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Copyright 1995 by the CREATION RESEARCH SOCIETY (CRS), Inc.
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MORE CREATIONIST RESEARCH - PART II: BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
by Duane T. Gish, Ph.D.
Received 6 August 1988 Revised 25 September 1988
Creation Research Society Quarterly 26(1):5
June, 1989
*Abstract*
Biological creationist research in the past 14 years is reviewed
as it was in the first decade of the Creation Research Society
(Gish, 1975). See Part I: Geological Research CRSQ 25:161-70.
*Variable Production of Growth Rings in Bristlecone Pines*
Dendrochronology, the establishment of a chronology, or dating
by counting tree rings, assuming that each ring represents an
annual growth cycle, can be extended by matching tree-ring
patterns of old living trees with patterns of long-dead trees.
One tree commonly used for this purpose is bristlecone pine
(_Pinus aristata_) because of the long ages of some living
specimens and because multiple growth rings in bristlecone pine
under usual circumstances are very rare. Bristlecone pine trees
growing in the White Mountains have been explored for this
purpose. This range of mountains is east of the Sierra Nevada
Mountains and separated from them by a fairly wide desert
valley. The area is about 14 miles east of Big Pine, California.
Using bristlecone pine dendrochronology, ages as old as 7,100
years have been obtained. Walter Lammerts (1983, pp. 108-15) has
discovered, however, that under certain experimental conditions,
extra growth rings could be induced in bristlecone pine, calling
into question the reliability of dendrochronology in
establishing accurate absolute ages.
He measured growth rates of seedlings of bristlecone pine under
various conditions, including normal outdoor conditions;
ordinary greenhouse conditions; greenhouse conditions
supplemented by maintenance at a temperature of 70F with no
extra light; greenhouse conditions supplemented by a heat lamp
for 16 hours per day and maintained at a minimum of 70F; and
greenhouse conditions supplemented by treatment with fluorescent
light for 16 hours per day, and maintenance at a minimum of 70F.
The group that showed the most rapid growth was the group given
the treatment with the heat lamp. The fluorescent light
treatment was next most effective in promoting growth, but
considerably less so than the heat lamp. The use of the heat
lamp and fluorescent lamp simulated a 16-hour daylight period,
with the heat lamp providing extra heat, of course. The plants
maintained at 70F with no extra light exhibited considerably
less growth, even less than those plants held under ordinary
greenhouse conditions. Those plants grown outdoors had a growth
rate only a fraction of those grown in the greenhouse.
Lammerts discovered that seedlings left to grow under ordinary
greenhouse conditions, with no extra light or heat (Lammerts'
home is in Freedom, California, where temperatures are cool
enough in winter so that no growth took place during that
period), exhibit only one growth ring after 2.5 years. The most
significant of Lammerts' findings was the discovery that an
extra growth ring could be induced by depriving the plants of
water for two to three weeks in August and then resuming
watering. Ordinarily, Lammerts had found, a three-year old
bristlecone pine exhibits two growth rings, since, as noted
above, no growth ring forms in the first 1.5 years of life. When
Lammerts examined three-year-old bristlecone pine trees which
had been deprived of water for three weeks in August, followed
by normal watering during a warm month in September (September
is often the warmest month of the year there), he found that
they had three growth rings instead of the two expected.
Four-year-old bristlecone pines similarly treated exhibited four
growth rings instead of the three found for similar plants whose
growth was not interrupted by depriving them of water for two to
three weeks in August.
Lammerts points out that soil moisture is at an optimum in the
spring, and then diminishes steadily to such an extent as often
to halt growth. Then, as the high pressure builds and the heat
increases, even more stress has to be endured by the young pine
forests. In the early fall, however, evaporation from the
formerly existing large lakes again results in clouds and early
fall rains, even in such inland mountain areas as the White
Mountains. The pine trees would then resume growth, as Glock
noted, with the result that another flush of growth and
resultant growth ring occurs, just as in the experiment where
the young seedlings formed an extra growth ring following return
into the ground under the mist system after their drying out.
In the spring, the hot sun and increasingly long days would act
the same as the heat lamp treatment, only more so, and stimulate
growth of the pine trees, especially in June and July, thus
causing them greatly to extend their root systems. This would
make them even more vulnerable to stress resulting in cessation
of growth until the early fall rains.
Lammerts cites considerable historical evidence that the part of
the U.S. embracing this area of California, and actually much
more, was much wetter in the past. The Great Salt Lake, in Utah,
is a remnant of Lake Bonneville, which had an area of 50,000
square miles. Its decrease in size is said to be correlated with
a 200-year period of drought beginning about the year 1200, as
determined by tree ring studies. Even as late as 1860, the
snowfields of the High Sierras were much larger than recently.
