UK plans to reintroduce insects into environment: should humans be running interference?
It’s a long-standing debate; just how much of a role should humans be playing when it comes to the environment and their influence on the natural order of things with regards to ecosystems and the animal kingdom. There is even more controversy when humans choose to be involved to rectify species decline that have occurred as part of nature and not as a direct result of human impact. A new situation in the UK brings this debate to light.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has decided to re-integrate insect species that have become scarce due to the natural processes of nature. As far as anyone can tell, direct human impact has not been responsible for the decline of 4 insect species, including a rare form of moth (the dark bordered beauty moth. Though, some researchers have suggested it may have been because of their role at the bottom of the food change, or changing ecosystems.
Since these four insect species have practically gone extinct, this conservation group will be breeding the insects and slowly introducing them back into their rightful place in nature. While it helps with the survival of the species, it might just be going too far since it’s messing with the natural process of evolution and a changing environment.
It’s no secret that humans in many parts of the world have decided to take over and treat the earth as theirs alone, but having caused so much harm to nature in the first place; should we be messing with self-sustaining processes in the environment, or just leave them be?
Image Via: RSPB (linked above)
Via: Global Green Blog
Wow this raises some very interesting questions and debate. On the one hand, we don’t want to lose any more biodiversity than we already have/are going to with habitat devastation, etc. But on the other hand, our actions would be impacting a natural process, just as our detrimental actions in other parts of the world have caused species extinction/endangerment. Is it possible to understand all the effects that doing this will have on the ecosystems? Animals die off when they cannot be sustained by the environment or when something else is more “fit.” To try and stop this natural process could harm whichever animal was moving in to take its place…
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“…..it might just be going too far since it’s messing with the natural process of evolution and a changing environment”
Tell that to the fire brigade when they come to douse the house next door to YOU !
“Running interference ?? – sorry ? you what ?
were human beings. Weve been “messing” with nature atleast since the dawn of agriculture. Even native americans, stewards that they were still impacted the environment as does every choice a human being makes. We just have to think about long term consequences of our actions, but mass extinction cannot be an option for our future, as “natural” as that may be.