PLEASE UNDERSTAND WHAT STEVE IS SAYING: K CONSTRAINS DAMAGE OF R.
via Steve Pender
Hmmm 99.9% of species have gone extinct. If you’ve seen that video about the impact of wolves on Yellowstone, it seems that predators are more important in keeping r selected species suppressed, than r selected species are at filling their little niches. Suppression of r selected species seems to have a cascading eugenic effect on nature, while unrestricted r-selected reproduction can lead to plagues, famines, etc. It could be that certain r-selected species may fill valuable niches that limit the expansion of more threatening r-selected species though.
However, we do need bees (pollinators), and whatever insects decompose dead organic matter (recyclers).