Heres an armchair hypothesis: Large creatures take longer to grow and more food to do so; hence: longer reproductive periods and fewer numbers of organisms.
Smaller creatures have more numbers and more children; so probably shorter lifetimes. Id expect that any species with higher population numbers and faster evolution periods would split (or differentiate) more frequently into newer species; i.e. more diversity. The creatures that evolved in the south would have greater diversity, but would also have adapted to that region, and would want to stay there. As for the oxygen thing, maybe it has to do with volume to surface area. Big creatures need more oxygen density because they burn more energy moving one meter per kilogram; that is, because of surface area (square law friction) in the liquid as they hunt for food. Thats a guess! _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Marko A. Rodriguez Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2006 8:28 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] north v. south I recently saw a documentary on Encephalopods on PBS (encephalopods: marine creatures belonging to the same family as squid). If I remember correctly, encephalopods are larger in the North Pacific because the water is more oxygenated then in the south. Thus, the creatures in the north grow larger for whatever reason that oxygenated water causes larger growth--I assume for similar reasons as to why farming works better at lower altitudes. However, this explanation doesn't explain why there is more diversity in the south. But don't take my word for it--I'm no cardiologist :). Marko A. Rodriguez Los Alamos National Laboratory (P362-proto) Los Alamos, NM 87545 Phone +1 505 606 1691 http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~okram On Dec 20, 2006, at 10:28 PM, Phil Henshaw wrote: so... I'm in south Florida with my son for a week enjoying the Keys and the Everglades (just a little more interesting than the subway!) and it came to me that the northern oceans there is lots more biomass and in the southern, lots more species. Anyone know if there's a model for that? All my notes are home, but I remember some stocks & flows model theorists talking about maximizing systems by something like internal recycling. Does that connect? -- Phil Henshaw ¸¸¸¸.·´ ¯ `·.¸¸¸¸ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ tel: 212-795-4844 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] explorations: www.synapse9.com ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