As Lammerts points out, with extensive snowfields there would be
much evaporation from them in the spring and early summer. The
prevailing westerly winds would carry this evaporation over the
areas easterly as clouds yielding rain to an extent considerably
more than at present. The growth in the spring and early summer
would cease during the dry period in late summer. Then, after an
early fall rain, or possibly snow, followed by a hot spell in
September, growth would resume, yielding an extra growth ring.
Lammerts postulates that it is possible that the presumed 7100
years of age postulated for some bristlecone pines could be
reduced to an actual age of about 5600 years, assuming that
extra rings would be formed by effects of stress during 50% of
the approximately three thousand years since the end of the
Flood. Lammerts acknowledges, of course, that it yet remains to
be seen whether these results can be duplicated with older
bristlecone pines.
*Loss of Vigor Due to Mutations*
In an earlier publication, Tinkle (1971, pp. 183-5) had reported
the loss of vigor in tomato plants, due to a mutation which
resulted in pleiotropy and extra cotyledons. Tinkle (1975, p.
52) has since reported the results of additional tests on tomato
plants and on campion. Seeds of mutant tomato plants, bearing
three cotyledons, and seeds of normal plants were planted in a
cool, fairly light basement. After two months, 20% of the three
cotyledon plants had survived, while 37% of the normal
two-cotyledon plants were surviving. Tinkle found the mutant to
be a late-bloomer, and after a light frost, 76% of the leaves on
a mutant plant showed damage, while only 54% of the leaves of
the normal plant revealed damage. The normal plants were also
higher yielding, averaging a total weight of fruit of 119.3 oz.
compared to 92.0 oz. for the three-cotyledon plants.
Tinkle also obtained three-cotyledon campion among normal
two-cotyledon plants. After transplanting to outside soil, the
mutant plant showed considerably more loss of leaves and leaf
damage than did each of three normal plants. Tinkle concluded
that even a small change in morphology, due to mutation, causes
a significant derangement of physiological function, as
evidenced by loss of vigor.
*Post-Fire Survival of Chaparral Relative to Recovery by
Seedlings and Crown Sprouting*
George Howe (1976, pp. 184-90) has studied the regrowth of two
chaparral shrubs, _Adenostoma fasciculatum_, H. & A. (chamise)
and _Ceanothus crassifolius_ (buck brush), after fires in the
Newhall, California area. He found that chamise seedlings are
important in regeneration of chamise populations, even though
fire-damaged chamise plants can regenerate by sprouting from
their crowns. Burned buck brush plants, in contrast, are unable
to regenerate by crown sprouting and are thus limited to seedling
regrowth following destruction by fire.
Some evolutionists have maintained that chaparral genera, which
resprout from old plants, as well as repopulate burned areas by
seedlings, routinely have fewer species because they reproduce
vegetatively by sprouting, thus bypassing microevolutionary
changes which accompany the sexual life cycle involving new
seedling generations. Howe noted, however, that chamise, which
regenerates vigorously by seedlings after destruction by fire,
is limited to only three species. These results conflict with
both the observations and theory of Vogl and Schorr (1972, p.
1186), who stated,
"We strongly suspect the _Arctostaphylos_ and _Adenostoma_
seedlings seldom contribute to mature chaparral cover . . .
We hypothesize that a suspected preferred attraction of
animals to seedlings allows the resprouts to grow relatively
undisturbed particularly with high herbivore densities."
Howe does state that further research is necessary to determine
if chamise seedlings respond differently in the San Jacinto
Mountains, where Vogl and Schorr made their observations,
compared to the Newhall, California area, where Howe made his
observations.
As noted by others, _Ceanothus_ (buck bush), which regenerates
exclusively by seedlings, has numerous species (58). Other
genera, which regenerate by both sprouting and seedlings after
fire, possess fewer species, ranging downward from _Quercus_,
with 12 species, to genera like _Pickeringia_ (chaparral pea),
and four others that have only one species per genus. Thus,
generally, a large number of species within a genus does
correlate with the ability to reproduce by seedlings only. Some
evolutionists, such as Wells (1969), suggest that the
"ancestral," or "primitive" condition was the ability to crown-
sprout, and that the loss of this ability within a genus leads to
greater rates of speciation and to enhanced specialization in
species, due to increased intensity of natural selection. Howe
suggests, however, that the reverse may be true -- that the
ancestral characteristic may have been the lack of ability to
crown-sprout, since the greater number of species within
_Arctostaphylos_ and _Ceanothus_ are unable to crown-sprout.
