In the words of Cristina Pato (Pianist. Galician Bagpipes. Silk Road.): The edge...”Is the point in which two ecosystems meet, like the forest and the savannah. And apparently, in ecology, this edge effect is where the most new life-forms are created.” *

This idea of edges, of intersections, of overlapping, overarching, underlying… edges in four dimensions x,y,z, and time… is fundamentally important to me.

When I read “Beak of the Finch”, I realized that there are many edges at once in most circumstances. It is not merely the Side to Side. There is Top to Bottom. Outside to Inside. Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. Light and Dark.

And that evolution is possible at any moment because it is built into being itself. Not just evolution into something, but also back to something.

The idea that the beaks of the Galapagos Finches required to survive the weather induced failures and ensuing successes in plant and, therefore, ensuing seed production… could evolve in a few years. And then return when things reverted. Natural Selection is based on survival numbers. The ecosystems that are contiguous, coinciding, confluent and concurrent are dynamic and always in flux.

Prime forest is the natural pinnacle of the piedmont growth cycle.

*https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=625426015z

https://dukeforest.duke.edu/forest-environment/forest-succession/