(Circa 2001)
Dr. Marty Guitierrez cleared his throat as he grasped both edges of the podium. It had been a long time since he'd last been invited to speak before an assembly. No two ways about it, he was definitely more nervous now then he'd been in a while. He could feel the sweat dripping down his brow as he stared out at the crowd.
Every eye in the room seemed to be focused on him, waiting for him to begin the lecture. As they should, tickets to this little guest spot weren't all that cheap, although Marty had fought with the administrators about that. More of this damned 'budget cuts' that every university seemed to be fussing about these days. It didn't make all that much sense really, especially when the school president got paid that high.
But then again… what did a visiting scholar really know about those things? Marty put on a smile for the crowd, as he cleared his throat again. "Thank you all for coming today, I would first like to extend my thanks to the president of UC Berkeley for this wonderful and really unexpected invitation…" He blanked out to most of what he was saying, because it was just rote procedurals.
Marty was pushing forty these days, and had never really expected to be invited as a guest speaker. Hell, they barely appreciated him over there at Yale those days; budget slashing after budget slashing… He rarely even had a chance to complain about it too. Or rather he would, and they would have his paycheck on the table when he went to go talk to them.
"Now what I'd like to talk to you today is a very relevant topic in the news recently. Only recently has it gained much scholarly attention, and I consider that
an unfortunate situation. There is a wealth of material that still lacks serious scientific consideration, and possibly many new discoveries to come. But first… we come to the crux of the matter."
He flipped the button for the PowerPoint slide to begin. Using his laser pointer, he illustrated to the audience two large images of huge boa python. It must have been about seven feet long and it was feasting on the remains of a deer. Above the animal a sign could be read 'Disneyworld five miles.' Marty smiled despite himself at seeing that, a bit blunt perhaps but this was the way he always liked to start off his lectures.
Get them uncomfortable a bit first, but then start thinking about it. That was the only way to gauge people's interest in anything. By getting them to talk and be open about it first. "Invasive species such as this Boa Python lurk on the very doorstep of America, within highly populated areas. Yet for the most part we fail to notice them, or consider them to have a negligible impact at best. However, this mode of thinking may in fact be erroneous, outdated… and maybe dangerous."
He turned away from the slide, to face the crowd again. "When invasive species are introduced into a new environment, it disrupts the balance of the ecosystem. The food chain may be disoriented, or disrupted altogether." He wiped the sweat from his brow and took a small sip of water. "What I postulate is that those invasive species find their own niches in the ecosystem, and that's the secret of their success."
He turned to the slide again, but this time it showed a mass of toads across a lawn. "Australian Cane toads, originally brought in for pest control did a wonderfully excellent job at that. However, they were a bit too successful, and their numbers have skyrocketed. They now have become as much of a pest as the ones they were sent to eradicate."
He let a small smile cross his face as he faced the crowd. "This second
example I believe shows how successful invasive species can be at finding niches in the ecosystem. That brings me to another point in my discussion here. A very important one that I hope you all remember after you leave."
"The ecosystem does not have an unlimited amount of capacity for all these different niches. Each one serves its own purpose in the biology of the biome. The inhabitants of the area specifically evolved to fill these niches, as did other species. What eventually happens here is that there is a co-dependence relationship will eventually arise between various species. Of course a marriage of convenience, but it underscores how interconnected the ecosystem is."
"Disrupt one chain or link in the ecosystem, and you will affect others." He paused again to clear his throat. He hadn't done this much talking in a while. It seemed he was progressing nicely, which was surprising considering that this 'guest lecture' was pretty much ripped from his lectures back at Yale. Well, what the folks don't know won't hurt them.
"Due to these co-dependent relationships, if the flower dies or is displaced, what happens to the bee?" He shook his head as if to underscore his point. "If the niche is being filled by another animal, the best alternative one can hope for is of a slow and gradual transition, over millions of years. Yet, even in this situation there are still co-dependent relationships that cannot survive the pace of events."
He switched the PowerPoint slide, moving on to the next image. "Now see here the effects of this niche filling. Because even in one niche there may be characteristics of that species that other species have specifically adapted to. So if an invasive species takes over that niche, the other species in the region will have to quickly adapt to this. Of course it is quite possible that the new niche will be of a sort that is incompatible with the
surrounding ecosystem. When this occurs, extinction rapidly follows."
Marty only turned halfway to the slide again, as the screen revealed the image. He frowned, that hadn't been the one that he'd put in last week…well he had given the PowerPoint to the tech guys to set up for him before he came there. It was conceivable of course that there had been some changes made but…
Behind him he could hear the audience murmuring a bit. He stole another glance at the slide. The image showed a sandy beach, an all too familiar stretch of beach. Marty frowned again, but it was not the locale that was bothering him. On the southeast corner of the picture right up against the waves…was that not… a bloated and indeterminate carcass?
Marty turned around, noticing the audience was really starting to fidget now. Well at least he wasn't the only person that had been more then a little discomforted by it. But for a different reason altogether. He decided to redirect attention, by continuing the lecture.
"Now it stands that this is the likely result of such rapid niche displacements in the ecosystem. Now the time interval to constitute such a rapid displacement does not have to be of the extremely short scale of merely years. In geologic time this pace can even include intervals of time that have generally been accepted as enough time for small evolutionary changes to occur." He smiled as he saw that the audience was starting to sit up straight, as they anticipated where he might be going.