Thus, species that crown-sprout are outnumbered in both genera,
because the rate of speciation slowed, or even stopped, in those
lines in which crown-sprouting developed.
Howe points out that whichever may be the case, no real
evolution, certainly not macroevolution, is involved, since,
from beginning to end, chaparral remains chaparral. The real
question in origins is, of course, not how to account for the
varieties of chaparral but how to account for the origin of
basic plant kinds, such as, for example, chaparral, pine trees,
peach trees, and bougainvillea. Howe further points out that it
is merely an assumption that all species within a genus have
arisen from a common ancestor by natural means and he finally
points out with support from biologists who are evolutionists,
that many of the supposed species within the genus Ceanothus may
be mere varieties within a single species. In fact, the 58
species of _Ceanothus_ may possibly be reduced to just three
species.
Howe concludes that since the chamise chaparral, _Adenostoma_,
not only reproduces by crown-sprouting but also reproduces
vigorously by seedling after a fire. Yet the genus _Adenostoma_
has only three species and there is nothing inherent in the
ability to rapidly speciate in those genera which possess the
ability to repopulate by seedlings. Howe suggests that further
research should include hybridization studies to determine which
species in the genus _Ceanothus_ are true species and which may
be mere subspecies. Further studies are needed to discover if
there are other genera which, although presently believed not to
do so, actually do repopulate after fire by seedling regrowth.
In a later paper, Howe (1982, pp. 3-10) discusses, in greater
detail, the evolutionist and creationist explanations for the
two methods of reproduction, resprouting, and seeding after fire.
*The Creation Research Society Grand Canyon Experiment Station*
George Howe (1984, pp. 9-16) has described observations that he
and John Meyer made during a trip to the Creation Research
Society Grand Canyon Experiment Station (GCES) and its environs.
The GCES, located on 2.5 acres, is about 22 miles north of
Prescott, Arizona, and about six miles north of Chino Valley, on
U.S. 89. Howe and Meyer recorded many notes on both the fauna
and flora of that portion of Arizona. They suggest that the GCES
can be used as a center for studies of the biology and geology
of an area within a 200-mile radius of the GCES. [Note added in
1995: In 1992/3 a research center with laboratories and visiting
scientist quarters was constructed at the site. It is now
called the Van Andel Research Center.]
Howe and Meyer suggest several research projects and have
invited suggestions from others. Their suggestions include
research on lichens growth rates; factors governing the growth
rates and survival of junipers; a search for new crops suitable
for production on an economical scale in a type of environment
similar to that near the GCES; hybridization experiments to
determine the limits of plant created kinds, the determination
of chromosome numbers in various plants as another assist in
delimiting plant kinds; the restoration of native grass cover
which has been displaced by human activity; and various other
studies utilizing other features within a 200-mile radius of the
GCES, including, of course, the Grand Canyon, the south rim of
which lies about 110 miles north of the Station.
*Survival of Organisms in Freshwater and Saltwater*
The Flood of Genesis 6-8 destroyed all land-dwelling,
air-breathing animals except those on the Ark. What happened,
however, to freshwater and saltwater creatures in the mixed
waters of the Flood? There seems to be little doubt that many of
them failed to survive the catastrophic effects of the Flood and
became extinct. Those that survived apparently were able to
tolerate the degree of mixing they encountered or were able to
take advantage of special conditions existing during the Flood.
Norbert Smith and Stephen Hagberg (1984, pp. 33-7) have
conducted experiments to determine survival rates of freshwater
and saltwater organisms in waters of varying amounts of salt and
have also demonstrated that such organisms might have survived
the Flood due to layering of freshwater over saltwater.
In the experiments by Smith and Hagberg, a 10-gallon aquarium
was partially filled with 20 liters (somewhat more than five
gallons) of artificial seawater from a commercial mix (Instant
Ocean). The bottom of the aquarium was covered with crushed
oyster shells and brine shrimp were added. The water was aerated
and maintained at about 22-23C throughout the experiment. The
saltwater fish, Blue Damsel Fish (_Abudefduf uniocellatus_) was
placed in the tank. In order to reduce salinity, fresh water was
added and salt water was removed, maintaining a volume of 20
liters. Salinity was constantly monitored. Observations were
made on the activity and behavior of the fish and the fish were
removed to a recovery tank when they showed loss of locomotor
activity, as exhibited by their inability to right themselves.
