Methinks you don't understand what is meant by assisted migration. The use of the term "migration" may cause some of the confusion. I suspect that it is not meant to refer to some attempt to establish new periodic migration regimes in species, such as geese, but instead to help move species to more favorable environments. With the ice ages, for example, species migrated (expanded or contracted their ranges) as the ice sheets advanced or retreated. Under current conditions, many species may not be able to "migrate" on their own as corridors for their "movement" are greatly restricted or nonexistent thanks to human modification/destruction of the environment.
This is a serious issue, deserving thoughtful consideration rather than sarcasm. Dave ------------------------------------------------------ David M. Lawrence | Home: (804) 559-9786 7471 Brook Way Court | Fax: (804) 559-9787 Mechanicsville, VA 23111 | Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] USA | http: http://fuzzo.com ------------------------------------------------------ "We have met the enemy and he is us." -- Pogo "No trespassing 4/17 of a haiku" -- Richard Brautigan -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of James J. Roper Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2007 9:07 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: assisted migration Interesting concept - if you take my sarcasm. Let's imagine that migration took eons to evolve - do we have such hubris that we think we can predict evolution? With global warming, will animals need to migrate anymore, or will migration be even more important? And, if we translocated some animals, are they going to know that the idea was for them to migrate? Are we going to net populations of birds, turtles and wildebeest and move them to another place, hoping that they will figure it out? But, that is just my humble opinion.... Cheers, Jim On 7/18/07, David Inouye <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > John Nielsen, a Correspondent on the Science Desk at NPR News in > Washington DC is working on a story about "assisted migration" as it > relates to global climate change. "I have heard that while there are no > "official" translocations taking place at the moment, there's a lively > scientific debate going on about whether there will or should be." > > "I'd like to hear what the folks who subscribe to the ECOLOG listserve > think of "assisted migration."" > --=20 -- James J. Roper, Ph.D. Ecologia e Din=E2micas Populacionais de Vertebrados Terrestres ------------------------------ Caixa Postal 19034 81531-990 Curitiba, Paran=E1, Brasil ------------------------------ E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Telefone: 55 41 33857249 Mobile: 55 41 99870543 ------------------------------ Ecologia e Conserva=E7=E3o na UFPR <http://www.bio.ufpr.br/ecologia/> Econci=EAncia - Consultoria e Tradu=E7=F5es <http://jjroper.googlespages.co= m>
