Question

Scientists and conservationists are concerned that, due to new and growing threats, particularly associated with climate change, many species may soon be unable to persist in the habitats in which they currently occur. This has caused some to argue in favor of "assisted migration", whereby individuals of a species are moved from their native habitat into a new location that is highly suitable for them, but in which they had not previously been present. For example, the white lemuroid ringtail possum (Hemibelideus lemuroides) is a small marsupial that lives mountains of Queensland, Australia where it feeds on the young leaves of a handful of tree species. It can only live at elevations above 1,000 m because it cannot tolerate temperatures above 30C for even a few hours. The population of white possums (which may be a white color variant of the more common lemuroid ringtail possum – not a separate species) nearly disappeared after a heat wave in 2005, dropping from thousands of individuals to only 4 or 5 sightings during surveys conducted in 2014.

                Climate change models predict temperature increases in the Mount Carbine Tablelands of Queensland where the white lemuroid population lives. If temperatures change as predicted, the possums are very likely to go extinct. This situation makes the possum a potential candidate for transplant to other areas with suitable forested areas that are less vulnerable to temperature change. However, doing so has implications for the species, the donor and recipient ecosystems, and social, cultural, and economic aspects of conservation efforts. As a result, assisted migration is a controversial topic in conservation biology. Considering the potential benefits and shortcomings of assisted migration, answer the following questions about this proposed conservation tool.

Question 7 (1 point)

Below is a list of potential arguments for or against assisted migration of the possum.

I. Translocating the few remaining white possums to a new area of suitable habitat is expensive and takes valuable resources away from conservation efforts for less vulnerable species.

II. Translocating the white possums could preserve unique genetic diversity even if they are not a distinct species.

III. Translocating the white possums could alter trophic relationships and the flow of energy in the recipient community.

IV. Humans modify biological communities for economic and social reasons all the time. Doing so for conservation is perfectly reasonable.

V. Deciding not to transplant the white possums puts biodiversity at risk of further decline.

VI. Translocating the remaining white possums to a new area of suitable habitat will create an “artificial” community that is unnatural and conflicts with the goal of conservation to maintain ecological systems in as natural a state as possible.

Which of these viewpoints would you choose if you were trying to convince a skeptical friend that assisted migration should occur?

Question 7 options:

	a) I only
	b) II only
	c) II, IV and V.
	d) I, III, and VI.
	e) All of the viewpoints are arguments that support the use of assisted migration.

Answer 1

To convince a friends that assisted migration should occur we need to give arguments that shows that pros of assisted migration are more than the cons.

( in reality assisted migration has ended up messing the ecosystem in most of the cases. For example, when water hyacinth was introduced in the east India , it became invasive and broke havoc on fish stock. Another example is introduction of cane toads in sugarcane fields in Australia. Cane toads were introduced to control native grey-backed cane beetle. However, it ended up poisoning oenpelli pythons ( on e of the rarest python) and decreased their population by a lot)

For this the corrrect answer is c. II, IV and V are the arguments in favour of assisted migration

II. Preserving white possum can be beneficial as it would keep intact the genetic diversity. Genetic diversity is essential for a stable ecosystem. It not clearly known why but the more is the diversity lesser is the chance of imbalance due to external forces.

IV. This is true humans have huge impact on the wildlife all around us. We unconsciously or consciously change the environment around us, doing so to protect an organism consciously will not make much difference

V. Knowing about a problem and choosing to do nothing about it is worse than trying something. Not going with the assisted migration will lead to the extinction of the species. So, it is more sensible to save the white possums by assisted migration.

all other arguments are against assisted migration.
I. Assisted migration is not beneficial due to high cost involved and due to limited resources

III. AS mentioned above introduction of new species might have a huge negative impact on a new ecosystem

VI. Even before humans many species got extinct and that is just how nature works. Meddling with the nature might end up giving an artificial ecosystem that is designed and handled by humans and not random natural events.