[APWG] Ecosystem management and restoration planning Plants Alienspecies component Re: NEWS: Removing species fromsub-Antarctic island 'causeddisaster'

[Karen Adair]

I say a more correct title would have been "Flawed thinking 'caused disaster' on sub-Antarctic island"
 
I don't remember the specifics, but I know of at least one scenario where this has happened with plants. I think an invasive tree species was successfully eradicated somewhere in California only to promote the massive and swift invasion of some herbaceous understory plant that was just waiting for such an event. And these were highly intelligent people working on this. 
 
I don't know anyone working on invasives who doesn't understand that they are working in ecosystems and what that means. This gets me to the opinion I've formed from constant analysis of my own mistakes (fortunately never described as "disasters") and successes which is that the "root of the root" in all mistakes comes from our lack of understanding and acceptance that there will always be flaws in how people think and decide. The human thought process is imperfect and intellectual limitations are constant. We can't change those facts, but knowing and thinking of it whenever we have to make a decision should remind us to push away our assumptions and instead rely on and stick to sound, strategic planning principles and the questions and information that come as a result. That is the only way to mitigate the effects of our emotions, perceptions, and ignorance in our thought processes. I can directly link every mistake I've ever made to at least one of those three. I can link every success to the fact that I kept my goal front and center at all times. 
 
"The lessons for conservation agencies globally is that interventions should be comprehensive, and include risk assessments to explicitly consider and plan for indirect effects, or face substantial subsequent costs."
 
This quote is very logical and you would think that everyone working to protect the environment would know this and do it automatically especially with a project of this importance, scale, and nature. To me, why they did not do it is the key component in this story and what would be most helpful to know and learn from. 
 
 
Thanks. Karen


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From: apwg-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org [mailto:apwg-bounces at lists.plantconservation.org] On Behalf Of Wayne Tyson
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 7:46 PM
To: Olivia Kwong; apwg at lists.plantconservation.org
Subject: [APWG] Ecosystem management and restoration planning Plants Alienspecies component Re: NEWS: Removing species fromsub-Antarctic island 'causeddisaster'


APWG:
 
While we don't usually think of predator-prey relationships with plants, there can be situations where alien plant removal procedures are detrimental to ecosystem health. And the lesson here of understanding interspecies connections and making predictions that are testable as theory, then test plots, then useful procedures, beats the "find 'em, whack 'em, and forget 'em" approach that is far too widely used (sometimes with good results,* but too often with negative or neutral results). While consideration of the whole ecosystem context may take more time, it can minimize error, expense, and wasted or counterproductive effort. 
 
WT
 
*Ecosystems are resilient--that is, "forgiving." But correlations are not always reflective of causation, and a shift in context can mean success in one case, failure in another. 
 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Olivia Kwong" <plant at plantconservation.org <mailto:plant at plantconservation.org> >
To: <apwg at lists.plantconservation.org <mailto:apwg at lists.plantconservation.org> >
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 7:33 AM
Subject: [APWG] NEWS: Removing species from sub-Antarctic island 'causeddisaster'


> About animal species, but it did affect plants on the island.
> 
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090112/sc_afp/environmentbiodiversityinvasiveaustralia_newsmlmmd <http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090112/sc_afp/environmentbiodiversityinvasiveaustralia_newsmlmmd> 
> 
> Removing species from sub-Antarctic island 'caused disaster'
> Mon Jan 12, 12:34 pm ET
> 
> PARIS (AFP) -- Efforts to remove an invasive species from a sub-Antarctic 
> island that has been named a World Heritage site accidentally triggered an 
> environmental catastrophe, a study to be published on Tuesday says.
> 
> The eradication programme on Macquarie Island, lying halfway between 
> Australia and Antarctica, is a cautionary tale about the complex web of 
> ecosystems, its authors say.
> 
> See the link above for the full article text.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> 
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