Tabula rasa – Nishinoshima

photo credit: Ninshinoshima in March 2015. NASA Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen

photo credit: Ninshinoshima in March 2015. NASA Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen

The picture is of Nishinoshima island.

 

IFLS has a story on what biologists are hoping to study:

Although the island is pretty barren right now, mostly consisting of bare volcanic rock, scientists are hopeful that in the not-too-distant future it will be adorned with flora, and possibly even fauna. And this is an exciting prospect for scientists, who will get the rare opportunity to examine life on the island as it gradually springs into being and changes over time.

“We biologists are very much focusing on the new island because we’ll be able to observe the starting point of evolutionary processes,” Naoki Kachi, leader of Tokyo Metropolitan University’s Ogasawara Research Committee, told AFP. After the lava stops flowing, Kachi says, various plant species may make their way to the island by means of ocean currents, winds and droppings from bird species that start to take residence there. The latter, combined with an appetizing mix of regurgitated food and decaying birds, should start to create some fertile soil for the plants to grow.

http://www.iflscience.com/environment/newly-emerged-island-could-be-natural-lab-study-evolution

My bold. And, given my particular interests, I’m obviously especially interested if ID has any suggestions to offer on the direction of that research.

For example, if organisms are responding with pre-programmed responses (i.e frontloading) to environmental cues, has ID gathered enough information on that to be able to predict what’ll happen next?

Or what, if any, body plan limitations will we observe?

8 thoughts on “Tabula rasa – Nishinoshima

  1. I believe that, whatever happens, they are fully prepared to say that it’s all the result of Design. They might even make up some numbers and do some calculations.

    And you want more?

    Glen Davidson

  2. God is just correcting for rising sea levels. Remember the rainbow promise. No more floods.

  3. For example, if organisms are responding with pre-programmed responses (i.e frontloading) to environmental cues, has ID gathered enough information on that to be able to predict what’ll happen next?

    Or what, if any, body plan limitations will we observe?

    It’s just mean to pose these questions to the IDists. There isn’t an ID proponent on the entire planet who has the brains to attempt an answer for the “body plan” question. Or, er, maybe that’s just mean of me to say. Maybe it’s not lack of brains on their part, maybe it’s the magnitude of incoherence of ID that robs them of the ability to answer.

    You can imagine their panic, though, if any of them allowed themselves to actually confront the problem of a new volcanic island becoming populated by life, not in some fuzzy prehistory but in our own lifetimes under the watchful eyes of modern science. What can they possibly think that the Designer would do in such a case? New designs? Special creations? Of course not, that would be too obvious. So what instead?

    (Before Darwin, if any intelligent people speculated on the origin of life on islands, they mostly assumed that God had specially created the strange and different kinds of plants and animals which they saw on each one. But we know better now. Even the most rabid creationist in a first world nation knows better now. They must take consolation in the belief that if it isn’t special creation, at least it isn’t “Evolution” it’s merely “microevolution”. Darwin’s finches are still just birds.)

    How many mutations must the Designer interfere with, to guide the accidentally-arriving life-forms into “evolving” to meet the Designer’s specifications while having all outward appearances of evolving from their common ancestors in exactly the manner which the scientific theory of evolution would predict?

    Are some, or most, or any of the subsequent mutations truly random, unplanned or unguided?

    In fact, were the first birds to arrive accidental, or was their arrival part of the Designer’s plan to begin with? Were the first seeds to wash ashore also pre-selected as part of the Designer’s plan?

  4. Usually for new habitats such as this, the primary predictions are those of Island Biogeography, as to how many and which species will invade, at what rate. (Use that phrase in Wikipedia).

    Evolutionary changes would be much slower, and not necessarily very different from what happened in already-inhabited areas.

    Creationism’s main statements about Island Biogeography involve platypuses doggedly marching from the Middle East to Australia.

  5. Joe Felsenstein: Creationism’s main statements about Island Biogeography involve platypuses doggedly marching from the Middle East to Australia.

    You’re not taking genetic entropy into account. The platypus, like the flightless birds of New Zealand, was quite proficient at locomotion, about four thousand years ago.

    P.S.–The End Time is nigh.

  6. Joe Felsenstein:
    Usually for new habitats such as this, the primary predictions are those of Island Biogeography, as to how many and which species will invade, at what rate.(Use that phrase in Wikipedia).

    Evolutionary changes would be much slower, and not necessarily very different from what happened in already-inhabited areas.

    Creationism’s main statements about Island Biogeography involve platypuses doggedly marching from the Middle East to Australia.

    Your right if admitting Toyko is wrong that evolution will be soon, or later, witnessed on this isle. IIn facxt all that will be seen is colonization of existing species.
    If new species, and new names, are created then it still would be minor selectionism. I do think creatures can change their bodies but not that mutation/drift will be needed.

    This YEC doesn’t think platypus migrated from thje ark to australia. i think its just another creature with minor adaptations.
    in fact I insist that marsupials are just placentals with pouches.
    I wrote an essay called “Post Flood Marsupial Migration Explained” by Robert Byers. Just google.
    Biogeography is a creationists friend and not evolutionists.

  7. Robert,
    Simply saying “whatever happens it will be compatible with YEC” demonstrates the utter vacuity of YEC. So thanks for that!

  8. OMagain:
    Robert,
    Simply saying “whatever happens it will be compatible with YEC” demonstrates the utter vacuity of YEC. So thanks for that!

    Nope. Its more accurate conclusions or a better investigation with greater appreciation of variables.

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