Umwelt Degeneracy as the Primary Cause of North Atlantic Pink Salmon Invasion

This paper examines the North Atlantic’s recent invasion by pink salmon, a phenomenon of increasing concern and scientific curiosity. We posit that this population shift is best explained as an Umwelt degeneracy, or a loss-of-function development in the pink salmon’s relationship to its environment. By degenerating its homing capacity, introduced pink salmon began to wander, colonize, and benefit from radically increased survival rates, leading to an unpredicted leap in population size and distribution. This paper synthesizes a wide array of literature both theoretical and empirical in the presentation of the Umwelt degeneracy hypothesis. As such, it concerns a wide audience and begins with a brief contextual history of pink salmon and relevant Umwelt theory before delving into the indices of an Umwelt degeneracy phenomenon. The Umwelt degeneracy hypothesis calls for new agency-oriented approaches to be taken in the understanding of this biological invasion and entails significance for biological theories of invasion & evolution.