To test the rate of dilution on tolerance levels, salinity was
reduced at rapid, intermediate, and slow rates. In the fast rate,
salinity was reduced in twenty 1.5 parts per thousand increments
in two hours; in the intermediate rate, the salinity was reduced
in twenty 1.5 parts per thousand increments in 20 hours, and in
the slow rate, the reduction was in twenty 1.5 parts per thousand
increments in 40 days. The salinity at which loss of locomotor
activity was experienced (in parts per thousand) were: 0.80 +/-
0.08 for rapid dilution; 0.88 +/- 0.36 for intermediate rate of
dilution, and 20.3 +/- 1.1 for slow rate of dilution. It appears
that a slow rate of dilution, rather than increasing a saltwater
fish's ability to adapt to dilution of salt content, actually
decreases that ability. That was apparently the case with the
Blue Damsel Fish which lost locomotor ability at greater dilution
with a more rapid rate of dilution.
In the test of a heterogeneous Flood model (layering of
freshwater over saltwater), a 55-gallon tank was filled to a
depth of 20 cm with artificial seawater. The bottom was covered
with crushed oyster; marine algae were added, and the mixture
was aerated. A good growth of algae provided oxygen and brine
shrimp were added. Marine organisms, consisting of Striped
Damsel Fish, Hermit Crab, and sea slugs (Gastropods), were
added. After overnight, a 16-cm layer of freshwater was placed
over the seawater without mixing of the two layers. Freshwater
organisms, including Mosquito Fish (_Gambusia affinis_), Goldfish
(_Carassius auratus_), snails, and duckweed (_Semma sp._), were
added to the freshwater layer. Although there was some increase
in salinity in the freshwater layer, and decrease of salinity in
the saltwater layer, all animals and plants survived the 30-day
duration of the experiment. Except for occasional excursions of
the Goldfish and Damsel Fish into other layers, all organisms
remained in their own layer, except the Mosquito Fish. These
freshwater fish moved freely throughout the aquarium, with no
seeming preference for any salinity layer.
These experiments, limited though they were, indicate that at
least some marine organisms can tolerate only limited dilution
of salt water. It is suggested, by Smith and Hagberg, that the
vast majority of marine life was destroyed by the Flood but that
small, protected areas of the pre-Flood seas were overlaid with
freshwater during the Flood, permitting certain marine organisms
to survive the duration of the Flood.
*The Creation Research Society Grasslands Experiment Station*
A 3.5-acre plot of grassland, approximately seven miles
southeast of the town of Weatherford in southwestern Oklahoma,
has been made available to the CRS and designated as the CRS
Grasslands Experiment Station (GES), with E. Norbert Smith as
Director. In 1983, Stephen Hagberg and Smith (1984, pp. 62-6)
initiated research at the Station. This research was primarily
designed to encourage further long-term studies of various
aspects of this prairie plot and the floral and faunal species
which inhabit it. This plot has never been under plowed
cultivation, although it has been used for winter livestock
grazing for at least 75 years. Very little of the once vast
prairie grassland area that originally existed in the U.S. still
retains its original character, in terms of the composition and
relative abundances of the plant and animal species that
inhabited it. The GES does provide a small plot of original
prairie grassland in southwestern Oklahoma.
In their report, Hagberg and Smith describe the characteristics
of the soil of the GES and the climate of this area of Oklahoma.
They conducted preliminary research into the types of species of
plants present on the plot, their relative abundance, and their
distribution over the plot. As expected, grasses (Gramineae
family) made up the largest portion of total ground cover. Other
families represented included Leguminosae, Compositae, and
Solanaceae. Beginning in the first week in July and continuing
about once a week through the first week of September, a series
of plant collections was made at the plot, the specimens being
pressed and identified. Two 1m x 1m square plots were spaded up
in the downslope and upslope areas. It is anticipated that this
will allow study on the course of plant succession on these
plots.
This region of Oklahoma is situated between native short-grass
prairie to the west and tall-grass prairie to the east. Both
"eastern" and "western" species of amphibians (salamanders,
frogs and toads), reptiles (turtles, lizards, skinks,
racerunners and snakes) mammals (opossums, shrews, moles,
raccoons, badgers, skunks, coyotes, squirrels, gophers, rats,
mice, armadillos, and rabbits), and many birds are found in the
area.
Hagberg and Smith, in addition to a continuation of studies
already initiated, suggest a series of other research projects
that could be done at the GES that would contribute to the
general scientific knowledge in the areas of botany, zoology,
and ecology. They further suggest that research here might serve
as a basis for an understanding of events leading up to and
factors involved in the perpetuation of prairie grasslands under
post-Flood conditions, and that ecological studies utilizing the
diversity of plant and animal species at the GES might perhaps
contribute to the question of origins.
