Fleas are very important to the spread of disease. This makes them important for survival of some strains of bacteria. Without them, Yersinia Pestis would never have had its reign as king of all microbes.
Fleas have made fortunes for the companies that produce flea killing products.
Species don’t have purposes or roles, they fill niches available.
Purpose implies context or value judgements, which don’t exist in nature.
Except that it could be easily said that humans which are part of nature indeed have a purpose and role becasue we created a purpose and role for ourselves, one such purpose/role could be said to intentionally guide (including genetically alter) evolution to our benefit. With this we have created purposeful created organisms, all part of the natural cycle.
Well, sometimes if parents will not condone a marriage, a flea can bite both lovers and by letting their blood mingle in its tiny chamber, become marriage bed and temple. If you’re into that kind of thing, I mean.
If fleas could develop an anti-coagulant that doesn’t itch…they could have their fill and hop along their merry way.
Ukulele tuning.
Did Issac Asimov write the fish poem, or did he, too, swipe it?
Playing bass.
Yep. I can’t see how the thread question can make sense in any context other than some sort of ‘intelligent design’ belief, looking for support for that belief. And I doubt that General Questions is the right sub-forum at SDMB for discussion of that. (What would be…IMHO? Great Debates?)
I’m not trying to characterize the OP. I am just assuming (unless corrected) that the idea that a particular life form must ‘serve a purpose’ in the Earth biosphere comes out of creationist or related modes of belief.
It is also a normal reaction in terms of being human, frustrated with flees I can see a person say in that frustration ‘what purpose do you serve, why are you here?’, so it may be just the classic philosophic question ‘why are we here’ which is not spiritual by nature but only probing and asking.
That’s fair. It might be as you describe.
There are a LOT of odd beliefs about nature and evolution out there even among the non-religious. I’m sure everyone has heard “humans are the most evolved animal” or “what is the endpoint of evolution?” or “when does evolution stop?”. Or anthropomorphizing or giving agency to evolution, “what does evolution want anyway, what is the endgoal?”.
Indeed, what “purpose” do humans serve? (We don’t even have enough fur to participate in proper symbiosis by being viable hosts for fleas! We do, however, seem to be doing a uniquely terrific job of wiping out other species and their entire habitats.)
Pretty much sums it up.
He is also greatly underestimating the energy of even one imploding star. No way even the most hateful human being can generate that much heat.
If fleas were suddenly wiped out what effect might it have? I don’t think arid regions have fleas. Do fleas transmit anti bodies as well as diseases?
Fleas provide exercise for their hosts. Without all that scratching, we’d have generations of fat dogs, cats, rats, etc.
They do nothing for me (that I’m aware of), but they’re nice vectors for some diseases, so it’s cool.
Or flea markets. You can’t have flea markets without fleas.