Assignment Paper

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1. Lindeman argued that scientists had an overwhelming biocentric focus in the sciences of the
environment, and he therefore sought greater inclusion of abiotic elements into ecosystem research. In
other words, scientists have tended to focus on large mammals when thinking about the ‘environment’ (e.g.
some have argued that the panda image of the WWF logo demonstrates this bias). We can even see this
bias in Voltaire’s Saturnian character (1752), who only saw ‘whales’ when first exploring the earth. More
recent research suggests that even within the biocentric bias, there are further biases. Discuss how our
perspective of ‘life’ has been strongly biased towards complex lifeforms. Make specific reference to the key
differences between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. In your answer, try to reference how we have expanded
beyond this limited view to include other forms of life? How have our cosmological discoveries fueled this
expanded worldview? And, what do these questions say about the nature of life itself? (NOTE: This is a
very broad question, but there are very specific references to it in the lectures – a full answer would refer to
these sources)