*Plant Succession Studies*
In the spring of 1969, George Howe and Walter Lammerts staked
out areas near their homes in California for plant succession
studies, in order to discover any possible evidence for the
establishment of varieties and eventually subspecies, which
would lend support to the concept of microevolution. The results
of studies through 1973, as reported by Lammerts and Howe (1974,
pp. 208-28), provided no evidence for the production or
enhancement of varieties or subspecies through natural
selection. In fact, under unfavorable and catastrophic
conditions, natural selection apparently worked to perpetuate
the normal or more prevalent varieties. Lammerts (1984, pp.
104-8) reviews the results and implications of the 1969-1973
studies and briefly reports on observations on the plots made by
George Howe in March of 1984. Howe's observations on plant
varieties and abundances in 1984 merely served to confirm the
results he and Lammerts had obtained in their earlier work, with
no significant changes being observed.
Lammerts points out the alarming rate at which plant species are
becoming extinct. He states that the loss of genetic diversity
on a worldwide scale, caused by plant extinction, cannot be
overemphasized. One ecological consultant warns us that as many
as 100 species of organisms per day will be lost by the end of
this century.
*Factors Involved in Population Controls*
Darwinian evolutionists suppose that extrinsic factors, such as
starvation, disease, and predation are responsible for the
maintenance of population sizes, and thus lead to natural
selection of variants more resistant to these factors,
eventually giving rise to new species, and so on, up the
evolutionary scale. If it could be shown that organisms possess
some intrinsic self-regulating mechanism that controls
population sizes, this would weaken the Darwinian evolutionary
hypothesis. This inspired interest by E. Norbert Smith (1985,
pp. 16-20), in experiments designed to test the effects of
various conditions on the reproductive ability of organisms. He
reported on the results of his experiments, using the common
freshwater arrow-headed planarian, or flatworm _Dugesia
dorotocephala_, as his test organism. He designed his experiments
to test the effects of such factors as feeding frequency,
population density nature of substrate surface, metabolic or
waste products produced by the planarians, and crawl space on
asexual reproduction. Reproduction in _D. dorotocephala_ is both
sexual and asexual. Asexual reproduction occurs by fissioning.
The posterior end of the worm clings to a surface while the
anterior end moves away. The tail end breaks off and both pieces
regenerate missing parts. Asexual reproduction rates were
determined by counting the number of fragments produced per worm
per unit time.
Smith found that in each experimental group, increasing worm
density reduced the rate of asexual reproduction. Reproduction
appeared to be more closely linked to density than to feeding
frequency. For example, at a density of two worms per 10
milligrams fed once a week, reproduction is reduced from one
fragment every 23.3 days to one fragment every 29.5 days, an
increase of 6.2 days. If, however, a density of four worms per
10 milligrams fed twice weekly is employed, one fragment every
42.9 days is produced, compared to one fragment every 23.3 days,
employing a density of two worms per 10 milligrams fed twice
weekly, an increase of 19.6 days. Similar experiments comparing
crowding to feeding frequency, employing other densities and
frequencies, produced similar results. Increasing density always
reduced reproduction rates. Substrate surface characteristics,
such as slime and the presence of metabolic and waste products
in the water, seemed to have little or no effect. Increasing
crawl space by introducing a microscope slide in a test box,
increased somewhat the reproduction rate in the test box
compared to the rate in a control box containing no slide.
Smith's results led him to state that the planarian, _Dugesia
dorotocephala_, can regulate its population density independently
of so-called Darwinian checks, since negative outside forces
such as starvation, predation, or disease were not necessary for
population homeostasis. This indicates, Smith declares, that
animals were designed with the ability to avoid
over-exploitation of their habitat.
*Origin of the Kaibab Squirrel*
The tassel-eared squirrel, _Sciurus aberti_, inhabits areas in
Arizona, New Mexico, and in several isolated spots in Mexico. It
feeds on cones and terminal buds of Ponderosa Pine, so its
distribution is limited to Ponderosa Pine forested areas. The
Grand Canyon, 200 miles long, 5,000 feet deep, and 12 to 15
miles across, with the Colorado River running through it, acts
as a barrier to terrestrial animal movement. What is commonly
called the Abert squirrel inhabits the Coconino Plateau, just to
the south of the Grand Canyon, and what is called the Kaibab
squirrel inhabits the Kaibab Plateau, just to the north of the
Grand Canyon, across from the Coconino Plateau. Some zoologists
give the Kaibab squirrel species status, _Scuirus kaibabensis_,
while others designate it as a subspecies, _Scuirus aberti
kaibabensis_, of the Abert squirrel. Supposedly, according to
evolutionists, the Grand Canyon has existed for at least several
million years, separating the two varieties of the tassel-eared
squirrel into populations isolated from one another. This
separation, they believe, was of sufficient duration to permit
differentation into separate species, or at least into separate
subspecies.
