Biodiversity

[Ed Fredrickson]

Pardon me, but I beg to differ.  We do know something about losing 
species, ever heard of dinosaurs?  We lose species every day many we 
don't even know about.  It's called evolution.  I recently heard an 
interesting talk given by a paleantologist who made the comment that 
species will go extinct and that it is o.k.  Its a natural part of 
evolution.  I'm not saying there shouldn't be a balance in nature but 
on the contrary to your comments the thing we do not now about is going 
to major extremes to preserve a steady state ecosystem.  Also your sit 
back and do nothing approach just doesn't cut.  

				Ed

In article <4i4i3p$qqg at lace.colorado.edu>, w_fox at cc.colorado.edu 
says...
>
>        There is a lot of controversy surrounding the plight of the 
Northern
>spotted owl.  But is preservation of old growth forests only about 
protecting
>owls?  The owl is an indicator species for the overall ehalth of a 
forest.  It
>is important to monitor its progress so that we can ensure that the 
forests are 
>being managed sustainably and are able to provide for a variety of 
uses such as
>timber harvesting, recreation, and species diversity.
>        By conserving all species, we are ensuring that the world will 
>continue to function in a manner we are familiar with and for which we 
are
>adapted.  We will be in for no surprises.  If we choose not to 
conserve
>species, we are entering an unknown realm.  We do not know how the 
earth will
>react with fewer species of reptiles, birds, mammals, fishes.  How 
will basic
>cycles be affected?  It could happen that life as we know it will 
engage in a
>downward spiral and cease to exist.  Life could also go on and we 
could survive
>relying on geneticists and chemists to recreate the natural things 
that we have
>destroyed but still rely upon to persist as a species.
>        We do not know what the future holds.  But one thing is for
>certain...we do not have the luxury of making the wrong decision.  
Right now we
>do not have enough information to make an informed decision about 
conserving
>biodiversity, so we should conserve it until we know what not 
conserving it
>will mean to us and to our children and to their children.  This 
decision
>cannot only be made for us.  It must be made for the generations of 
earth
>inhabitants yet to come.  We will predetermine the ability of our 
progeny to
>exist by the decisions we make now about biodiversity.  Once we start 
down the
>path, we cannot afford to be wrong.  We must be prepared and know how 
the
>world's processes will react to decreasing biodiversity.  What 
valuable drugss
>will we lose whose absence will decrease what's left of our quality of 
life? 
>What will the land look like and how will we adapt to its sterile 
homogeneity? 
>Once we commit to proceed, we can have no regrets because there is not 
turning
>back.  I we hope to survive as a species ourselves, we cannot 
flagrently
>destroy what we do not understand.
>
>W. Fox