
Why a species thrives where it doesn't belong
In two neighboring ponds, the same microorganisms swim. Food appears now in one, now in the other — randomly, with no rule. After a month, there are a hundred times more of them in the first pond than in the second. No one chose where to live. Just luck.
This is how disequilibrium works. While the environment keeps changing, abundances don't have time to even out.