this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2025
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Science Memes

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top 16 comments
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[–] Angelusz@lemmy.world 10 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Are you guys really that stupid? Nature, ah, finds a way. It's called evolution.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 4 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

Evolutionary adaptation doesn't happen that fast, and the name of the bird is literally a snail kite lmao.

Guess what they eat?

[–] spicehoarder@lemm.ee 1 points 2 hours ago
[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmings.world 73 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

This reminds me of the Zebra Mussels in Lake Erie. In the 80s and 90s, invasive Zebra Mussels got into Lake Erie, and started spreading quickly. They would cover the surfaces of everything. They were afraid that they would eventually clog up the water inlet that supply drinking water to the region.

There was a near panic among government leaders for several years, as the mussels grew out of control, and no solution could be found. They even announced a contest with a significant reward if anyone could come up with a solution, but nobody could. So the problem increased.

Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes, so pollution and organic matter tends to concentrate there, making it very murky, and impossible to see. But the stuff in the water was food to the Zebra Mussels, and the population kept filtering the water, feeding.

Eventually, the population reached a level that the water was clearing up, allowing the sun to penetrate deeper into the water. It turns out that Zebra Mussels don't like the sun, and between that, and the decreasing amount of food in the water, their breeding slowed significantly. Now they seemed to have reached a good balance. They aren't going away, but they aren't the existential threat that they once were either.

The best news is that since the water is much clearer now, it has caused an increase in scuba diving. Being the shallowest of the Great Lakes, Erie has also known over the centuries as a bad lake to be on in a storm, and there are many shipwrecks on the bottom. They were hard to dive on in the old, dirty water days, but today those wrecks are visible, and attracting diving tourists.

So all they had to do was nothing, and the Zebra Mussels problem fixed itself, and caused a new business segment to boom.

[–] Fondots@lemmy.world 23 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

Kind of reminds me of the daisyworld simulation.

It's been a long time since I read about it, so I may possibly miss some details.

Daisyworld simulates a planet entirely covered by 2 species of daisy- black ones and white ones.

The black ones are better able to absorb the suns rays, so initially outcompete the white ones, however because they're absorbing more of the rays, that leads to the planet warming up.

At a certain point the planets temperature gets too warm and the black daisies start dying off. Since the white daisies are better able to reflect the sun's rays, they're less effected by the increased temperature and start to outcompete the black ones.

After a while the white daisies are dominant, and since most of the planet is now reflecting the sun's rays the temperature starts to drop, until it gets to a point where it's too cold for the white daisies but since the black daisies can absorb more of the sun they start to outcompete the black ones again

Lather, rinse, repeat until they reach a sort of equilibrium.

[–] match@pawb.social 1 points 5 hours ago

That explains why simEatth had so many daisies

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 16 points 19 hours ago

That explains why I remember hearing about the dreaded zebra mussels for so long and then nothing for quite some time. Thanks for the info!

[–] Zoldyck@lemmy.world 26 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Nature always adapts. Humans on the other hand...

[–] ViatorOmnium@piefed.social 24 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] Zoldyck@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

Never seen this before. It's very similar to the thoughts and pictures in my head before I made that comment

[–] Foreigner@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

I knew what this was going to be before I clicked it. Great comic.

[–] ryedaft@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Snail kite bird kabobs my friend

[–] Deceptichum@quokk.au 19 points 1 day ago

Life uh finds a way

In some ways the kid's poem about an old lady who swallowed a fly/spider/bird/etc is a good image of our attempts at controlling invasive species. Eventually, nature will figure it out without our help.

[–] cm0002@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Florida ~~man~~Bird