Savanna Blog
Disturbing. Or is it?
Words are so useful because they point to Truth. But if they don’t point to Truth, they point away from Truth. As such I think it is time that we ecologists have a sit down with the word “disturbance” and ask, ‘what have you done for us lately?’ While we’re at it, we can have […]
Taxonomy Needs a Complete Reorganization (and other surefire ways of creating viral Facebook content)
Both Separate and Connected. But how? I love to beat up on taxonomists because they tend to be constitutionally opposite of me. I see taxonomists as the accountants of the biological sciences, obsessed with making up rules out of thin air and trying to make everyone think they were made by God. But, I hate […]
The Exciting Conclusion to our History of Herbivory Series
Language is powerful tool for revealing truth. We evolved our ability to harness that. But for that same reason, it is more important for us to look out for ways that language conceals truth. Why do I casually mention this now in a blog about grass and cows? Well because this final stretch in our series about […]
History of Herbivory; Mass Extinction.
You call this a mass extinction event? Ha. I’ll show you a mass extinction event. Maybe you by now you would guess that I would say something like that, since I don't like to agree. But I also want to say that actually the mass extinction event that everyone knows about, the "KP" Extinction that […]
The Crushing March of the Flowers (or the History of Herbivory Part V)
There is nothing new under the sun and the world is born fresh at every moment. Holding both of those ideas at once will help you grab the overarching thesis of this very long series, which is eating up a significant percentage of the history herbivory. The next important milestone in the history of herbivory […]
History of Herbivory Part IV
First-hand knowledge is so much better than second-hand knowledge. In the world of the internet, we are awash in second and third-hand knowledge. As a culture, we are trying to make up for many thousands of years when new ideas were carried from village to village by carrier sloths. Though of course a lot of […]