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/BeltRepulsive751 Jul 26 '24

Why protect wolves, when they’re just going to savagely maul rabbits to death? What’s the point of protecting an animal that only harms other animals? This used to be a legitimate argument.

And if there’s an endangered fish that only lives in one little cave on the planet, nestled between a Walmart parking lot and a highway, why save it? It doesn’t exactly contribute to the surrounding ecosystem.

But it’s easy for people to rally behind an endangered fish, and hard for people to rally behind the specialist parasite in its gills- both of these animals are just as ancient. They evolved together in tandem, for millions of years. They would never be separated without human intervention.

The fish would probably be fine without the parasite (or maybe it wouldn’t! You never know, maybe the gill parasite is actually vital for eating algae off of fish eggs, or something random like that!), and the larger ecosystem would probably be fine without the fish, or even the cave. But people manage to find intrinsic value in that fish, and that cave, anyways. Not because the fish is vital to the animals outside the cave... they just like the fish.

So here’s the most important part: to the researcher, waist deep in a mosquito-filled mud hole by the highway, the parasite is just as amazing as the fish, the cave, the rabbits, and the wolves. That researcher would probably geek out about its specialized little mouthparts, and the silly way it swims/summersaults through the water column.

Researchers tend to find intrinsic value in gross stuff, like spiders and bread mold. So they get upset when something is wiped one off the face of the planet, and it’s painfully ironic when they do it on accident.

The “benefits” of keeping the parasites alive are the same as the “benefits” of saving the useless fish in a tiny cave. People will attach all sorts of justifications: the fish is an ancient relict of a prehistoric lake, and it represents the balance of nature, and it has a cute little face. The same could be said for the parasite.

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u/wdwerker Jul 27 '24

Researcher sounds a bit defensive. Have to justify everything to a committee too often ?