SCOTT NATIONAL PARK, Australia — Knee-deep in swamp, researchers removed three dozen turtles, one by one, from cardboard boxes, placing them in the water. They then watched as some of Australia’s most endangered reptiles made their way to the wetlands, in an experiment in climate adaptation.
The natural habitat of the western bog turtle in Australia is becoming increasingly unsuitable as temperatures rise and rainfall decreases. So conservationists are moving some of the specimens nearly 200 miles south to a cooler location. Experts say it might be the only way to guarantee their survival.
It is believed to be the first time that researchers have attempted to relocate a vertebrate species due to climate change.
Doing so is a big gamble.
The introduction of species into a new landscape can have unpredictable and sometimes catastrophic consequences, and ecosystems are so complicated that no amount of research can predict the effects.
A seemingly innocuous species can become invasive in a new environment. In Australia, the introduction of European species, including rabbits, cats and foxes, decimated the endemic fauna.
Relocating species to more hospitable territory, known as assisted colonization or assisted migration, is a technique that could save certain endangered species. But the efforts have also fueled a debate about the ways in which humans should or should not manipulate nature in an attempt to protect it.
For Nicola Mitchell, Associate Professor of Conservation Physiology at the University of Western Australia and lead scientist on the project, the key questions are: Do we let nature take its course and “let our species die from climate change? Is that a natural ending? Or do we have an ethical responsibility to save these species?
Long believed to be extinct before a chance rediscovery in the 1950s, western bog turtles now number around 800.
Surrounded by the city of Perth, the turtle is unable to move to a new habitat on its own. It lives 100 years, so its life cycle is too long to be able to naturally evolve to adapt to the changing environment.
The wetlands in Scott National Park, where the captive tortoises were released, are colder than the animals’ natural habitat, but Mitchell’s model predicts the climate there should be ideal 50 years from now as temperatures continue. increasing. That could make it a good long-term habitat for tortoises, given their lifespans.
Some worry that the approach distracts from addressing the root cause of the threat: global warming. And it’s likely to be a solution that requires scientists to make decisions about which species are worth saving.
While Mark Schwartz, a conservation scientist at the University of California, Davis, had some reservations about assisted colonization, he said it was the least invasive of new technologies, including gene editing, to make animals more resilient. to the weather. He said the project could influence more difficult conversations about how far society is willing to go to save species.
By: Yan Zhuang
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6510236, IMPORTING DATE: 2022-12-28 20:50:08
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