3 ms·
Direct ecological management is unfortunately a bit of a game of using a bucket to fix a leaky ship. The equilibrium that established the ecosystem dynamics in
by asdff 10mo ago
Direct ecological management is unfortunately a bit of a game of using a bucket to fix a leaky ship. The equilibrium that established the ecosystem dynamics in the first place is disrupted. A new equilibrium might form over time, but we enforce the old one because that is what we documented when we first came to a place, even though it is no longer thermodynamically favorable.
Ironically, the ecology of an island itself came from events like a random animal swimming to it over the historical record and finding sufficient spare resources or an ecological niche they could satisfy sufficiently to reproduce. Distance from mainland and species diversity is very strongly correlated reflecting increasingly scarce odds of these "heroic journeys" at greater distances. Species themselves are capable of exhausting an islands resources and putting themselves into local extinction even with no human intervention (such as the case of the last of the mammoths on wrangel island).
- Auracle 10mo agoA lot of work and money has gone in to preventing zebra mussels from spreading to new lakes in Minnesota. Think free sites for people to have their boats cleaned when they’re going from lake to lake, PR campaigns, etc. My parent’s small pond, which has never seen a boat or any other real human activity, got them before the big lake it’s connected to did. Clearly there was some other way they could spread, presumably by bird. Anyways, one by one every lake in the area no has zebra mussels. Even if they would only spread via human, it was clearly only a matter of time. As much as they suck (they’re sharp and attach themselves to basically anything in the lake) I’m not sure the expense has been worth simply delaying the inevitable.
- potato3732842 10mo ago> I’m not sure the expense has been worth simply delaying the inevitable. Now that I'm jaded I ask myself how many government and private sector jobs were "created" (in sarcasm quotes because broken windows fallacy) washing all those boats for free over the years and whether they even expected to prevent the spread or if the spread is the justification for expansion.
- AuthAuth 10mo agoThose are actually great jobs for the government to be creating. Having a workforce of people dedicated to maintaining the environment is invaluable. These people are so poorly paid and driven by passion for their work the government is getting a great deal on all the hard work they do.
- kitesay 10mo agoProbably a swallow. They could carry them.
- dhosek 10mo agoAfrican or European?
- ChrisMarshallNY 10mo agoWonder how many will get that…
- Dilettante_ 10mo agoYeah, famously obscure and underground comedy troupe Monty Python's Flying Circus, you've probably never heard of them, especially in hacker circles. ;-)
- ChrisMarshallNY 10mo agoI'm constantly surprised at how many cultural conventions are mysteries to modern generations. One of the more amusing episodes for me, was when my daughter discovered this great group: The Beatles.
- dhosek 10mo agoThere used to be an ad for a radio station back in the 80s where a girl says, “Mom, did you know Paul McCartney used to be in a band before Wings?”
- ChrisMarshallNY 10mo agoI think I remember that.
- dctoedt 9mo ago> I'm constantly surprised at how many cultural conventions are mysteries to modern generations. Some of my law students are only dimly aware of Jerry Seinfeld. And when I play a bit of the organ solo from Procul Harum's 1967 Whiter Shade of Pale (to illustrate a copyright-royalties point), I'm lucky if one person recognizes it.
- stefan_ 10mo agoIt's really odd stuff, humans are obsessed with declaring one moment in time as the "right one" and then trying to keep it like that forever. Evolution? We need to document gods work! People driving their SUV to protests for "conservation", the irony is thick.
- HelloMcFly 10mo agoWe can acknowledge historical change while still acting to prevent unnecessary modern destruction. To my set of values, these ecosystems are worth protection from the accelerated decay almost always caused by human development, and losing them to indifference is a permanent tragedy.