I owe Wayne an apology for being sloppy in my post. I did not mean that
Wayne endorsed the view "we should not play god and thus all species are
equally worthy of protection," but I carelessly lumped him in with the
people who do believe so. I would also lump Malcolm in with those who feel
that we should not try to classify species by their value in some sense, but
I think that failing to do so, even if we do so badly, can be disastrous. If
we ecologists do not try to defend some of the most important species, and
instead either defend all of them or none, then by default salvation will be
offered only to those with charisma.
I am not sure whether Matheus got my sense, but when I wrote that "maggots
are among the most important detritivores on earth" I meant that we should
respect the importance of the house fly even though we all find it a
terrible pest. By the way, they also have medical applications, but as I
understand it the military physician who first used maggots to clean wounds
was severely punished.
Bill Silvert
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wayne Tyson" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: domingo, 22 de Novembro de 2009 18:33
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Insignificant species?
If I said anything that left the impression that "we should not play god
and thus all species are equally worthy of protection," I significantly
erred. I meant for my statement to be taken only literally, and in the
sense of ecosystem studies, not sentimentalistic obsession with
"ecofaddism." However, I can certainly understand how Silvert might
interpret it that way, given that we are awash in environmentalist-driven
dogma. I meant to say that it has been my observation that many ecological
studies tend to ignore non-charismatic species, and such omissions can
throw out the baby with the bathwater. So, Bill, put it the way you
interpreted it, I don't buy it either.
WT
----- Original Message -----
From: "William Silvert" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2009 5:18 AM
Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Insignificant species?
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.
