Why Are Wild Animals the IMMUNITY of the Wild?

I was struck by a comment on my article. It seemed very important.

A reader writes: “Pavel, listening to you, it seems that all animals and birds in nature are its immunity!”

Written with an obvious hint of sarcasm. I quoted only the phrase that seemed important to me without context. Therefore, the sarcasm may not be clear.

In general, yes! You can say that: all animals and birds in nature are its immunity!

And there's nothing to laugh about here at all:

IN ESSENCE, ALL ANIMALS AND BIRDS IN NATURE REALLY ARE ITS IMMUNITY!

AND PEOPLE, KILLING “SOME BIRDS” OR “SOME ANIMALS” THAT THEY CONSIDER UNNECESSARY OR EVEN HARMFUL, ARE ESSENTIALLY FIGHTING THE EARTH'S IMMUNE SYSTEM!

This is not obvious. Some might sincerely not understand. So let me try to explain in more detail.

It's worth it – this is a crucial point in understanding biological systems!

FIRSTLY.

One must evaluate the object as a whole! A system is defined as a system because the properties of a holistic system are not reducible to the properties of its individual elements.

For illustration, I'll use the most common example probably, with water.

Water consists of two gases: oxygen and hydrogen. One of these gases burns, and the other supports burning. The water itself is not a gas but a liquid. And it doesn't burn, it extinguishes fire. Therefore, judging the whole system by individual elements is simply stupid. But we, humans, do this almost always, demonstrating “everyday idiocy”.

“Evil” wolves ate a rabbit/lamb/attack people. Catch them, destroy them all!

“Dangerous” predators – ah, ah, scary! Kill them all!

These are a couple of examples of evaluating animals from the position of such “everyday idiocy”. In a COMPLEX SYSTEM, top predators, as we have recently discovered, play a special role. Top predators, as it turns out, are one of the key species for biological systems. But for this, you need to evaluate THE SYSTEM AS A WHOLE.

SECONDLY.

The Russian Taiga as a complex super-organism, as a complex system of interdependent biocoenoses, is evaluated by almost no one.

The fraction of a percent of people who make such SYSTEMATIC assessments are within statistical error. Primarily, these are biologists, ecologists, etc.

That is, people who were simply TAUGHT to look at the forest not as a “wood depot” or “decorations for animal hunting”, but as a complex biological system.

THIRDLY.

Let's try to define the boundaries of the large system of the forest.

Where does the organism of the forest begin and end? What does it include? And why can we talk about the “organism of the forest”, that is, about a system?

The simplest analogy is with a lower-level system. With an animal organism, for example.

If we draw parallels with the skeletal system, the skeletal system of the forest will be the geology that contains this forest. Mountains, plains, soils, rivers – all of this. That’s why Vladimir Vernadsky, for example, talked about “bio-geo-coenoses”!

The plant communities themselves already perform the living, active functions that transform the surrounding world. They are, in essence, the “organism of the forest”, the biocoenosis. Here, analogies can be drawn with the muscular system and the complex functions of various organ systems.

The forest breathes like lungs. In general, the analogy is old and familiar to everyone: The forest is the lungs of the Earth. Swamp biocoenoses are somewhat similar to the liver in their purifying and transforming function.

And various animals and birds are the mobile elements of the forest system. They are not stationary; they move throughout the parent biocoenosis. And, under unfavorable circumstances, they migrate over long distances.

Migratory birds connect distant biomes on a planetary scale.

So, what do we see when we look at the SYSTEM functions of animals and birds in the forest?

- they move over long distances, connecting parts of the forest (biocoenosis);

- some of them move over ultra-long distances, connecting different biocoenoses thousands of kilometers apart;

- they disperse seeds along their path;

- they cleanse forest areas of proliferated insects that have started to massively destroy forest sections and can be interpreted as “pest insects”;

- they loosen and fertilize the soil, actively participating in the transformation of the skeletal “ground” into living and breathing “soil”.

These are just some functions at a glance!

And, if we draw a simple analogy with the system of an animal organism, this will be something similar to immune bodies!

Yes, I simplify for understanding.

Yes, ANY analogy is not accurate.

This is a way of speaking. This is a way to explain complex things as simply and illustratively as possible.

So, within the context of such a simple and illustrative example, what are the animals and birds of the Russian Taiga?

Immunity!

Those mobile parts of the organism of the Russian Taiga that ensure the connectivity of the organism, penetrate problematic areas in large numbers and heal these areas, transport various elements throughout the organism.

Yes, this is descriptive and figurative!

But it is quite correct to say:

IN ESSENCE, ALL ANIMALS AND BIRDS IN NATURE REALLY ARE ITS IMMUNITY!

© PAVEL PASHKOV