4 ms·
> Potentially - all of them. This would apply to artificial selection as well - perhaps even more so since you've no real control over what mutations are happe
by kstenerud 6y ago
> Potentially - all of them.
This would apply to artificial selection as well - perhaps even more so since you've no real control over what mutations are happening. Every new evolutionary competition edge a species receives is followed by an "invasion" phase where their newfound superpower allows them to take over for a few hundred thousand generations.
> If taking a species to a different island where it is not native to is bad enough, creating specific ones which have never existed anywhere ever is a major ecological disaster waiting to happen. This should not even be a discussion...
Actually, it should be a discussion, because the above argument is a false analogy. Invasive species are problematic because the surrounding ecosystem cannot curb their spread and out-competition of preexisting species. Modern crops don't have the capability of surviving outside of a human cultivated environment. Left to their own, they'd be choked out by weeds and changing soil conditions. Now if someone were to attempt to make a weed-proof AND bug-proof crop that can ALSO survive and thrive in non-cultivated terrain, THEN I'd be worried.
- hutzlibu 6y ago"Now if someone were to attempt to make a weed-proof AND bug-proof crop that can ALSO survive and thrive in non-cultivated terrain, THEN I'd be worried" Me too, but most industrial farmers would probably celebrate. But I doubt this can happen any time soon. Ecology is complex.