YourLastName 1 Aquatic & Terrestrial Ecosystems Name Date College Course Instructor YourLastName 2 Aquatic & Terrestrial Ecosystems The article, “Why are there so few evolutionary transitions between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems?” by Vermeij and Dudley, clarifies the way organisms exist and differ. The article gives an overview of how different organisms survive only outside of water. This shows that not all organisms can exist in all the same set of conditions. Therefore, it reveals the reason why marine environments usually have limited species compared to land environments. The author indicates that marine surroundings cannot accommodate diverse species because the metabolism of many organisms cannot function in marine environments (Vermeij and Dudley 547). The differences in marine environments are very important. Vermeij and Dudley hypothesize that the changes among freshwater, terrestrial, and marine environments are not usual in most of the animal and plant species (Vermeij and Dudley 543). The study further indicates that only organisms with good adaptive features can transit well in different habitats. Tetrapod vertebrates are an example of organisms that have these adaptive features, thus they can live in both land and marine environments. Hypothesis The study proposed that most organisms that invade new environments respond to the new surrounding well by closing their metabolic mechanisms. Organisms that are able to do this, and then they can be more ...
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