Life in the wild is harsh, and ecosystems are dynamic and messy. Life does not exist in a delicate balance that persists forever. So, in the latter half of the 20th century, other concepts were floated, and the idea that ecosystems are messy, even chaotic, rose to the surface. When ecologists observed animals in the wild, the hypothesis didn’t hold up. Nice as this sounds, there was just one tiny problem. The theory of the balance of nature assumes that natural systems remain stable, with changes being corrected via a negative feedback loop. The concept of the balance of nature has been around since the days of the ancient Greeks, when Herodotus described the seemingly perfect equilibrium between predators and their prey, with predators never overconsuming the species they hunt. In reality, predators can eradicate their prey, invasive species can totally disrupt how native animals live and interact, and the actions of humans can send species extinct and overturn the composition of an entire ecosystem. It is merely a cultural concept ingrained in many of our psyches – nature exists in a perfect equilibrium that over time will overcome any challenges it might face to restore the balance once more, allowing life to continue in a never-ending loop.
We hate to break it to you Lion King fans, but Mufasa’s “delicate balance” has been rejected by scientists for decades.
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