Meanwhile he discreetly switched the PowerPoint off. He would have a word with whoever messed with it later… "In the fifty thousand years since Homo Sapiens first learned how to master tools he has become the dominant species on the planet. He lives on every continent, in all habitats and ecosystems. He has dominated the planet,
terraformed even the most inhospitable areas to his will. There is no logical reason that Humans live in some of the areas that they do, when clearly the human body is to frail to survive unaided."
"But I will bring up a point about invasive species here. They usually thrive first in the areas that they are most acclimated to, but that is not when the population explosion happens. No, breeding increases as populations are forced to struggle to survive and bring up their numbers due to inclement losses. Thus a new or invasive species will see a surge in population in an unfamiliar environment, because it is struggling to cope."
He let this seeming non-sequitor sink into his audience for a second. "Just think about it, did Humanity experience a population boom in the savannahs of Africa? Of course not, because we weren't being evolutionary challenged enough. It was only ten thousand years ago, when humans started clustering together that populations started to increase."
"It happened so rapidly and radically that we never even really stopped to question what the secret to our success was. Human tool use gave mankind dominance over all other species on earth in that time. The Neolithic revolution changed the face of the planet, as man took even the fate of other animals, and changed their evolutionary paths. For the first time in 15 billion years, an animal had arisen that was capable of doing this."
He grinned again, because he was near the crux of his speech. He always enjoyed it every single time, never got old. "But here's the thing, if a species gets too far out of its habitat, the ecosystem will not just sit back and allow him to dominate. No, there were be an equally fast attempt by another creature to adapt to these sudden changes, to survive."
"It doesn't even have to be a native species that adapts this quickly to an intrusion. It may also be another invasive species as well. When invasive species from different original habitats collide, there may result in a clash for that specific niche. In essence its very success of the invasive species may now threaten its very survival."
He leaned forward to take the microphone out of its holder. "But Humanity has existed for fifty thousand years of tool use. Ten thousand remaking the world in its image. And yet a challenger has yet to appear to confront us. I ask you all the question on everyone's lips." He took a deep breath as he said it.
"Is that challenger already among us? I highly doubt it, considering how vigilant we as a species are in eradicating all threats to our existence. Hell, we rigorously seek out and destroy these strains of bacteria or virus that may pose a threat to our existence."
Marty shook his head as he quickly checked his watch. Almost time to wrap up here, just the main point to go. "I say that man will eventually produce his replacement in due time. We spend all our energies creating the perfect drug, engineering the perfect dog, whose to say we might someday introduce a species even more suited to supplant other species then we are?"
He smiled and shook his head. "Ladies and gentlemen, it's been a pleasure." He waved to the crowd, not even looking back as they broke into scattered applause. Yeah, people tended to do that a lot in his lectures it seemed. But that didn't matter all that much now, because he really needed to have a word with the tech guys right now.
The minute he got backstage, Marty saw the president of UC Berkeley talking with two other men. Both seemed ill suited for an academic setting, and for a fleeting moment, Marty wondered if they might have gotten lost on their way to Silicon Valley.
Before he could say anything about the slide though, the man turned to him.
"Dr. Guitierrez! Just the man I wanted to see right now. Great speech by the way, I'm sure the halls of the staff lounge will be buzzing by tomorrow."
Marty took that to mean Who the hell invited you? Which was what was probably meant by that generic greeting nine times out of ten. He nodded noncommittally. "Glad you liked it", he said. "Care to tell me who these guys are?" He was probably going to be introduced to them anyway, though he could have cared less.
"Howard Rossiter," the tall bearded man next to the president said, reaching to shake his hand. He gestured to the other man, who was of medium build and looked uncomfortable in the suit. "And this is my associate, Ed James."
Marty shook their hands, wondering why the hell those guys were even talking to him. He just wanted to get to the faculty lounge, get a cup of coffee and be prepared for the flight home.
"Actually don't go anywhere," Rossiter laughed. "I had a proposition for you, based on what the president was just telling me." The man turned to the president expectantly. "Something about how you desired to work in Costa Rica again but couldn't get a grant through."
Marty nodded, it had been difficult getting a permit these days. The board would ask him if he already had a backer lined up and when he'd said no he was rejected each time. The process was very strange, as if they were intentionally making it harder.
"Well, I would be very interested in backing you, both me and my associate here. We would be very happy to finance a grant for you Dr. Guitierrez."
Marty took a breath, what was their game? "Sorry but I don't really know who you are, what foundation or institution are you backed by?" Marty had been burned before in the past, so he just wanted to make sure these guys were the real deal.
The other man, Ed James spoke up before his associate could. "We represent the Lewis Dodgeson Memorial trust. This foundation is set up to further the research and study of Saurian reptiles."
Marty paused a second, wondering if that was truly an interesting choice of words. He'd never heard of it but there was always the off chance he'd been out of the loop. "How much would you be willing to fund?" A simple question, mainly to gauge how serious these guys were, if they were playing him he could find out relatively fast.
"As much as you need Dr. Guitierrez. The only stipulation set up in the grant is that you need to leave for the field research within the space of a year."
Marty nodded thoughtfully, that amount of time gave him something to work with. He would probably need about six or seven months just to get everything he needed together and that was if he set up right away.
On the other hand… this opportunity might not ever come again. He looked at the UC president, who only shrugged. "Rossiter…" Marty said, a smile breaking out over his face.
"Have you got yourself a deal."