CRSQ Volume 19
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Creation Research Society Quarterly Haec credimus: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh.—Exodus 20:11 VOLUME 19 JUNE, 1982 NUMBER 1 ANNUAL CREATION RESEARCH SOCIETY QUARTERLY Copyright 1982 0 by Creation Research Society VOLUME 19 JUNE, 1982 NUMBER1 . TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Postfire Strategies of two Chaparral Shrubs EDITORIAL BOARD (Chamise and Ceanothus) Cast Light on Origins . 3 George F. Howe Harold L. Armstrong, Editor 4 Couper Street Does Chromosomal Reorganization Really Lead Kingston, Ontario, Canada to the Origin of New Species? . 10 Walter E. Lammerts, Research Editor Walter E. Lammerts Thomas G. Barnes . University of Texas at El Paso, Texas The Genetic Integrity of the “Kinds” DuaneT. Gish . Institute for Creation Research, (Baramins): a Working Hypothesis . 13 San Diego, Calif. A. J. Jones George F. Howe . Los Angeles Baptist College, Newhall, Calif. Election Results . 18 John W. Klotz. Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO. John N. Moore . Michigan State University The Sickle Cell Trait . 19 East Lansing, Michigan Kevin Curtis McLeod Henry M. Morris . Institute for Creation Research, San Diego, Calif. A Critique of Afar Man as the Alleged Common Ancestor . Anderson College (retired) William J, Tinkle . of Later Australopithecines and Homo . 28 North Manchester, Indiana A. W. Mehlert John C. Whitcomb. Grace Theological Seminary, Winona Lake, Ind. Cosmic Space and Time . 28 Emmett Williams . Continental Telephone Laboratories, Norcross, Georgia Gerardus D. Bouw Notices of change of address, and failure to receive this publication The Oklo Natural Uranium Reactor Examined should be sent to Wilbert H. Rusch, Sr. 2717 Cranbrook Road, Ann from a Creationist’s Viewpoint . 32 Arbor, Michigan 48 104. Eugene F. Chaffin Creaffon Research Society Quarterly is published by the Creation Research Society, 2717 Cranbrook Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104. 0 by Creation Research Society. The Mosaic Building Code . 38 Meir Ben-Uri Creatfon Research Society Quarterly is indexed in the Christian Periodical Index. The Longevity Accounts in Ancient History. 40 Donald W. Patten Language was Created, Not Evolved. 52 Michael A. Harbin COVER ILLUSTRATION The Expanding Universe Theory is Internally On the front cover are shown four kinds of plant, Inconsistent...................................... 58 common in southern California, especially where there Russell Akridge has recently been a brush fire. These illustrations are used, in black and white, in the article by Howe, A Biblical Approach to Dating the Earth: elsewhere in this issue of the Quarterly. a Case for the Use of Genesis 5 and 11 The four parts show: upper left: California poppies, as an Exact Chronology . 80 blue dicks, and others (13); upper right: lupines, Richard Niessen Lupinus succulentis (14); lower left: chocolate lily, or mission bells (15); and lower right: Ceanothus Reality: Real or Conventional?. 87 crussifolius, also called hoary-leaved Ceunothus, or Jerry Bergman buckbrush (17). The numbers in brackets give the Figure in Howe’s article in which these respective Panorama of Science . 89 plants are shown. These pictures were taken during a study of how vegetation recovers after a fire. It is shown in Howe’s Book Reviews (5) . 73 article that the different strategies of the different plants are evidence of skillful design on the part of the Creator. Letters to the Editor (5) . 78 VOLUME 19, JUNE, 1982 3 POSTFIRE STRATEGIES OF TWO CHAPARRAL SHRUBS (CHAMISE AND CEANOTHUS) CAST LIGHT ON ORIGINS GEORGEF. HOWE* Received 10 August, 1981 How do you start with survival of shrubs after fire and end up discussing origins models? This is what Wells did when he claimed that Ceanothus evolved rapidly because its species could not resprout after fire but had to use the seedling mode of reproduction thereby being forced to undergo mutation, selection, and speciation more rapidly than plants like chamise that resprout.2 This paper contains a review of some of the data that conflict with Wells’ evolu- tionary hypothesis. The problem of how a plant could have originally gotten the ability to resprout after fires is discussed in terms of the neodarwinian microevolutionary model, the newer evolutionary concept of “punctuated equilibria”, and the scientific creation model. Keeley has proposed a “stochastic fire hypothesis” that fits quite well with our field data in particular and with the scientific creation origins model in general. Keeley argued that resprouters like chamise are well adapted for growth in areas where fires are frequent and that obligate seeders like Ceanothus have an advantage wherever fires come after long fire-free periods. The idea that both patterns of shrub growth after fire are advan- tageous under different circumstances supports creation scientists’ belief that there is a plan in nature. On first