Is Conservation...Unnatural? Then MY TAKE

Is Conservation…Unnatural?

Written by Erik Meijaard
Published on March 16th, 2009

I wrote about the Church Bird of Borneo a few weeks ago, and asked the question how species could be evolutionary winners and conservation disasters at the same time.
The issue is about exotic and invasive species that are ecologically much better adapted to their new environments than indigenous species, which are often fine-tuned with their native, undisturbed habitats. Disturbance of these native habitats makes the locals suffer, while the newcomers thrive.
Whether they are tree sparrows, Burmese pythons, water hyacinths or humans, all these newcomers are very good at coping with new environments, often at the expense of whoever lived there first. But strangely enough, that is exactly how evolution works. The ancestral Darwin’s Finches once landed, completely exhausted, on one of the Galapagos Islands. They thrived, adapted, evolved and probably displaced quite a few of the species that had arrived before them.
Here in Southeast Asia, I see the same. Every few hundred thousand years, a wave of new species has arrived in the lands that now make up Indonesia and Malaysia, often driven by climatic change. They displaced the original species, which either died out or survived on mountain tops, offshore islands or other unusual places, where they are now rare endemics.
In conservation we are trying to change this. We are eradicating or controlling the invaders, and protect the natives. But that introduces a paradox.
Of course, things are happening much faster now that humans have come onto the scene. We are not talking about millennia or even centuries anymore. Our changes happen in a few years. And few species can adapt to that speed.
Still, there seem to be a disconnect between conservation and natural evolution. Come to Borneo in a few thousand years from now, and quite likely the tree sparrows here will have started to develop some useful traits that allows them to exploit new resources.
When does a species stop being a dangerous invasive and become a wonder of nature worth protecting?
(Image: Sketch of four finches by John Gould that were discovered on the Galapagos Islands by Charles Darwin, from the 1845 edition of Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle. Credit: John Gould via a Creative Commons license.)

 

 

MY TAKE

 

I think that invasive species in some cases will thrive or die, but in most cases will thrive and suffocate many of the locals. I have seen much of that with the plant life, bird life and insects that have been brought to my area. I find myself trying to tear down thickets of invasive briers that are choking out beautiful and dying cedar trees, etc. and when I see gypsy moths I don't mind if I see them get stomped on. However, it's not such a bad idea that the birds have a nice diet of them. But they do rape the trees. Them and tent caterpillars. I cannot remember the specific names.

 

One year, when I was a child, it was all you could do to not have a gypsy moth caterpillar land on you or shit itself on you as it fell to the ground and no matter where you walked they were everywhere. These creatures that were mistakenly brought in by importers have ravaged many trees and other plant life.

 

Then there are the conservation groups where I live who are trying to revitalize the indigenous species and eradicate invasive bull briers and so fourth. I say let at them!

 

The snakes in Florida if captured are sent to exotic refuges most of the time. It seems that there are a lot of pathetic and lazy pet owners.... extremely irresponsible. Don't they know that the exotic snake they just purchased that slithers around their home can reach a length of 15 feet and swallow small dogs and children whole after suffocating them? People.

 

There is some conservation that is very good. I believe that the Endangered Species Act is extremely important for the wolf population and other species. Right now I am trying with many others to fight to keep the wolves in the U.S. from becoming delisted. They will never reach a high population density, but to delist and have states manage predators would be a crime. Then extinction would most likely become a reality or nearly close in this country.

 

I've been watching hunting channels to study the psychology of the hunters, the weapons, the devastation to the animals, and what I will be dealing with when I go to try and change laws in my state. I know that changing some hunting laws will be very difficult and I cannot try to eliminate hunting, but what I know of is very disheartening and it needs to be stopped.

 

Some conservation should happen. I went to Fort Hill yesterday where the whole place was fields and many species of plants, grasses, berries, etc. It had been mowed down. I had to ask myself why the hell would they do that? Is it for the historic significance? I know that those areas used to be for farming long, long ago and all, but I thought of all of the wildlife that foraged and lived there. Was that really necessary?

 

Then seals came to mind. "They" say seals have become overpopulated on the Cape. They fish our waters, pollute them to no end and cause worms and bacteria to grow in the fish that are caught by fishermen nearby. They are federally protected. They can be cute. Some are quite ugly and vicious. Their bite is dangerous and can be deadly due to all of the nasty bacteria in their saliva. Now they are everywhere. I still like seals.

 

When my father and uncle were in their late teens, many moons ago, they would go out and shoot seals and get $5.00 for every nose they brought into the hunting stations. Long time ago. Then scientists realized the population decline and that ended.

 

I hope seals remain protected. I hope the great whites do too. I am very happy that we now have the great whites coming closer to our shores and eating the seals. This is Mother Nature at her best. This is part of some kind of evolution maybe. Maybe the sharks became smarter because we never heard of a great white being so close to the Cape before. It's exciting to have these mysterious creatures around and to be able to meet people like Dr. Greg Skomal at the Cape Cod Visitor Center just down the road.

 

Let nature do onto nature.

 

Throw away the bird food. Is that changing evolution? Leaving out bird food? Are birds foraging the way they would naturally? Why are so many people uptight about feeding geese and swans when they do it in their backyard? I don't really agree with feeding vicious birds. I feed crows stale bread sometimes and they like my non-meat compost. We are invasive.

 

What would we do without carrion feeders? We have so much road kill. Seagulls? Have they evolved? Why don't geese fly south anymore? Is it more of an environmental, climate, or habitat change? Is it people?

 

Bird food will bring predators into the backyard and poor little Fifi might bet snatched up. The Eastern Coyote is evolution, baby.

 

Okay, so evolution can happen over thousands of years, hundreds or just a few. What to do? Is conservation a good thing? It depends on the situation I guess.

 

I live on a man made island which is a very sandy peninsula. It is beautiful here. When are humans going to evolve? It seems like we might be slipping backward very quickly...... But I'm just a lowly human. Nature rules.