New research encourages proper open-mindedness about the benefits as well as the costs of introduced species
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskaround the world was reckoned a normal, often valuable, thing to do, while the consequences of their accidental movement were rarely considered. It was not until the publication in 1958 of “The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants”, by Charles Elton, one of the founders of scientific ecology, that values began to change.
One little-regarded but important example of instrumental value is the transport of Old World earthworms to North America, parts of which were left worm-free after the last ice age. The presence of these is reckoned to have increased agricultural productivity by as much as 25% in previously worm-deprived areas, though recent work suggestsHoneybees, too, are an Old World species introduced into the New. Their instrumental benefits in the form of honey and wax are obvious.
Introduced species can bring other benefits. Sometimes, in a manner reminiscent of the nursery rhyme in which an old lady swallows a fly, a spider to catch it, and a bird to catch the spider, an introduction may be made to undo a previous harm. Several introductions of damaging insects have been attacked successfully by further introductions of critters that eat them—though this has not worked so well for voracious introduced molluscs called giant African land snails.
Relational values are the most esoteric, being experienced on an emotional rather than a practical level. Lots of people feel good about native wildlife, which is generally the main motive for its conservation. But that feel-good factor can extend to interlopers as well, especially if the interloping happened a while back.
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