[APWG] NEWS: Conservation Strategies Must Shift with Global Environmental Change

[Bob Beyfuss]

This is the best article I have ever seen cited on this list serve. People 
need to wake up the the fact that virtually every ecosystem on this planet 
is now dramatically different than it was even 50 years ago due to human 
activity on a global scale.  Efforts to "restore" ecosystems that have been 
altered by irreversible global changes, such as doubling the carbon dioxide 
levels in the atmosphere and rising temperatures, are a huge waste of money 
and resources. Invasive plants are just one of the many symptoms of these 
changes yet we declare "war" on alien, exotic, species that "menace" us as 
though killing off these plants will somehow solve the problem.

At 10:06 AM 2/1/2008, Olivia Kwong wrote:
>http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080131101747.htm
>
>Conservation Strategies Must Shift With Global Environmental Change,
>Ecologists Urge
>
>ScienceDaily (Jan. 31, 2008) . Traditional ecosystems in which communities
>of plants and animals have co-evolved and are interdependent are
>increasingly rare, due to human-induced ecosystem changes. As a result,
>historical assessments of ecosystem health are often inaccurate.
>Scientists are now suggesting that efforts should focus less on restoring
>ecosystems to their original state and more on sustaining new, healthy
>ecosystems that are resilient to further environmental change. Accepting
>some permanent changes may increase health of ecosystems.
>
>See the link above for the full article text.
>
>
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