Complementarity and Reciprocity

“Unity and complementarity constitute reality,” [28]

Werner Heisenberg, physicist, formulated the Uncertainty Principle

A deeper examination of Nature unveils the profound bond that sustains it. Each element complements other elements and serves them, as demonstrated by the food chain: Plants feed on minerals, herbivores feed on plants, and carnivores feed on herbivores. This chain contains myriad sub-chains that together form the entire food chain. In the food chain, every element affects every other element, and any change in one of them will affect every other element in the chain.

Studying Nature reveals that each element that performs its function allows ecosystems to maintain balance among the different elements in the system, thus keeping it healthy. An eye-opening report submitted to the U.S. Department of Education in October, 2003 by Irene Sanders and Judith McCabe, PhD, clearly demonstrates what happens when we breach Nature’s balance. “In 1991, an orca—a killer whale—was seen eating a sea otter. Orcas and otters usually coexist peacefully. So, what happened? Ecologists found that ocean perch and herring were also declining. Orcas don’t eat those fish, but seals and sea lions do. And seals and sea lions are what orcas usually eat, and their population had also declined. So deprived of their seals and sea lions, orcas started turning to the playful sea otters for dinner.

“So otters have vanished because the fish, which they never ate in the first place, have vanished. Now, the ripple spreads. Otters are no longer there to eat sea urchins, so the sea urchin population has exploded. But sea urchins live off seafloor kelp forests, so they’re killing off the kelp. Kelp has been home to fish that feed seagulls and eagles. Like orcas, seagulls can find other food, but bald eagles can’t and they’re in trouble.

“All this began with the decline of ocean perch and herring. Why? Well, Japanese whalers have been killing off the variety of whales that eat the same microscopic organisms that feed pollock [a type of carnivorous fish]. With more fish to eat, pollock flourish. They in turn attack the perch and herring that were food for the seals and sea lions. With the decline in the population of sea lions and seals, the orcas must turn to otters.”

[28] Werner Heisenberg, quoted by Ruth Nanda Anshen in Biography of an Idea (Moyer Bell, 1987), 224