Re: [ECOLOG-L] Conservation or just gardening?
Consider fisheries as a good example of overlap between conservation and gardening: Fish farms are 100% gardening. Rearing fish to adult size in hatcheries so as to provide catchable trout is almost 100% gardening. Using fish hatcheries to provide releasable smolts so as to maintain harvestable runs of salmon is still principally gardening. Using fish hatcheries to re-establish self-maintaining wild populations is partially gardening and partially conservation. Less gardening and more conservation occurs when wild fish are trapped and relocated to re-establish self-maintaining populations. Habitat restoration and fish harvest restriction is partially gardening but mostly conservation. Managing and maintaining a self-sustaining population through habitat protection and harvest controls is conservation. The pros for gardening in the above cases? Plenty of fish for the market and the creel; the fish on your table costs less. Cons? Pollution, disease spread, genetic contamination, competition with conservation efforts. The pros for conservation? Self-sustaining, balanced and healthy aquatic systems that are more stable over time and less expensive to manage. Cons? Fewer fish for the market and the creel; the fish on your table costs more (but can be of higher quality); potentially less funding for conservation because of reduced fishing license and fee collections. I think we're in the process of transitioning to fisheries based on more conservation and less gardening, at least here in the Pacific Northwest. Our markets feature wild-caught salmon coming mostly from self-sustaining Alaska fisheries (although some are also coming from hatchery supported Pacific coast fisheries). Trout anglers are becoming more satisfied with catch and release fisheries and salmon anglers have to release wild-stock fish in many fisheries. But this transitioning must occur more internationally and can probably only occur if we recognize and adjust to limits of growth and consumption. That is probably the looming cloud that could make the gardening vs. conservation discussion futile. Warren W. Aney Senior Wildlife Ecologist Tigard, Oregon -Original Message- From: Wayne Tyson [mailto:landr...@cox.net] Sent: Friday, 28 January, 2011 20:14 To: Warren W. Aney; ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Conservation or just gardening? Ecolog: In many ways, I like Warren's comment better than mine; it's certainly more concise. I'd like to hear more about the overlap, especially with regard to its pros and cons, with tradeoffs, and transitions toward transformations--especially culturally. WT - Original Message - From: Warren W. Aney a...@coho.net To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Sent: Friday, January 28, 2011 3:07 PM Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Conservation or just gardening? I've weighed in on this before, but this time let me present what may be an oversimplification -- to me the defining difference between gardening and conservation is based on intent: The intent of conservation is to maintain or attain ecosystem complexity through management protection, enhancement and/or restoration to achieve naturally maintained ecocentric stability, diversity and productivity. The intent of gardening is to simplify ecosystems through intensive and continuous management to achieve human-maintained anthropocentric output and/or attractiveness. And yes, they can and do overlap sometimes. Warren W. Aney Senior Wildlife Ecologist Tigard, Oregon -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Wayne Tyson Sent: Thursday, 27 January, 2011 17:54 To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Conservation or just gardening? Re: [ECOLOG-L] ECOLOG-L Digest - 22 Jan 2011 to 23 Jan 2011 (#2011-23) Each decision about species or habitat intervention is (or should be) context driven. Generalizations don't hack it in science, and it's high time journalists gave them up in the popular press. Over 4,000 words of provocative prose is more than naive in this Age of the Twit, though, and if the authors are serious about investigating the details of this very serious subject, they should engage, not instruct. Forums like Ecolog could, if respondents would stick to the question and the responses to it, make a real contribution to sorting out the facts from the weedy patches of opining. I, and I presume Jason, continue to await an answer to the original question. WT - Original Message - From: austin ritter austin.rit...@gmail.com To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2011 1:19 PM Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] ECOLOG-L Digest - 22 Jan 2011 to 23 Jan 2011 (#2011-23) A week or so ago Jason asked: Are there any recognized criteria for determining the boundary between conservation and gardening? This article from High Country News seem extremely relevant:
[ECOLOG-L] summer course on adaptive dynamics
ELME is a summer educational program at Michigan State Unviersity's Kellogg Biological Station devoted to Enhancing Linkages between Mathematics and Ecology. ELME 2011 will focus on evolutionary ecology, particularly game theory and Adaptive Dynamics (Geritz et al. 1998). In this hands-on three-week course, students will learn the basics of Adaptive Dynamics and apply their knowledge to independent modeling projects using the computer program Mathematica. Dates: June 6-24, 2011 Hours: Mon-Fri 9-5 Instructors: Stefan Geritz (University of Helsinki) Christopher Klausmeier (Michigan State University) Target audience: 12-18 graduate students and postdocs; exceptional undergraduates will be considered Prerequisites: At least one semester experience in theoretical ecology/evolution. Previous exposure to AD and Mathematica useful but not required. Format: A mixture of lecture, guided computer labs, and independent/team projects To apply, email elme2...@kbs.msu.edu the following: - your CV - a statement of research interests and why you'd benefit from the course - a statement of relevant educational/research experience, including related coursework - the name of a reference who you've asked to email a letter of support Deadline for applications: March 15, 2011 Financial support to cover room and board and help defray transportation costs is available. Let us know if this is not necessary. Academic credit, if desired, is available at appropriate MSU rates. Let us know if this is desired. For more info see http://www.kbs.msu.edu/education/elme or email elme2...@kbs.msu.edu.
