Re: K-T Theories

[larrys@zk3.dec.com]

>This very pattern is seen with rabbits in Australia, where the
>disease that was introduced to control them remains more or less
>rare except when there is a population boom of rabbits, and then
>a new epidemic rages through the newly merged populations reducing
>the numbers back to small levels.

This is neat.  I hadn't heard about such an effort.  How
many diseases?  Just one, or several?  If the latter, then
we have what amounts to a model of Horner's proposed extinction
theory.  If the rabbits don't die out in that model, which I
presume is the case, then we might compare followup efforts at
eradication in order to determine the likelihood that incidental
effects, like, say, asteroidal impact, might succeed in pushing
a repressed dinosaur population over the edge.  I can think it
up, but I'm not sure I've communicated it.  Did that all parse?
Did it make sense?  And who might have the information, if indeed,
that all held together?

regards,
Larry Smith