I like Colleen's point and would like to add that sometimes there is more to be learned from the hopeless species that might inform saving others. Plus, the educational value... Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
-----Original Message----- From: Colleen Grant <psorotham...@yahoo.com> Sender: "Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news" <ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU> Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2011 08:24:46 To: <ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU> Reply-To: Colleen Grant <psorotham...@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Conservation or just gardening? Jason, And if a species is beyond saving with conservation, how worthwhile is it to save that species with gardening? At this point, it might be pertinent to ask what other species are dependent (for their life processes) on the "gardened" species. For example, is there an exclusive mutualism that needs to be preserved? Colleen Grant --- On Mon, 1/17/11, Jason Hernandez <jason.hernande...@yahoo.com> wrote: From: Jason Hernandez <jason.hernande...@yahoo.com> Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Conservation or just gardening? To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Date: Monday, January 17, 2011, 5:08 PM This question is inspired by a conversation with a former employer. When do our interventions cease to be conservation and become gardening? For the sake of argument, I was taking the purist position: that ideally, we want to be able to put a fence around a natural area and walk away, letting nature manage it. But as my employer rightly pointed out, that is just not a realistic expectation in the 21st century, what with invasive species, systemic pollution, human pressures on surrounding areas, and countless other factors which will not go away. But of course, she also knew that there is a degree of intervention which crosses the line from conservation to gardening, that is, caring for a population that no longer participates in its ecosystem processes. There is, of course, a continuum of interventions. Removal of invasive competitors is a relatively light intervention; growing seedlings in a greenhouse and then planting them out is more intensive; maintaining an in vitro germplasm collection still more intensive. Are there any recognized criteria for determining the boundary between conservation and gardening? And if a species is beyond saving with conservation, how worthwhile is it to save that species with gardening? Can we determine when a species' only hope is gardening? Jason Hernandez Biological Science Technician, USDA Forest Service
