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| The food supply controls the number of hawks. They do not control the population of the prey. |
Television and movies dwell on the beauty and grandeur of predators, land and sea, and people love to watch those specials.
The big myth is often used on the rabbit population - "Hawks, owls, and coyotes control the population of rabbits."
Let us meditate on that for a moment. Rabbit populations will grow infinitely without predators? What will they eat when they have finished our gardens, our crops, and our salad bars?
Rabbits prey on wild vegetation - or our domestic crops, so rabbits must control the herb and dandelion population, the carrots and French lettuce? Hardly.
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| We control the hawk population. Without us, they are nothing. |
If rabbits are short on water and food, their population will decline. The buck will no longer look with fondness on the doe, and the doe will grow strangely indifferent to romance, since she is starving and vulnerable to disease from malnutrition.
As one book pointed out, rabbits control the predator population. When they are numerous, the predators will flourish and multiply. The wild dog can barf up lunch for her pups, and her mate will grow stronger on fresh rabbit, twice as nutritious as chicken.
The humblest of God's Creation are the foundation of life. In fresh water, algae forms in sunlight and feeds the entire pyramid of life above.
In the soil, mold and bacteria are essential for all the higher life forms. We think of them primarily in terms of breaking down dead plants and animals, which they do with great speed.
If anyone doubts that, try living in a desert valley like Phoenix and see how everything is mummified without water. Leaves and thorns remain on top of the soil. The dog builds up its own contributions, which never go away by themselves. A concrete deck is no better in a wet climate, filling with dust, debris, and animal donations.
The soil is not only an ocean of life, created to feed us, but also an ocean that swallows up life.
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| Nitrogen is the building block of protein. Earthworms are mostly muscle, needing and contributing nitrogen. |
The bird's dead body rests on the ground. Bacteria and mold attack from their earthy citadel while ants march out to see what they can forage. From below, unseen soil creatures reduce the body, shaded by their food. How clever they are - hiding beneath their food, whether plant or animal, woody or leafy. Those who prey upon them cannot see the soil creatures, unless...
One moved the bird's feather, and a robin saw the movement and heard the rusting sound. He cocks his head, fixes on his target, and grabs the bug for the babies' breakfast. Robins are supposed to favor earthworms, but they cannot dine at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse every meal. They look for insects, seeds, and bread crumbs too.
If the soil is fertile, filled with bacterial and soil creatures, the higher life forms will have healthy and growing populations. When the soil is dead, used up, parched, and eroded away, the other creatures go away to find abundant resources or die from starvation.
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| Dogs can befoul a desert landscape, but they can fertilize a meadow. Why? Soil creatures and rain. |
