[APWG] Altering is too kind, destroy not strong enough
Bob Beyfuss
rlb14 at cornell.edu
Tue Mar 4 15:22:23 CST 2008
Hi Craig and all,
Replaced is the correct term.
Destroying implies a value judgment that the invasive plants are "bad" and
the plants that they are replacing are "good". In science there are no
"good" or "bad" plants as there are no "good" or "bad" ecosystems. Nature
lovers may not like or may not find attractive the ecosystems that occur,
for example, in a vacant lot in an inner city but that does not make those
ecosystems "bad'. There are particular ecosystems that humans want to
protect for many reasons and that is fine but these are human value
judgements. If a scientist studying any particular ecosystem did not know
ahead of time that it was dominated by invasive, exotic plants, it would be
impossible for he or she to determine if the plants present on site were
native or exotic based on the biology of the plants and their
interactions. Let me cite a real life example to make my point. A few
weeks ago a client called me looking for information on how to eradicate
invasive, Asiatic bittersweet that she had found on her property. I asked
her if she was certain that it was the Asiatic variety and not the native
bittersweet. She replied that she no idea how to distinguish them. I asked
her if it turned out that the bittersweet on her property were the native
variety, would she still want to eradicate it? Her answer was "of course
not". Her only criteria for wanting to eradicate the plant was the
supposition that it was exotic. In my mind that is not a good reason to
eradicate anything, especaill\y when there are no guarantees that the
plants eradicated will not be replaced by something even less desirable.
When science is reduced to name calling to provoke an emotional response,
it is not science.
Bob
At 03:13 PM 3/4/2008, Craig Dremann - Redwood City Seed Company wrote:
>Dear All,
>
>I am very surpised to read the discussions on the semantics, of what to
>call exotic plants and their impacts on local native ecosystems.
>
>I can only speak from the California perspective, where 99% of the
>understory of our native ecosystems between 2 and 2,000 feet elevation,
>have been replaced by over 1,000 species of exotic plants.
>
>What do you call that effect, using words that express such a complete
>extermination of native ecosystems, within only 150 years or less?
>
>Ecosystem genocide? Permanent native vegetation extinction, continuing
>through geologic time?
>
>Sincerely, Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333
>
>
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