John Meyer (1985, pp. 68-78) examined nearly 100 specimens of
Kaibab and Abert squirrels in the Grand Canyon National Park
Study Collection. The purpose of his study was to determine the
extent of the differences between the Kaibab and Abert
squirrels, and, using the generally accepted notions of
zoologists concerning the mechanisms required to give rise to
variations and the time required for such changes to take place,
to estimate the time these two populations of squirrels have
been isolated from one another. If the separation of the
ancestors of these two varieties of the tassel-eared squirrels
into isolated populations was indeed caused by the formation of
the Grand Canyon, this estimate would thus provide an
approximate time for the formation of the Grand Canyon. Meyer's
studies convinced him that the differences between the Kaibab
and Abert squirrels were essentially minor, being limited to
relatively slight differences in coloration, and thus, if the
differentiation were caused by separation due to the formation
of the Grand Canyon, the formation of the Grand Canyon must have
occurred recently -- on the order of thousands of years ago,
rather than several million years.
In general, the main color features of the typical Abert
squirrel include a dark-colored tail, a white belly, and a
steel-gray body. The typical Kaibab squirrel has a white tail
and a nearly pure-black belly. Except for these differences, the
Kaibab and Abert squirrels appear to be similar in all respects,
according to Meyer. There is significant variation in the
coloration of both the Kaibab and the Abert squirrel, although
the variation is more striking in the Abert squirrel. This
variation has given rise to Abert squirrels that resemble Kaibab
squirrels and Kaibab squirrels that resemble Abert squirrels.
Thus Hall (1967) refers to some of the squirrels on the north
rim as "Abert-like Kaibabs," and in the Grand Canyon National
Park Study Collection, Meyer found a drawer of animals labeled
"Kaibab-like Aberts." Based on 28 measurements from the skulls
of each of 10 individuals, Meyer reports that the morphology of
Kaibab squirrels differs little from that of Abert squirrels,
which is in agreement with the reports of other investigators.
Of the ten conditions which evolutionists assume that must exist
for significant genetic variations to arise and thus for
evolution to occur, Meyer would definitely associate eight of
these, and possibly all ten, with the two isolated populations
of tassel-eared squirrels. Based on evolutionary assumptions,
then, if the Kaibab and Abert populations of the tassel-eared
squirrels have been separated for several million years, these
two populations should differ in very significant ways. Because
of the minute differences between Kaibab and Abert squirrels
that Meyer was able to identify, limited as they were to minor
differences in coloration, he maintains that the Abert squirrels
on the south rim and the Kaibab squirrels on the north rim of
the Grand Canyon represent, for all practical purposes, one
continuous population. Therefore, he reasons, the separation
must have been recent, thus indicating a recent formation for
the Grand Canyon.
While one may agree with Meyer that the data indicate these two
populations of squirrels have not been separated for several
million years, it will be difficult for some to agree that this
establishes an approximate age for the formation of the Grand
Canyon. If the Grand Canyon was formed during the waning stages
of the Flood, as receding Flood waters drained from the emerging
North American continent, there would have been no squirrels on
either rim of the newly formed Grand Canyon. It would be many
years after the formation of the Grand Canyon before squirrels
and other animals could have arrived. It appears more likely
that the tassel-eared squirrel migrated to areas on both sides
of the Grand Canyon and that these areas have since become
ecologically isolated from one another in relatively recent
times. Evolutionists, of course, assume that this isolation
occurred several million years ago, whatever the causative
factors. This assumption, Meyer's work definitely contradicts.
*Isolation of the Shiva Temple*
"As one stands on the Grand Canyon's North Rim across from
Shiva Temple, the view is breathtaking. The panoramic visual
sweep of the canyon is stunning. The emptiness is
overwhelming, as the lowering sun casts continually changing
shadows across the red, tan, and gray strata which make up the
walls, buttes, temples, and precipices of the mile-deep canyon.
