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Re: fHuman vs. natural influences on the environment



In article <4utmb9$6sc_004@pm3-146.hal-pc.org>, charliew <charliew@hal-
pc.org> writes
>>It may be impossible to alter these changes, but it seems to 
>make more
>>sense to at least try to do something reasonable,  rather 
>than just let
>>nature (or "the market") take its course.
>>Best wishes, 
>>Jim Scanlon
>>
>
>As I replied in an email message to you, most of the species 
>that have ever existed are now extinct, and they went extinct 
>before man ever walked on this planet.  We shouldn't 
>deliberately drive species to extinction, but we also 
>probably should not intervene to prevent species from going 
>extinct that are not fit for survival.
>
>A good example of this is the cheetah in Africa.  Scientific 
>American ran an article on this species, in which it was 
>noted that their genetic diversity is very small, and they 
>are currently experiencing reproductive problems.  This 
>species is probably not fit to survive long term, and it may 
>not even be possible for us to ensure this if we wanted to.  
>In other words, how would some researcher go about 
>introducing enough beneficial "defects" in their genome to 
>ensure enough genetic diversity to take care of this species 
>over geologic time frames?  We have no way of knowing the 
>answer to this one without being able to anticipate what kind 
>of future adaptive pressure they will face, nor do we have 
>the expertise to modify their genes.


Just a small point here Charliew, if your are talking about a species
that has painted itself into a corner by specific environment
requirements (it only eats ONE herb and requires a unique temperature to
survive) then OK.

But what if the environmental change we are talking about is say a 1%
drop in available O2 in the atmosphere.

That would have *some* effect on ALL air breathing creatures.

We are no longer talking species, we are taking large groups of species,
and a serious ( possibly runaway) imbalance in the total system

Best wishes Jim


Jim Barr         Machine Conversation, Bedfordshire England
                 Best is the enemy of good enough
                 Leaves Rustle....Blades turn..... Water moves


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