I don't buy this part of Wayne's post, which repeats a widely held view.
Usually we hear the argument that we should not play god and thus all
species are equally worthy of protection. Unfortunately as human populations
expand and encroach on habitat, and as pollution grows, it is not always
possible to preserve all of the species in the world and we either make some
decisions or leave matters up to chance. I think that we have to be
realistic and make responsible choices.
Some species are essential and need to be protected at virtually any cost,
and as Wayne correctly observes these may not be charismatic species.
Earthworms and other creepy crawlies are among the most essential creatures
on earth. These are the species that we have to consider "significant".
Keystone species are almost always both charismatic and significant, but
many others are not, and many prey organisms play an essential role even
though only the specialists have heard of them. Without Calanus finmarchicus
many of the North Atlantic fisheries would collapse.
But when we have hundreds of closely related species that probably diverged
only recently, is each one "significant"? There may be a thousand different
species of nematodes in a benthic grab sample, is each one essential?
And there may even be species that we could do without. Do we really need
anopheles mosquitoes and Plasmodium? According to Wikipedia there are around
3500 species of mosquito, maybe if some of those which spread malaria were
to go extinct we would all be better off (assuming that we don't consider
them a good means of human populaton control). We wiped out smallpox, why
not malaria?
Of course we have to be aware that not everyone would share the judgement of
ecologists in these matters. I suspect that most people would welcome the
extinction of the common house fly, whose maggots are among the most
important detritivores on earth. From a political point of view we may have
to take positions different from what we think of as ecologists.
Bill Silvert
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wayne Tyson" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: quinta-feira, 19 de Novembro de 2009 4:32
Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Ecosystems Human intervention Re: [ECOLOG-L] Voyage of
the Beagle: a new podcast on the science of ecology and conservation
I'll ... concentrate on the central point that no species should be
considered insignificant, a lesson that should perhaps be driven home much
more widely and taken much more seriously. Microorganisms, in particular,
and "non-charismatic" species in general, tend to be left out...
