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Build an Ark? Biologists Discuss Conservation Prioritization

posted by chromas on Tuesday July 24 2018, @12:00AM   
from the NOAA dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

Phys.org:

[C]onservation biologists often use species' evolutionary history – their phylogeny – to identify groups of species to save."

This idea is based on the assumption that preserving phylogenetic diversity among species preserves more functional diversity than selecting species to preserve by chance. Functional diversity is important, Pearse says, because it drives ecosystem health and productivity.

"Yet measuring the effectiveness of functional diversity is difficult," he says. "So using phylogenetic diversity as a surrogate for functional diversity has made conservation biology much easier and more effective."

Building an ark to help the Earth weather ecosystem collapse has become a recurrent element of science fiction. How best would one go about it in practice?

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Original Submission

• This is easy. Because we already picked them. (Score: 1, Troll) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday July 24 2018, @12:41AM

  by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Tuesday July 24 2018, @12:41AM (#711500) Homepage Journal

  We would put the American burying beetle, the greater sage grouse and the lesser prairie chicken in the ark. Keep them VERY SAFE in the ark. So we have ZERO PROBLEMS with them at our military bases. And in our oil fields. America First!!!!

  Starting Score:	1		point
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