consideration it might seem that anything as Meet the two Shrubs-Chamise and Ceanothus prosaic as shrub survival would have little connection Chamise is a member of the rose family even though with the exciting controversy about origins presently its little evergreen leaves resemble miniature needles of raging between scientific creationists and mega- spruce or fir, clustered along thin, dry, woody stems evolutionists. Yet the very presence of two groups of (Figure 1). A new section of stem and leaf growth ap- bushes (chamise-which botanists call Adenostoma pears each year during January and February. When fasciculatum and a number of species of mountain chamise blooms a few short weeks later in May or early lilac-genus Ceanothus) thriving throughout the June, its dense clusters of small, cream-colored flowers chaparral shrublands of western North American poses clearly betray its rose family affinities and brighten the serious problems for advocates of the various tip of every upper branch, causing the whole shrub to megaevolution origins models, as we shall see. stand out against a backdrop of other dull grey-green bushes, yellow dried grasses, and brown soil (Figures 2-S). In fact, during the spring season, each species of shrub in the chaparral blooms at a slightly different date so that for a period of about two months the flowers highlight different shrubs producing a kaleidescope of light and color that makes every hillside more beautiful than a chalk artist’s picture under “black-light.” Chamise flowers soon fade to a rich brown color and the seed ripens, falling to the soil nearby. This cycle of growth, flowering, and seed production continues year by year but the bushes themselves seldom get much taller than two meters because older branches bend downward. In mature chamise forests that go for decades without burning, thick old stems and fallen branches produce a brittle pile of tinder that will burn with intensity during the next fire (Figure 6). Chamise is so highly flammable that is has also been called “greasewood” because the shrubs erupt into flame as if they were torches full of pitch or grease (see Figures 7-9). It is not a matter of “if” that next fire will come but simply “when” since every square inch of chaparral ultimately burns. The chaparral actually experiences Figure 1. Chamise stems are woody with narrow, needle-like leaves senescence but it becomes a more diverse, productive, clustered into little bundles. These leaves are evergreen and up to l/2 inch long. Not knowing otherwise, someone might mistake chamise and rejuvenated ecosystem after fire. Generally, the for some type of strange little spruce or fir plant. Both green leaves longer a chaparral forest thrives before the next fire, the and stem burn violently in chaparral fires; hence the other common hotter and more devastating that fire will be. name for this plant is “greasewood”. Newcomers to Southern California understandably dream of owning a home right up in the beautiful *George F. Howe is Professor and Chairman, Division of Natural brushy chaparral forests but soon discover that such a Sciences and Mathematics, Los Angeles Baptist College, P.O. Box 878, Newhall, California 9132 1; and President of the Creation Re- plan would put their home in constant fire jeopardy. search Society. Fire departments and insurance firms require owners of 4 CREATION RESEARCH SOCIETY QUARTERLY Figure 2. Chamise flowers seen clustered at the tips of branches during Figure 4. Chamise plants sometimes grow apart from other shrubs, like May demonstrate that these plants belong in the rose family. The one- this one seen along Pico Canyon Road, Newhall, California. In the meter tape lends size perspective. Chamise plants produce many foreground are dried mustard plants and a live-oak woodland in the seeds, most of which lie dormant for years until the next fire burns the background. There are only four taxa (taxonomic groups) in the forest. genus Adenostoma. structures in the chaparral to remove all shrubs from a or just above the soil level (Figures 10-11). Within two broad zone around each building every year before fire or three weeks following the burn, these tender shoots season. we shall call “resprouts” are visible on many of the After the fires, chamise plants have the ability to send forth fresh stems and leaves from the burned crown at Figure 5. Chamise more often grow in dense clusters with other cha- mise as seen here, or mixed together with shrubs like mountain lilac, Figure 3. Chamise stems, leaves, and flowers can be seen here silhouet- manzanita, and scrub oak. Chamise plants make up a large percen- ted against the sky. Old stems and lower sections of chamise plants tage of the chaparral brush cover in southern California. Here they become brittle, serving as a ready reserve of tinder just waiting for the are seen in full bloom on a slope opposite a stand of weedy grasses in- next fire. cluding ripgut and wild oats. VOLUME 19, JUNE, 1982 5 Figure 8.