Redneck ponders why Darwin's law doesn't seem to apply to bugs in a pool

[godwinson]

Darwin's law of natural selection implies that a population in equilibrium with its environment under natural selection will have a phenotype which maximizes the fitness locally.

My skimmers aren't turned on yet (which is simply the accidental impetus for why I savor the opportunity to ponder this realization that Darwin's law isn't working)... where I ask, perhaps philosophically so, why bugs commit suicide in a pool.

Isn't a pool just water... the same as in a pond?
(Albeit, maybe a bit clearer and devoid of devouring fishes.)

How come bugs commit suicide in my pool every day, all day, day after day?

If some bugs committed suicide in a pond eon after eon... they'd be selected out of the population - wouldn't they?
Is it just that there are some rather inordinately "dumb" bugs - but most are smart enough not to drown in a pond of water?

But... if that were true... since ponds existed for billions of years... why aren't those dumb bugs already gone from the population?
Makes no sense to a redneck like me.

Does it make sense to you?

 

[joonbug99]

Water surface tension has a bit to do with bug survival in ponds and other bodies of water in nature.

 

[Eauclaire]

Bugs can exit ponds in shallow water, pools haven’t been around long enough for Darwinian selection to enable bugs to ‘adapt to‘ pool walls and skimmers.

 

[godwinson]

Bugs can exit ponds in shallow water, pools haven’t been around long enough for Darwinian selection to enable bugs to ‘adapt to‘ pool walls and skimmers.

Water surface tension has a bit to do with bug survival in ponds and other bodies of water in nature.

Thank you for those ideas where both are interesting theories, as bugs in ponds have existed longer than we humans have, so you'd think they wouldn't drown by the millions of there wasn't a good reason for it to happen.

With respect to a pond being different than a pool, if they float long enough with the wind in a "real pond" would eventually make it to shore (assuming favorable wind direction) before the fish gulp them up so maybe there's that difference (plus a real pond might have reeds and other climb'able things sticking up).

And thanks for the theory that the surface tension of pond water "might" be different than that of pool water.
That brings up a question of what the surface tension of water is in a pool versus in a pond.

Googling a bit on that topic, I found this "How Do Bugs Float On Water?" reference, but it was really about bugs (like water striders) with hydrophobic waxy hairs on their so-called "feet" allowing them to play Jesus and walk on water. Further digging shows it's related to hydrogen bonding & Van der Waals forces (stuff I studied in college but have to bone up on again to be sure) but most articles say the basics which we already know such as Surface Tension and Water by the USGS but not how pools are different (e.g., detergents will lower the surface tension).

I like this suggestion though as it "may" very well be that the surface tension of pool water is DIFFERENT than that of POND water (due to the chemicals we add to it).
If so, THAT would neatly explain the conundrum away.

Thanks for thinking!

 

[BritDan]

Maybe you’re witnessing evolution in action. Maybe bugs of yesteryear all sank but now, at least, sme have deformed or evolved so as to not sink and to leverage water tension to remain at the surface. And better yet, maybe there are some of those same or very similar bugs that have been able to break that water tension and return to the air. there are still plenty of them flying around!

 

[godwinson]

Maybe you’re witnessing evolution in action. Maybe bugs of yesteryear all sank but now, at least, some have deformed or evolved so as to not sink and to leverage water tension to remain at the surface. And better yet, maybe there are some of those same or very similar bugs that have been able to break that water tension and return to the air. there are still plenty of them flying around!

I have a degree in the sciences by which use I'm going to agree with you that we're ALWAYS witnessing Darwin's theory of evolution in action every second of every day.

Certainly some (such as the aforementioned water striders) have evolved (and certainly CONTINUE to evolve) to make use of surface tension to their evolutionary advantage.

And I like how you're thinking outside the box in saying that these bugs used to drown even MORE than they do now (perhaps to feed the fishes) such that they're almost fully evolved to NOT drown in water - but not quite...

In which case we'd be witnessing fewer and fewer bugs drowning in pool water over the centuries...
Yours is yet another angle to ponder simply because it can't be good for the individual bug to drown - so there MUST be a reason they do.

 

[Newdude]

I like this suggestion though as it "may" very well be that the surface tension of pool water is DIFFERENT than that of POND water (due to the chemicals we add to it).

The sex of the ant determines it. If it sinks, it's a girl ant. If it floats, it's buoyant.

 

[Bperry]

My skimmers aren't turned on yet (which is simply the accidental impetus for why I savor the opportunity to ponder this realization that Darwin's law isn't working)... where I ask, perhaps philosophically so, why bugs commit suicide in a pool.

Isn't a pool just water... the same as in a pond?
(Albeit, maybe a bit clearer and devoid of devouring fishes.)

How come bugs commit suicide in my pool every day, all day, day after day?

If some bugs committed suicide in a pond eon after eon... they'd be selected out of the population - wouldn't they?
Is it just that there are some rather inordinately "dumb" bugs - but most are smart enough not to drown in a pond of water?

But... if that were true... since ponds existed for billions of years... why aren't those dumb bugs already gone from the population?
Makes no sense to a redneck like me.

Does it make sense to you?

Maybe Darwin was wrong.

 

[Lake Placid]

The sex of the ant determines it. If it sinks, it's a female ant. If it floats, it's buoyant.

But according the the great philosopher Monty Python if wood floats, and a duck floats, then a woman who weighs the same as a duck is actually made of wood. Therefore she floats and therefore she must be A WITCH!

Its science…