Suchergebnisse

Intro -- Preface -- Contents -- Chapter 1: Conservation in a Brave New World -- 1.1 The Last Bucardo (or Not?) -- 1.2 The Authenticity Question -- 1.3 The Ethical Question -- 1.4 Types of De-extinction -- 1.5 De-extinction and the Goals of Conservation -- 1.6 Overview -- References -- Chapter 2: Three Case Studies: Aurochs, Mammoths and Passenger Pigeons -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Aurochs -- 2.3 Heck Cattle: The Aurochs' Regrettable Nazi Connection -- 2.4 Rewilding Europe -- 2.5 Woolly Mammoths -- 2.6 The Mammoth Steppe and the Earth's Climate -- 2.7 Pleistocene Park -- 2.8 How to Make a Mammoth -- 2.9 Passenger Pigeons -- 2.10 The Passenger Pigeon Resurrection Plan -- References -- Chapter 3: Real or Fake? The Authenticity Question -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Authenticism and Conservation Value -- 3.3 The Genesis Argument Against Authenticism1 -- 3.4 The Genesis Argument, Refuted -- 3.5 The Evolutionary Argument Against Authenticism -- 3.6 The Phylogenetic Argument Against Authenticism -- 3.7 The 100% Argument Against Authenticism -- 3.8 The Argument from the Definition of 'Extinction' Against Authenticism -- 3.9 The Argument from Taxonomy Against Authenticism -- 3.10 The Population-Boosting Argument for Authenticism -- 3.11 A Theory of Authenticity for De-extinct Organisms -- References -- Chapter 4: Ethical Arguments For and Against De-extinction -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 The Biodiversity Restoration Argument for De-extinction -- 4.3 The Justice Argument for De-extinction -- 4.4 The Ecological Restoration Argument for De-extinction -- 4.5 The Smart Politics Argument for De-extinction -- 4.6 The Argument from Coolness for De-extinction -- 4.7 The Balance Restoration Argument for De-extinction -- 4.8 The Resource Allocation Argument Against De-extinction -- 4.9 The Rewilding Argument Against De-extinction

This case study of the Australian Museum's Thylacine Cloning Project analyzes a frame dispute that emerged during public communication of a scientific project, which lasted from 1999 to 2005, and was premised on the idea of resurrecting an extinct species. In choosing the Tasmanian tiger—an iconic Australian marsupial officially declared extinct in 1986—the promoters of the cloning project ensured extensive media coverage. However, the popular and scientific attention generated by the idea of bringing back an extinct species challenged the Museum's efforts to frame the project in terms of scientific progress. The project repeatedly shifted from science to spectacle, as multiple stakeholders used the mass media to negotiate the scientific feasibility of trying to reverse extinction through the application of advanced biotechnology. The case study findings are relevant both to the emerging social issues surrounding the use of paleogenomics in wildlife conservation, and to the theoretical development of frame analysis as applied to scientific controversies.

The latest Nobel Prize winner in economics, Richard Thaler, was rewarded 'for his contributions to behavioural economics'. Thaler and Sustain claim that there are 'nudges', not pure rationality, that drive people decision-making processes. A 2017 CEPR report reveals that economic factors
do matter with regards to trust in the political institutions of the EU but they do not play the main role. Therefore, it seems quite natural to ask: what is an explanatory power of economics in grasping the recent social behaviour dynamics, including the European integration processes and
actual rise of radicalism and populism? Can economics contribute to a better understanding of those issues and can it come up with some practical solutions? To answer these questions I explore both theoretical backgrounds in economics and some empirical studies. I also refer to the results
of my recent research on the Polish social perception of free trade agreements. I investigate how much the limits of EUrope are related to the limits of economics.

P. 167-185 ; The European Union has adopted the ambitious target of halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010. Several indicators have been proposed to assess progress towards the 2010 target, two of them addressing directly the issue of species decline. In Europe, the Fauna Europaea database gives an insight into the patterns of distribution of a total dataset of 130,000 terrestrial and freshwater species without taxonomic bias, and provide a unique opportunity to assess the feasibility of the 2010 target. It shows that the vast majority of European species are rare, in the sense that they have a restricted range. Considering this, the paper discusses whether the 2010 target indicators really cover the species most at risk of extinction. The analysis of a list of 62 globally extinct European taxa shows that most contemporary extinctions have affected narrow-range taxa or taxa with strict ecological requirements. Indeed, most European species listed as threatened in the IUCN Red List are narrow-range species. Conversely, there are as many wide-range species as narrow-range endemics in the list of protected species in Europe (Bird and Habitat Directives). The subset of biodiversity captured by the 2010 target indicators should be representative of the whole biodiversity in terms of patterns of distribution and abundance. Indicators should not overlook a core characteristic of biodiversity, i.e. the large number of narrow-range species and their intrinsic vulnerability. With ill-selected indicator species, the extinction of narrowrange endemics would go unnoticed ; SI

