[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

RE: Allelopathy and stuff



> Charlie wrote:
> > <<While I admit I do think about it now and then to explain
> > problems in my tanks I don't understand, and these threads
> > of discussion are plausible, the only (real) place where toxins
> > build up in aquatic systems allowing favor to one species over
> > another is probably in our tanks.>>

JOlson8590 <JOlson8590 at aol_com> responded:
> Absolutely right. AND, that is the only thing we are concerned with. What goes
> on in our tanks.  The interactions of terrestrial plants in desert areas, and
> in prairies, is not particularly germane to us. (Also, the terrestrial plants
> have been and are intensively studied. No point in re-inventing the wheel.
> :-)) 

The problem here is that by definition this is not allelopathy:  this is not 
microclimate modification by a species for adaptive individual favoring.  Rather,
this is merely toxic or other waste by-product buildup that modifies the
micro-environment, resulting in marginal environmental fitness adjustments
to all species, including the producer.  

This is merely the continuation of environmental contamination from
species success, which is just as true in plants or animals, terrestrial
or aquatic.  We can't call it allelopathy because it is not.  To do so would
imply evolutionary success by a species for employing the tool of toxic
poisoning of a neighbor, which is quite different from merely stating
"this species produces waste" (as we know all species do in varying
quantities and toxicity levels).

My argument is that allelopathy is not a viable adaptive mechanism for
aquatic plants.  Any toxic compounds that build up in our tanks are merely
the result of waste products and not evolutionary success mechanisms
to gain advantage over the neighbor.  While I concede that some species
may be better at ingesting its own "urine", we should come up with another
term for this that means "tolerates its own waste well".  In relation to
aquatic plants, that will likely be specific to and useful only for aquariums 
or other small enclosed systems.

--charley 
charleyb at cytomation_com