The Role of symbiosis in ecosystems

"Symbiosis, the system in which members of different species live in physical contact."

a foundation of wildness and the wild in wilderness

Science changed 1880 -1980

• Geology (1830s) established the earth's antiquity.
• Evolution (1859) suggested common descent from distant ancestors.
• Genetics (1909) established rules for heredity based on chromosomes.
• Ecology (1915) revealed the complexity of succession and food webs.
• Molecular biology (1930s) revealed the nucleic acids in chromosomes.
• Plate Tectonics (1950s) established that continental drift really shapes life.
• Oceanography (1960s) discovery of deep ocean vents and dark ecosystems.
• Five Kingdom system where prokaryotic species gave rise to eukaryotic species.

National Park Service was formed in 1916
National Forest Service's U & L regulations protect remote natural areas, 1939
Wilderness Act, 1964
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, 1968
Endangered Species Act, 1973

By living together, simpler organisms create complex creatures & more stable conditions.

James Lovelock's, Gaia Hypothesis.