Assisted Colonization is No Panacea, but Let's Not Discount it Either

摘要

Ronald Sandler's 'Climate change and ecosystem management' (2013) provides a fine summary of reasons to modify our approach to ecosystem management given 'rapid and uncertain ecological change'. We agree with him that traditional 'reserve oriented' and 'restoration' approaches, including their focus on species preservation, require fundamental rethinking. In this brief response, however, we will focus on Sandler's related comments about assisted colonization, and argue that there is more reason to be positive about it as a conservation strategy than he suggests. Assisted colonization has recently attracted a mixed reception from ecologists and philosophers (see, Hewitt et al., 2011; Minteer & Collins, 2010). Sandier argues that assisted colonization is unlikely to be successful because there is 'ecological uncertainty' about whether deliberately transplanted species will survive; at the other extreme, that they may become invasive; and in any case, that their movement would not preserve important values anyway. We will respond to all three points.