Plant Galls And The Discovery Institute

Galls are structures on plants that benefit the parasite, but are detrimental to the plant. Here is a great paper that demolishes evolution, because how could plants possibly evolve to have structures that are detrimental to them?

And here is the Discovery Institute's take on that paper.

The new paper is typical of Lönnig’s writings, with an abundance of details and references. As you listen to his podcast on carnivorous plants, or read his new article on plant galls, I suggest the following exercise: Try to imagine hypothetical species that would falsify Darwin, using his own criteria, in a more spectacular way.

The only problem is... plant galls are caused by the parasites, not the plants.

It is the parasites that have evolved the ability to cause galls, not the plants.

How Could The Author Get It Wrong?

Wolf-Ekkehard Lönnig, author of the article, actually spent 25 studying plant genetics and mutations and has a Ph.D. in genetics - or so the DI assure us. His paper has "an abundance of details and references". So how come he made such a fundamental error?

He is an expert in plant genetics, but he has missed the fact that these structures are coded in the parasite DNA, and not the plant DNA.

And his whole argument is therefore null-and-void.

Why has no one corrected him?

Because they want it to be true. In pseudo-science, wishful thinking trumps facts every time. These people are utterly convinced they are right, so grab at anything that supports their faith-claims. And once they have grabbed it, they cling to it like a drowning man to a bit of wood.

Lönnig got is wrong, and his argument fails. But Lönnig will never admit that. No one at the Discovery Institute will admit that.

ID is pseudo-science. It is religious belief dressed up to look like science. This is a great paper that looks like science, and so reassures Christians they are right. It is apologetics; no more and no less.

Real Science

For those interested in real science, this article may be of interest:

Our study of the goldenrod gall fly, Eurosta solidaginis, shows that gall size variation results from genetic variation among flies despite selective pressures by natural enemies. .... Quantitative-genetic methods were used in a greenhouse experiment to evaluate the contribution of insect genetic variance to phenotypic variation in gall size. Significant differences in gall diameter were found among full-sib families of gall makers. Gall dimensions were genetically correlated with one another at most developmental stages. Observations of galls growing on goldenrod clones in both the field and the greenhouse suggest that plant genotype also influences gall phenotype, and thus affects gall-maker vulnerability to natural enemies.

Or this one:

Each of these anomalous plant structures represents an extended phenotype that is under the metabolic control of a gall-inducing organism, typically a mite or insect. The extended phenotype of the galling insect results in production of atypically formed and positioned tissues that are hardened, are mostly three-dimensional, and resistant to flattening. ... The assignment of modern galls into morphotypes has been used productively to distinguish species of thrips, aphids, and tenthredinid sawflies.