There’s a feature in Science magazine this week that suggests the use of “assisted migration” to place species threatened by climate change into areas more suitable for their survival. As the planet warms, these scientists warn, certain species will be unable to migrate due to manmade or natural barriers and will cease to exist.
The fear is that fragile ecosystems such as coral reefs and cloud forests will simply go extinct if left to the pressures of global warming. A real trick in this bio engineering effort would be determining any detrimental effects on the locations where plants and animals may be moved.
There’s a fine balance to nature, and while this effort means well, I fear that it’s too tricky of an exercise to pull off. Assuming incremental temperature increases over a long time, I wonder how many times we may have to move some species that thrive best under very exacting conditions.
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I share your concern. Some species are so sensitive and exacting in their environmental needs, if we don’t do this exactly right, we may quicken their extinction rather than prevent it.
The first assisted migration of an endangered plant was undertaken by a small group of citizen activists on July 30, 2008. Torreya Guardians migrated 31 seedlings of the highly endangered “Florida” torreya tree into the mountains of North Carolina, onto private properties. Google Torreya Guardians to view a photo-essay of this historic event in conservation biology. (Post by Connie Barlow, founder of Torreya Guardians and author or the 2001 “The Ghosts of Evolution” (Basic Books).)