Re: [ECOLOG-L] Conservation or just gardening?
In hopes that you will forgive me for an impudent layperson's intrusion of a favorite quotation: People have forgotten this truth,the fox said. But you mustn't forget it. You become responsible forever for what you've tamed. The Little Prince [from A Guide for Grown-ups; essential wisdom from the collected works of Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Harcourt, 2002] - Original Message - From: Warren W. Aney a...@coho.net To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2011 12:14 AM Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Conservation or just gardening? Consider fisheries as a good example of overlap between conservation and gardening: Fish farms are 100% gardening. Rearing fish to adult size in hatcheries so as to provide catchable trout is almost 100% gardening. Using fish hatcheries to provide releasable smolts so as to maintain harvestable runs of salmon is still principally gardening. Using fish hatcheries to re-establish self-maintaining wild populations is partially gardening and partially conservation. Less gardening and more conservation occurs when wild fish are trapped and relocated to re-establish self-maintaining populations. Habitat restoration and fish harvest restriction is partially gardening but mostly conservation. Managing and maintaining a self-sustaining population through habitat protection and harvest controls is conservation. The pros for gardening in the above cases? Plenty of fish for the market and the creel; the fish on your table costs less. Cons? Pollution, disease spread, genetic contamination, competition with conservation efforts. The pros for conservation? Self-sustaining, balanced and healthy aquatic systems that are more stable over time and less expensive to manage. Cons? Fewer fish for the market and the creel; the fish on your table costs more (but can be of higher quality); potentially less funding for conservation because of reduced fishing license and fee collections. I think we're in the process of transitioning to fisheries based on more conservation and less gardening, at least here in the Pacific Northwest. Our markets feature wild-caught salmon coming mostly from self-sustaining Alaska fisheries (although some are also coming from hatchery supported Pacific coast fisheries). Trout anglers are becoming more satisfied with catch and release fisheries and salmon anglers have to release wild-stock fish in many fisheries. But this transitioning must occur more internationally and can probably only occur if we recognize and adjust to limits of growth and consumption. That is probably the looming cloud that could make the gardening vs. conservation discussion futile. Warren W. Aney Senior Wildlife Ecologist Tigard, Oregon -Original Message- From: Wayne Tyson [mailto:landr...@cox.net] Sent: Friday, 28 January, 2011 20:14 To: Warren W. Aney; ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Conservation or just gardening? Ecolog: In many ways, I like Warren's comment better than mine; it's certainly more concise. I'd like to hear more about the overlap, especially with regard to its pros and cons, with tradeoffs, and transitions toward transformations--especially culturally. WT - Original Message - From: Warren W. Aney a...@coho.net To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Sent: Friday, January 28, 2011 3:07 PM Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Conservation or just gardening? I've weighed in on this before, but this time let me present what may be an oversimplification -- to me the defining difference between gardening and conservation is based on intent: The intent of conservation is to maintain or attain ecosystem complexity through management protection, enhancement and/or restoration to achieve naturally maintained ecocentric stability, diversity and productivity. The intent of gardening is to simplify ecosystems through intensive and continuous management to achieve human-maintained anthropocentric output and/or attractiveness. And yes, they can and do overlap sometimes. Warren W. Aney Senior Wildlife Ecologist Tigard, Oregon -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Wayne Tyson Sent: Thursday, 27 January, 2011 17:54 To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Conservation or just gardening? Re: [ECOLOG-L] ECOLOG-L Digest - 22 Jan 2011 to 23 Jan 2011 (#2011-23) Each decision about species or habitat intervention is (or should be) context driven. Generalizations don't hack it in science, and it's high time journalists gave them up in the popular press. Over 4,000 words of provocative prose is more than naive in this Age of the Twit, though, and if the authors are serious about investigating the details of this very serious subject, they should engage, not instruct. Forums like Ecolog could, if respondents would stick to the question and the responses to it, make a real contribution to sorting out
