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Tim Cavanaugh | April 6, 2005

Should the Minutemen be on the lookout for foreign flora and fauna? Ron Bailey thinks not.

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|4.6.05 @ 5:23PM|#

I think they are already on a lookout for some forign fauna . . .

|4.6.05 @ 5:59PM|#

If you put the word damage in scare quotes and shoehorn some inapt xenophobia metaphors into your article, does that mean purple loostrife won't dry up wetlands?

|4.6.05 @ 6:06PM|#

Oops. Purple loostrife doesn't dry up wetlands; phragmytes dries out wetlands. Purple loostrife crowds out native wetlands species.

James B.|4.6.05 @ 6:07PM|#

Maybe some of this non-native fish are dangerous. Remember Bruce Boxllietner in "Snakehead Terror"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371954/

A small town, desperate to recover from hard economic times, is under threat when voracious Snakehead fish mutate and survive previous lake chemical poisonings. The fish transform from pests to predators when human growth hormones are dumped into the local lake in the hopes of reviving the local fishing industry. Thriving on the hormones, the Snakehead fish grow to monstrous proportions, devouring everything within reach. Capable of moving and eating on land, they are forced to leave the now barren lake in a desperate search for food - animal, vegetable or human.

Warren|4.6.05 @ 6:47PM|#

Good stuff Ron.

joe,
The sun will rise tomorrow and it will be a new day... Get over it.

|4.6.05 @ 7:49PM|#

Who was around stopping alien flora and fauna from invading new areas before humans were around joe?

|4.6.05 @ 8:16PM|#

That's just the point, Mo. There was far less introduction of alien species before humans were around.

Natural species introduction:human-induced species introduction::natural rate of tree mortality:clear cutting

|4.6.05 @ 8:17PM|#

Warren,

The sun continues to rise when gun laws and tax increases are passed, too.

|4.6.05 @ 8:30PM|#

Mmmm ... Them snakeheads is good eating.

|4.6.05 @ 8:33PM|#

Actually, as I understand, snakeheads are really good eating.

Too bad they wipe out all the other fish that are also good eating.

Warren|4.6.05 @ 9:17PM|#

"The sun continues to rise when gun laws and tax increases are passed, too."

Yes, but then it will be a lesser world.

The Lonewacko Blog|4.6.05 @ 10:28PM|#

If you put the word damage in scare quotes and shoehorn some inapt xenophobia metaphors into your article, does that mean purple loostrife won't dry up wetlands?

Relax. They're just trying to please both large corporations that employ low-wage expendable labor and large corporations that cause environmental damage at the same time.

|4.6.05 @ 11:47PM|#

Joe,

What constitutes "damage" to an ecosystem? Are you making a claim that all potential change should be regarded as damage?

|4.7.05 @ 2:47AM|#

So dose that purple loostrife, or phragmytes stuff, really dry up wetlands? Where can I get some?? There are some wetlands around here I'd like to get rid of. Damn things get in the way of building highways and subdivisions. I'd trade a few acres of worthless swampland for greater mobility and cheaper housing any day.

|4.7.05 @ 8:45AM|#

Ronald notes, "Instead the Ascension rainforest supports the dissident notion that species engage in "ecological fitting." That is, species make the best of what they have."

Joe replies, "If you put the word damage in scare quotes and shoehorn some inapt xenophobia metaphors into your article, does that mean purple loostrife won't dry up wetlands?"

Way to completely miss the point, Joe...

|4.7.05 @ 12:06PM|#

joe:

This is way too late in the discussion, but regarding the danger of purple loosestrife you might want to take a look at the article by zoologists Hager and McCoy at URL: http://biology.queensu.ca/~mccoyk/Hager.1998.BiodivCons.pdf

|4.7.05 @ 2:21PM|#

I think you can exactly cancel out the effects of purple loosestrife by planting some yellow tightharmony in there.

|4.7.05 @ 5:41PM|#

Brilliant, Steveo! LOL.

Ron, I'll chiggity-check that out.

Brian, where do suppose the stormwater is going to go when there aren't any wetlands to detain it. Hint: think housing and highways.

Barry, that's an enormously complicated question, that can really only be answered to a useful level on a case by case basis.

|4.8.05 @ 1:38AM|#

Brian, where do suppose the stormwater is going to go when there aren't any wetlands to detain it. Hint: think housing and highways.

joe, I think you just need to have a little more confidence in our civil engineers ability to solve those kinds of problems.

Besides, I didn't say I wanted to get rid of all wetlands... just some. :)

|4.8.05 @ 5:51PM|#

this might be too late in the discussion but the role of wetlands as storage for "extra" water can be mimicked by civil engineers, as Brian Courts points out. However, the other important function of wetlands, as points of water purification and aquifer recharge can only be artificially reproduced at great cost

rolex replica|6.19.10 @ 5:24AM|#

good post

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