Document Detail


Move it or lose it? The ecological ethics of relocating species under climate change.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  21049870     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Managed relocation (also known as assisted colonization, assisted migration) is one of the more controversial proposals to emerge in the ecological community in recent years. A conservation strategy involving the translocation of species to novel ecosystems in anticipation of range shifts forced by climate change, managed relocation (MR) has divided many ecologists and conservationists, mostly because of concerns about the potential invasion risk of the relocated species in their new environments. While this is indeed an important consideration in any evaluation of MR, moving species across the landscape in response to predicted climate shifts also raises a number of larger and important ethical and policy challenges that need to be addressed. These include evaluating the implications of a more aggressive approach to species conservation, assessing MR as a broader ecological policy and philosophy that departs from longstanding scientific and management goals focused on preserving ecological integrity, and considering MR within a more comprehensive ethical and policy response to climate change. Given the complexity and novelty of many of the issues at stake in the MR debate, a more dynamic and pragmatic approach to ethical analysis and debate is needed to help ecologists, conservationists, and environmental decision makers come to grips with MR and the emerging ethical challenges of ecological policy and management under global environmental change.
Authors:
Ben A Minteer; James P Collins
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America     Volume:  20     ISSN:  1051-0761     ISO Abbreviation:  Ecol Appl     Publication Date:  2010 Oct 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-11-05     Completed Date:  2010-12-02     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9889808     Medline TA:  Ecol Appl     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  1801-4     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-4501, USA. ben.minteer@asu.edu
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Animals
Bioethical Issues*
Climate Change*
Conservation of Natural Resources / methods*
Ecosystem*
Environmental Policy
Extinction, Biological

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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