Article: Precision Extinction - Eradicating a species when you want to isn't that easy
- From: "Robert Karl Stonjek" <rstonjek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 22:50:45 -0500 (EST)
Precision Extinction
Eradicating a species when you want to isn't that easy
By Nick Atkinson
On a bleak December afternoon in 1989, with the color drained from the skies
of the Cambridgeshire Fens, the campaign to eradicate a large semiaquatic
rodent called Myocastor coypus from the British Isles finally ended. An
aged, fight-scarred male, which the previous night had made the fateful
decision to climb onto a raft set for it by the Ministry of Agriculture,
Fisheries, and Food, spent most of the day encaged in a steel live-trap
before being humanely dispatched. A single close-range shot thus consigned
the coypu, or nutria, to the memories of the few remaining "marshmen" -
inhabitants of the windswept fens and an endangered breed themselves. But
this event, played out against a backdrop of ancient reed beds and crumbling
windmills, still stands out as a landmark achievement in conservation
biology.
Invasive species cause ethical, economic, and ecological problems the world
over. Fire ants, zebra mussels, American mink, sea lampreys, and feral pigs
are just a few of the most troublesome animal species, and hundreds more
come from every kingdom of life. The World Conservation Union (IUCN)
estimates the annual global cost of invasive species at more than $400
billion (US). Turning the tide is a significant challenge. "Once a species
becomes established it's almost impossible to eradicate" says Michael
Slimak, associate director of ecology at the US Environmental Protection
Agency.
The environmental havoc these creatures wreak, it would appear, justifies
control, if not complete eradication. Various factors affect such decisions,
the cost of action versus inaction ultimately determining the fate of many
invasive species. Scientists are faced with a doubly daunting task: to prove
economic harm and reduce the costs of control, tipping the balance of the
equation.
Scientific research now underpins almost all efforts to control invasive
species, but in evolutionary terms such organisms are very much a moving
target, and hard to hit. By definition, they are able to exploit new
habitats and out-compete local species. That they are good at what they do
is what makes them both undesirable and difficult to eradicate.
Full Text at TheScientist
http://www.the-scientist.com/2005/11/21/16/1
Comment:
Well done!! Now let these extinction experts come to Australia where they
get their teeth into our ferrel species, such as rabbits, camels, pigs,
donkeys, foxes etc and for those who are not such a good a shot try the
ferrel vegetation - prickly pair etc etc
Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek
.
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