Climate change created predominantly by burning fossil fuels leads to increased pressure on biodiversity. It may cause extinction in lizard species over the forthcoming years. Lizard species that are unable to adjust rapidly enough to the ecological alterations due to climate change are particularly under threat. Therefore, vulnerable lizard species should be monitored and adopt climate change scenarios. This study examines the changes in the habitats of Danford's lizard (Anatololacerta danfordi) according to the RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 (HADGEM2-ES) climate scenarios. We modelled the current habitat preferences of A. danfordi using the MaxEnt method based on the bioclimatic features derived from Worldclim. Our results showed that A. danfordi prefers habitats with the bioclimate features including 12 mm for precipitation of driest month, 1-2 degrees C for mean temperature of wettest quarter, -4 degrees C for min temperature of coldest month, and 600 mm for annual precipitation. We determined the potential distributions of the A. danfordi using the model and GIS facilities for both RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 climate scenarios. In conclusion, the potential habitats of this lizard species may be dramatically influenced from two climate scenarios. We envisage that the suitable habitats may be mostly relocated from the south toward the north. A. danfordi may not adapt this rapid change and may not migrate to new suitable locations within this short period. Therefore, governments should make provisions against climate change without delay.

The brief history of Tropaeolum umbellatum Hooker in cultivation is described, and the original illustration (Fig. 1) is republished. Only three collections of this very distinct species appear to have been made in the wild, all in Ecuador around 1846, and no further records are noted either in the literature, or on the internet.Tropaeolum tuberosum. From a hand‐coloured lithograph by W. H. Fitch in Curtis's Botanical Magazine 74, t. 4337(1848).image

Humanity now faces the possibility that it will become extinct over the next few decades or so. This is not simply a reality about the biological fate of the species; it also raises the prospect of thought's own extinction. But what does it mean for thought that it, too, might disappear?

Thought's possible disappearance shatters the assumption, at work across all the institutions and disciplines of the West, that one version or another of thought is enduring and will survive. As it turns out, no familiar practice rests on a secure ground; under the sign of the terminus - the prospect of humanity's extinction - each one is shattered and undone. The cultural legacy becomes a field of rubble.

In dozens of short essays, this book moves through this field. It takes up a host of specific inheritances and traces how each is shattered and transformed by an extinct thought. It engages with religion, philosophy, history, literature, ethics, studies of political power and resistance, and depictions of humanity's place in the nonhuman world. It reconsiders the emergence of capitalism and of biopower, the science of climate change, the import of mediation and technology, and philosophies of temporality. Moreover, it contends with many innovative waves of thought over the past two centuries, from German idealism to deconstruction, from psychoanalysis to queer theory, from decolonizing theory to Afropessimism, and from the critique of ideology to speculative realism. It concludes by assessing what it is like for thought, having confronted its extinction, to live on in this debris, to dance with its own oblivion.

"We are causing species to go extinct at extraordinary rates, altering existing species in unprecedented ways and creating entirely new species. More than ever before, we require an ethic of species to guide our interactions with them. In this book, Ronald L. Sandler examines the value of species and the ethical significance of species boundaries and discusses what these mean for species preservation in the light of global climate change, species engineering and human enhancement. He argues that species possess several varieties of value, but they are not sacred. It is sometimes permissible to alter species, let them go extinct (even when we are a cause of the extinction) and invent new ones. Philosophically rigorous, accessible and illustrated with examples drawn from contemporary science, this book will be of interest to students of philosophy, bioethics, environmental ethics and conservation biology"--

Abstract
Recent events and advances address the possibility of cloning endangered and extinct species. The ethics of these types of cloning have special considerations, uniquely different from the types of cloning commonly practiced. Cloning of cheetahs (and other endangered or vulnerable species) may be ethically appropriate, given certain constraints. However, the ethics of cloning extinct species varies; for example, cloning mammoths and Neanderthals is more ethically problematic than conservation cloning, and requires more attention. Cloning Neanderthals in particular is likely unethical and such a project should not be undertaken. It is important to discuss and plan for the constraints necessary to mitigate the harms of conservation and extinct cloning, and it is imperative that scientific and public discourse enlighten and guide actions in the sphere of cloning.