Successful organisms

Successful organisms in a given habitat might be defined as those which contribute relatively more offspring to the next generation. This leads to some interesting thoughts. Human parents produce around two children on average, so even with all the technological advances we have made in adapting our environment, by the above definition of success humans are failures compared with the whole of the insect world.

Success for an organism can be measured by the number of offspring which are contributed to the next generation. By this standard, aphids are far more successful than humans!