This week I was going to write about all of the routes to human extinction (don’t worry, this post will come and the list is getting longer and longer) but then, planning for a ‘scientific walk’ I was invited to host at Ocean Space, I started thinking about invasive species, and then decided it would make for a good topic to discuss here. One of the ‘hot topic’ these days in conservation ecology is that of the relationship between ‘human’ and ‘non human’, where we are slowly making some steps towards giving rights to the non human. Even as I am writing this I am wondering who are we to decide who to give rights to and who not, and why would we have to incorporate nature into our human law and way of thinking, that’s still humanising the question. Who would take the defence of the non-human? a human lawyer? it seems incredibly complex
and as complex as that, is the issue of invasive species first things first... what are ‘invasive species’? An invasive species is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. this last point is very important - there is a specific set of ‘introduced’ species that become ‘invasive’, the rest are just that.. ‘introduced’. Now, one should argue that most likely without humans there will be no introduced species, yes maybe some would ride on migratory animals, but they are much more likely to travel on boats, trains, travellers, use artificial structures (in the marine environment) as stepping stones to expand their range. Some species are also reaching new areas by expanding polewards as a result of changes in temperatures given by the climate. So yes, without humans probably there wouldn’t be a problem of introduction or invasion. But... Does this give the right to humans to ‘eradicate’ them? This is one of the moral dilemmas... And I am gonna leave you with some reading One against the demonising of invasive species and the other about the opposite viewpoint and moral implications of not taking any actions As I also said on my in person walk, where I taòked about the introduced oyster Crassostrea gigas: I don’t want to give answers ( I don't have them), but give some food for thought. These introduced species are very often impossible to eradicate, and more than that, might fill a gap that is left blank by native species suffering from changing environmental conditions Other examples of solutions include better management, for example fishing of the lion fish or appreciating the environmental and even economic benefit of a range expanding seaweed …
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