ABSTRACT
A theory of perception ought to be a theory for all organisms. In respect to the Kingdom Bacteria, the number of different species in a single ton of soil may be of the order of 4 10. Complicating estimates of the number of species of bacteria worldwide is the absence of a principled basis for deciding what counts. The dominance of bacteria and Gould’s dictum notwithstanding, it has become evident that the governing conjecture formulated in the 19th century, that eukaryotic species are derivative of bacteria, is in need of revision. Ecological realism is realism defined at nature’s ecological scale in a niche-specific way. For an ecologist, living things have invited questions of the following sort: Why are some living things common and others rare? Why are they so curious in their ways? were answered by R. L. Lindeman’s theory of trophic transactions within an ecosystem: Rarity and discreteness are the direct consequences of the second law of thermodynamics.