On the opposite canyon wall, one can barely make out the
thread-like Kaibab and Bright Angel trails. A tiny splotch of
green marks the oasis at Indian Gardens. The only sound
impinging upon one's ear is the turbulent wind capering along
the precipitous North Rim, the faint cry of an eagle, and
perhaps the distant boom of thunder echoing across the
mightiest canyon on earth, signaling the late afternoon
development of an incipient thundershower. It is difficult to
imagine that this lonely outlook was the jumping-off point
for a world-famous expedition a half century ago in the fall
of 1937."
With this bit of journalistic eloquence, John Meyer (1987, pp.
120-5) introduces his description of a 1937 American Museum of
Natural History expedition to Shiva Temple, an isolated butte in
the Grand Canyon. This expedition was undertaken by
evolutionists, with the conviction that the animals on Shiva
Temple had been isolated from their ancestors on the North Rim
of the Grand Canyon for many tens of thousands of years,
therefore evolution should have produced significant
evolutionary differences between animals on Shiva Temple and
their relatives on the North Rim of the Canyon. When the results
of the expedition revealed no differences between these
creatures, evolutionists concluded that the animals on Shiva
Temple are not isolated, but can easily scale the walls of Shiva
Temple. Therefore, they declared, animals easily cross from the
North Rim of the Grand Canyon to the top of Shiva Temple.
Desert conditions prevail in the bottom of the saddle between
the North Rim and Shiva Temple. These conditions, Meyer and
George Howe believe, might construct a barrier to the movement
of small forest dwelling species from the North Rim of the
Canyon (elevation about 7650 feet), to the top of Shiva Temple
(elevation about 7700 feet), a barrier even greater than the
problem of scaling the vertical walls of Shiva Temple. Meyer and
Howe therefore undertook a study to evaluate the degree of
isolation of Shiva Temple, using direct observation of
vegetation, and selected climatic variables and known habitat
preferences of the small mammals of the Grand Canyon area (Meyer
and Howe, 1988, pp. 165-72).
Using a chartered plane, Meyer and Howe took more than 100
photographs of the vegetation and general topography of Shiva
Temple. For the purpose of taking measurements on soil and air
temperatures, and relative humidity, five stations were
established on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon at 7650 feet,
and two stations on the saddle between the North Rim and Shiva
Temple, dubbed Shiva Saddle by Meyer and Howe. The bottom of
this Saddle has an elevation of 6300 feet. The Saddle is narrow
and is flanked on each side by nearly vertical walls which
descend at least another 1000 feet to basins below. As Meyer and
Howe point out, the Saddle, small in size and very flat,
receives direct heating from the sun throughout most of the day
and from rising air from below. The horizontal distance between
the North Rim and Shiva Temple is about two miles.
Both Shiva Temple and the Kaibab Plateau (which includes the
North Rim), are capped by Kaibab limestone -- a highly porous
material. As a result, there is a complete lack of standing
water on Shiva Temple and an almost complete lack on the North
Rim. Temperature measurements showed that soil temperatures at
the shaded station in the Saddle were as much as 13C higher than
at the shaded station on the North Rim. At the same time, soil
temperatures at the unshaded Saddle station were about 12C
higher than at the unshaded North Rim station. The relative
humidity was significantly lower in the Saddle than at the North
Rim. At all times of measurement, the air temperature was 1 to
6C warmer on the Saddle than at the North Rim.
Ground-based and aerial observations showed that the Saddle area
is populated almost exclusively with pinyon pine and juniper.
The top of Shiva Temple and the lower reaches of the Kaibab
Plateau at the North Rim, on the other hand, contain heavy
homogeneous stands of Ponderosa Pine. Aerial photographs provide
evidence that the distribution of plants on Shiva Temple is
similar to that of the North Rim. In order to traverse the area
between the North Rim to Shiva Temple, it is necessary to
descend about 350 feet below the Rim to a ridge which runs
nearly one-half mile. One must then descend from the south end
of the ridge another 100 feet to reach the Saddle, which is
about three-quarters of a mile across. After the Saddle is
crossed, to reach the top of Shiva Temple, a climb of about 1350
feet up steep talus slopes and finally a nearly vertical pitch
is required. The top of Shiva Temple encompasses an area of
about 300 acres.
Meyer and Howe found that the pinyon pine and juniper forests of
the ridge and the Saddle between Shiva Temple and the North Rim
differ markedly in plant species composition from the two
Ponderosa Pine forests on the top of Shiva Temple and the North
Rim. Thus, in addition to the climatological barrier presented
by conditions in the Saddle, the differences between plant
species in the Saddle and on the North Rim and Shiva Temple
appear to provide an additional obstacle to migration of small
mammals from the North Rim to the top of Shiva Temple. The
vegetation on Shiva Temple, on the other hand, is strikingly
similar to vegetation on the North Rim.
