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| 2007-02-08 register | login | ||
User comment by gv
Win-Win Ecology Part IIReconciliation Ecology - so what is that, exactly? According to Rosenzweig's book, it is "the science of inventing, establishing, and maintaining new habitates to conserve species diversity in places where people live, work or play". Kind of ecological engineering, with the specific goal of preserving 'species diversity'. Since the book was published in 2003, I asked Dr Rosenzweig how well RE (standing for Reconciliation Ecology) had caught on over the last few years. Mixed results, not too bad for a new-old idea: the Audobon Society under Dr Trish Tess has recognized the need for RE in their research library. Research is important because fundamental to RE is researching the needs of individual species and taking action to fill them (as opposed to just taking general steps to 'green' the environment). Then the Nature Conservancy uses RE, and the Environmental Defense [league?] does something similar by the name of Safe Harbor. Dr. Rosenzweig's site, http://winwinecology.com , lists some individual success stories and some resources. Here locally in Tucson, we've made some steps forward with the Tucson Bird Count, which is now tracking year by year the number of species seen and heard in many (hundreds?) of sites around Tucson. This kind of data shows species survival trends and can show scientifically the results of changes in habitat. Then I asked, so what can an individual or neighborhood group do to practice RE, to help preserve the wildlife in our backyards? The answer - it depends which species you are trying to preserve. So, I asked, what about Horned Toads, those little spiny lizards that used to be common when I was a kid and which you don't see around much now. The answer surprised and shocked me - "Horned Toads are in trouble in cities and out. We don't know why and we don't know how to create habitat for them" We don't know. And if we wait for funded research for each and every species in trouble, it may be too late. It seems to me that individual efforts and research, pooling information the same way open source software developers do, could help in the myriad areas of research and simple experimentation that needs to be done. We do know, however, for some species. Dr. Rosenzweig gave some general principles, and a few species that we know we can be effective in preserving. More on that in part III... |
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