ASA Connect

Wow, this question is tough and cool at the same time. I think anything will be a stretch, but how about this?

A raccoon has been seen at the Pearson International Airport. It was captured and safely released last week. (Good timing!)

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/05/08/pearson-airport-raccoon-back-in-his-natural-habitat.html

They call it the Pearson Raccoon. I suppose that a raccoon named Pearson would seem like a good fit for a group named Rho? What do you think? :-)

Field mouse.

In Darwin's observation, the number of cats and the number of bumble bees are correlated due to the number of field mice.  If there is no field mice, the cat and the bee are not correlated.

In Origin Of Species, Darwin says:

"From experiments which I have tried, I have found that the visits of bees, if not indispensable, are at least highly beneficial to the fertilisation of our clovers: but bumble bees alone visit the common red clover (Trifolium pratense), as other bees cannot reach the nectar. Hence, I have very little doubt that if the whole genus of bumble bees became extinct or, very rare in England, the heartsease (viola tricolour) and red clover would become rare or, wholly disappear. The number of bumble bees in any district depends in a great degree on the number of field mice, which destroy their combs and nests; and Mr. Newman, who has long attended the habits of bumble bees, believes that "more than two thirds of them are thus destroyed all over England".

As the number of mice is largely dependent, as everyone knows, on the number of cats: Mr Newman says, "Near villages and small towns I have found the nests of bumble bees more numerous than elsewhere, which I attribute to the number of cats that destroy the mice".

Hence it is quite credible that the presence of a feline animal in large numbers in a district might determine, through the intervention first of field mice and then bees, the frequency of certain flowers in that district!"

Jana,

Two correlations from ecology, courtesy of my daughter the science teacher:

• Wolf-deer population on the Kaibad Plateau near the Grand Canyon:  When the government put a bounty on wolves, the wolf population declined dramatically and the deer population increased to the point that millions of deer starved to death.  When wolves and other predator species were re-introduced into the area, the deer population came back into balance.
• The black-footed ferret:  Found, for example, in Texas and Oklahoma, the black-footed ferret eats a monotonous diet of prairie dogs.  When ranchers killed off prairie dogs, in order to have more grazing area for their cattle, the black-footed ferret population plummeted to near extinction.  (There were only eight ferrets remaining; they  were rounded up and taken to a breeding facility, which has been working for 20+ years to re-introduce them.)

There are relationships similar to these found in every ecosystem.

Perhaps this will add to your store of possibilities.

Best, Katherine Wallman (Wellesley '65)