As Meyer and Howe note, the climatic and vegetational
differences between the North Rim and the Saddle and
difficulties of ascending Shiva Temple are not sufficient to
block the migration of some mammals from the North Rim to Shiva
Temple. On the other hand, there are a number of species of
small mammals that inhabit Ponderosa Pine forests but which do
not frequent areas which have the types of vegetation found in
the Saddle. Furthermore, the Kaibab squirrel (_Sciurus aberti
kaibabensis_) is not found on Shiva Temple, even though the
Ponderosa Pine, which is found on Shiva Temple, provides the
main food source of this squirrel. Thus, if the Kaibab squirrel
were able to cross the area between the North Rim and Shiva
Temple and ascend Shiva, it would find conditions there suitable
for its existence. Thus, the fact that the Kaibab squirrel is
not found on Shiva Temple constitutes additional evidence that
Shiva Temple is biologically isolated for some mammals from the
North Rim.
While indicating that further research is necessary, including a
more extensive study of vegetation and the trapping of small
mammals in the Saddle area, Meyer and Howe conclude that there
is sufficient evidence to indicate a recent origin and
significant isolation of Shiva Temple. They point out that if
microevolutionary changes may result from the isolation of
subpopulations over a long period of time, then, since no such
microevolutionary differences between mammals found on Shiva
Temple and on the North Rim can be detected, the isolation of
Shiva Temple must have occurred recently, if indeed Shiva Temple
is isolated. They maintain that there is significant isolation
of Shiva Temple from the North Rim for a number of small mammals
which are found on both the North Rim and Shiva Temple, thus
establishing that this isolation could not have occurred tens of
thousands of years ago but must have occurred recently.
Meyer and Howe point out that their data, which support
isolation of Shiva Temple for some mammals, provide evolutionary
theory with a two-horned dilemma. They state that:
"On the one hand, short-term isolation of small mammals on
Shiva Temple presents the problem of a recent formation of
this topographical feature. On the other hand, long-term
isolation of small mammals on Shiva Temple without concomitant
changes in gene frequency is hardly consistent with allopatric
speciation."
*References*
CRSQ = _Creation Research Society Quarterly_
Gish, D. T. 1975. A decade of creationist research CRSQ
12:34-46.
Hagberg, S. C. and E. N. Smith. 1984. A report of activity on
the Grasslands Experiment Station for 1983. CRSQ 21:62-6.
Hall, J. G. 1967. The Kaibab squirrel in the Grand Canyon
National Park. Report to the National Park Service
(mimeographed)
Howe, G. F. 1976. Post-fire regrowth of Adenostoma fascicutalum
H. and A. and Ceanothus crassifolius Torr. in relation to
ecology and origins. CRSQ 12:184-90.
___. 1982. Postfire strategies of two chaparral shrubs (chamise
and Ceanothus) cast light on origins. CRSQ 19:3-10.
___. 1984. A trip to the Grand Canyon Experiment Station. CRSQ
21:9-16.
Lammerts, W. E. 1983. Are the bristle-cone pine trees really so
old? CRSQ 20:108-15.
___. 1984. Plant succession studies in relation to
microevolution and the extinction of species. CRSQ 21:104-8.
___ and G. F. Howe. 1974. Plant succession studies in relation
to microevolution. CRSQ 10:208-10.
Meyer, J. R. 1985. Origin of the Kaibab squirrel. CRSQ 22:68-78.
___. 1987. Shiva Temple: island in the sky? CRSQ 24:120-5.
___ and G. F. Howe, 1988. The biological isolation of Shiva
Temple. CRSQ 24:165-72.
Smith, E. N. 1985. Experimental results of crowding on the rate
of asexual reproduction of the planarian Dugesia dorotocephala.
CRSQ 22:16-20.
___ and S. C. Hagberg. 1984. Survival of freshwater and
saltwater organisms in a heterogeneous Flood model experiment.
CRSQ 21:33-7.
Tinkle, W. J. 1971. Pleiotropy: extra cotyledons in the tomato.
CRSQ 8:183-5.
___. 1976. Further research on reduced viability of mutant
plants. CRSQ 12:52.
Vogl, R. J. and P. K. Schorr. 1972. Fire and manzanita chaparral
in the San Jacinto Mountains, California. Ecology 53:1186.
Wells, P. V. 1969. The relation between mode of reproduction and
extent of speciation in woody genera of the California
chaparral. Evolution. 23:264-7.
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