Individual organisms strive for adequacy. Natural selection gives them just enough of an edge over their fellow organisms to survive. Seldom does one species in any ecological system proliferate to the extent that it throws the whole biome into imbalance and destroys it. We, of course, represent the exception to that. If you took humans out of this equation, most natural systems consisting of multiple species attain a kind of harmony, a balance in which changes occur gradually, at least over short to intermediate timespans. Ecological systems balance.

Equations tend to balance.  Whether we observe charges, chemical equations or mathematics, a prime feature is balance. Biomes are no different. The equipoise of any natural environment requires that, although evolution of species within that ecology may occur in the fits and starts of punctuated equilibrium, the system as a whole strives for gradual change, which yields balance. This is an inherent property of many naturally-occurring systems.

Through mass extinction events, this balance can be upset over longer timeframes. Ecologies can tip rapidly, but over the majority of time, equilibrium is maintained. This stability is attained through the adequacy of the adaptations in the form and behavior of all creatures within an ecosystem, not their perfection.

For instance, cheetahs have evolved to be just a bit faster than their prey, yet their prey can evade capture most of the time. If the cheetah’s kill rate was higher, they would become too successful, diminish their prey below a certain tipping point, and starve. Predator-prey balances for any two species tend to assure healthy numbers and healthy organisms within those populations for both species. In this way, nature strives for adequacy in the behavior and form of its individual organisms. If it over-evolves and becomes too good at what it does, a species could possibly destroy the balance and wipe out the ecosystem. Humans are the example of that. Although our intelligence has provided enormous adaptive advantages for us, it’s tipped the world biome and its subsidiary ecologies into imbalance. Many believe that in the Anthropocene, a modern extinction event is occurring. Since we haven’t developed the capacity for self-sustaining off-world colonies, this extinction may threaten our own species.  

Evolution strives for constant improvement, while individual species and the organisms which are their members live in subsistence, usually consuming just enough to survive and give rise to the next generation. As a result of this adequacy of its individual organisms, any natural system as a whole attains to a kind of perfection.

Humans break that mold and consume much more than we need, focusing on luxury and overconsumption. We introduce all kinds of imbalances into the ecologies which we invade. Now, the natural world and its environments are forced to adapt to us. Yet ecologies seek balance, and the ecology of all ecologies, the near-earth system some call Gaia, may seek to wipe the playing board clean again, as it has done in the past. How will we humans respond then?

© 2025 by Michael C. Just