Balancing Act

For as far back in human history that I can trace, people have believed in a balance of nature. Everyone believes that animals each have a niche that they fit into, that plants have a job to do, that all life fits into a purposeful, self-perpetuating rhythm. Even though Darwin demonstrated that isn’t correct, we all cling to the same error. Even though it just takes a little analytical thought to debunk the myth for ourselves, it is difficult to understand that ecological niches are no more balanced than rust. We really like the feeling that there is order, or at least purpose in the world around us.
One of the Douglas firs growing in my back yard is ravaged by birds and insects. The birds peck at the bark for insects and while they are at it, peck a few extra wounds in the tree for other insects to lay more eggs. Good for the birds, good for the insects, devastating for the tree. Yet how often do people claim that birds help the tree by eating insects? Often? Always.
We like to think that species are guided by some survival instinct, that order can be maintained or restored. Like Aristotle, we think of nature like a clockwork or like environmentalists, we think of nature as processes that can be understood and possibly managed.
If I thought it would work, I would restore my fir tree with insecticide. Chances are that the insects would reproduce faster than I could kill them. And the birds would help them. When their habitat is destroyed, they will find another or go extinct.
Nancy Sherer