the study of things that give the appearance of having been designed. But, of course, he does not believe they were designed because he does not believe in a designer. Is he correct, or is there a better explanation for the appearance of design? Here are some links to past articles in which we have dealt with that topic:

The Problem of Beauty

Is Design in Nature an Illusion?

Designing a Planet to Support Life

Marvels of Engineering in Nature

Designed with Purpose and Beauty

What Design Looks Like

Does Intelligent Design Destroy Science?

Those are just a few of the past articles on design that show evidence for a Designer. We believe that God has given us two revelations of Himself. One is His creation, and the other is His written word. The authority of the Bible is another subject we have dealt with often. Tomorrow, we will share some links from past articles on that topic.