In article <1994Apr13.121324.21920 at oxvaxd>, <rupp at vax.oxford.ac.uk> wrote:
>SAVE THE PARASITES!
>>Parasites have a very bad public image. Thousands of organisations combat them
>and would be quite happy to drive them to extinction. That's unfair! Why shoul
d
>high-ranking values such as Biodiversity, The Right to Existence, Gene Pool an
d
>Pharmacological Potential be reserved for plants, herbivores and carnivores?
>These are merely other ways to steal energy and building blocks from other lif
e
>forms.
>>Is there any study on endangered parasites? ;-)
>>Greetings,
>>johan
>---------------------------------------------------------------
>Freedom is when you may scratch yourself where it doesn't itch.
>
THIS IS A VERY INTERESTING QUESTION --- ONE THAT I POINT OUT TO STUDENTS IN MY
UPPER LEVEL PARASITOLOGY COURSE AS WELL AS MY INTRODUCTORY LEVEL NON-MAJORS
BIOLOGY COURSE. IT SEEMS THAT PARASITOLOGISTS ARE THE ANTHTHESIS OF
CONSERVATION BIOLOGISTS IN THAT WE (OR AT LEAST SOME) ARE TRYING TO SEND SOME
SPECIES INTO EXTINCTION. SHOULD WE BE DOING THIS???? (A PURELY PHILOSOPHICAL
QUESTION.) REGARDING THE USE OF THE TERMINOLOGY "ENDANGERED SPECIES," THIS
TERM HAS A VERY "SPECIAL" MEANING AND CAN NOT BE APPLIED TO A SPECIES THAT IS
BE CONSCIOUSLY ERADICATED. SOME SPECIES HAVE, NO DOUBT, ALREADY BEEN DRIVEN TO
EXTINCTION! I KNOW AT OF LEAST ONE INSTANCE IN WHICH A RESEARCHER COLLECTED SO
MANY SNAILS FROM A POND (IN AN ATTEMPT TO COLLECT LARVAL TREMATODES), THAT HE
ERADICATED AT LEAST ONE SPECIES OF DIGENETIC TREMATODE THOUGHT TO OCCUR ONLY IN
SNAILS ONLY IN THAT ONE POND. I'M SURE THERE ARE OTHER EXAMPLES.
--
Peter W. Pappas, Professor/Chairperson, Department of Zoology,
The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210 USA
E-mail: pappas.3 at osu.edu; FAX (614)-292-2030,
PHONE (614)-292-8088
