De-extinction seems to be a hot topic lately -- in my circles, at least. I've always been a little wary about the idea of bringing back something out of their ecological context, since it can be difficult to predict what the consequences will be. Maybe it's because I saw the Jurassic Park movie as a young and impressionable teenager...or maybe it also has something to do with my academic influences. Over the last couple of weeks, two of my supervisors, past and present, weighed in on the de-extinction issue:
Prof Hugh Possingham, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Environmental Decisions (and my PhD supervisor), recently joined other experts in debating the scientific, conservation, and ethical implications of bringing back extinct species, as part of the Queensland Museum's Lost Creatures: Big Questions public talk series. He argued that successful de-extinction depends on reducing or eliminating the threats that lead to extinction in the first place, and that perhaps the money will be better spent on the conservation of currently endangered species. A podcast of the debate is available from the ABC Radio website: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/ancient-dna/5215272.
Dr. Axel Moehrenschlager, director of the Calgary Zoo Centre for Conservation Research (and my former supervisor while working at the Centre), has co-authored an article on selecting candidates for de-extinction, which just recently became available online. The article argues that de-extinction is ultimately a conservation translocation issue, and therefore selection of candidates should be based on the same guidelines used to select species for reintroduction of extant species. The article will be published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, but is now available online:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2014.01.007.
After listening to the debate and reading the paper, it seems that while de-extinction is a very exciting scientific and technological advancement, we're still a long way away from successfully bringing back extinct species into the wild. Looks like I still have some time to work on my velociraptor evasion skills....
Prof Hugh Possingham, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Environmental Decisions (and my PhD supervisor), recently joined other experts in debating the scientific, conservation, and ethical implications of bringing back extinct species, as part of the Queensland Museum's Lost Creatures: Big Questions public talk series. He argued that successful de-extinction depends on reducing or eliminating the threats that lead to extinction in the first place, and that perhaps the money will be better spent on the conservation of currently endangered species. A podcast of the debate is available from the ABC Radio website: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/ancient-dna/5215272.
Dr. Axel Moehrenschlager, director of the Calgary Zoo Centre for Conservation Research (and my former supervisor while working at the Centre), has co-authored an article on selecting candidates for de-extinction, which just recently became available online. The article argues that de-extinction is ultimately a conservation translocation issue, and therefore selection of candidates should be based on the same guidelines used to select species for reintroduction of extant species. The article will be published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, but is now available online:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2014.01.007.
After listening to the debate and reading the paper, it seems that while de-extinction is a very exciting scientific and technological advancement, we're still a long way away from successfully bringing back extinct species into the wild. Looks like I still have some time to work on my velociraptor evasion skills....