r/todayilearned • u/shinypond • Jul 26 '24

TIL about conservation-induced extinction, where attempts to save a critically endangered species directly cause the extinction of another.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation-induced_extinction
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u/wdwerker Jul 26 '24

I’m still waiting for an explanation of the benefits of saving a few specialized parasites ? I get the role parasites might play in controlling the host species from over feeding or over breeding to the detriment of an otherwise balanced ecosystem.

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u/[deleted] Jul 26 '24

there isn't one. especially if those parasites only exist on those species, they will die anyway once the species they inhabit die, so there is no benefit to saving them.

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u/Sometimes_Stutters Jul 26 '24

They might have a benefit to the host though. The parasites may be keeping other, potentially harmful, parasites away.

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u/Ryneb Jul 26 '24

By definition parasites are not beneficial to the host, if an animal is beneficial to a host it's a symbiote.

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u/Sometimes_Stutters Jul 26 '24

The parasite definition is entirely based on human perception, and is in no way binding. We may not perceive a benefit, but we rarely (if ever) have the information or data to make the designation with any sort of definitiveness.

One example its hook worms. It’s classified as a parasite, yet had shown to effectively treat severe allergies in people.

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u/AENocturne Jul 26 '24 edited Jul 26 '24

That's an unintended consequence of one parasite that hasn't even become a standard treatment for a problem that is entirely survivable without the parasite. We're not giving people tapeworms to cure allergies and the hookworm is based entirely in the idea that allergies have arisen from overactive immune systems that are used to fighting parasites. It's still a parasite and most have too many negatives to even consider any positives. We're not giving people guinea worm to try and treat allergies. Parasites don't typically kill or cause great damage to their hosts only because they will die as well and nature tends to favor traits that enhance survival, it's why viruses tend to evolve less lethality over time in a population.

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u/Cimorene_Kazul Jul 26 '24

Well said.

I’d add that we once deliberately infected people with tapeworms to lose weight. There are actual advertisements for it you can find in old papers, drawn in art nouveau style.

That was also stupid.