[Odonata-l] Frog legs and odonates - simplistic answer - Occam

[Joshua Rose]

On Jun 27, 2009, at 8:49 PM, Richard Rowe wrote:

> Precisely. And until you have evidence it is NOT predation you  
> shouldn't seek more complicated explanations

But that's just not true. One does not need to disprove that predation  
is a factor for other factors to be contributing. Predation may be  
PART of the more complicated explanation. Libellulid naiads and  
amphibian larvae are both present in a huge number of freshwater  
wetlands across the planet; but this syndrome of legless amphibians  
has been noted at a tiny minority of such wetlands. Just because  
predation is involved does not mean it is acting alone. But predation  
is obviously not sufficient all by itself, else amphibians would be  
conspicuously lacking limbs at every wetland where they overlapped  
with libellulids.

It's too late at night for my brain to attempt to tie this back to the  
parsimony/Occam's Razor concept, but I still agree with the original  
point that the BBC article was making the odonate larvae out to be the  
sole worldwide cause, be-all and end-all, without including the  
necessary context.

Josh Rose Ph.D.
McAllen TX