Date: Fri, 11 Jul 1997 11:18:47 -0700 (PDT) From: Sean Barry <sjbarry@ucdavis.edu> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2621$foo@default> Subject: Re: Reintroduction Of CP into the wild, Part II
On Fri, 11 Jul 1997, Paul V. McCullough wrote:
> Now, you go on to say that you can't see why I think it's "unlikely"
> for say d. capillaris to over-run and exterminate say, d. rotundifolia
> (I don't think we're thinking of sundews killing off sarracenia
> purpurea, right? Has anyone seen this?) or d. intermedia. Well, I base
> my theory on the fact that I have a rotundifolia growing right next to a
> cluster of capillaris. I have an intermedia growing from the base of a
> VFT. My observations don't show any evidence that these CP would
> over-run each other. I haven't observed poisons being released by one
> type of these CP (rotundifolias, capillaris, intermedia, s. purpurea,
> VFT) to kill off adjacent plantings. My observations show that the
> growth rates are pretty similar in the three drosera families I'm
> talking about. In the local bogs, rotundifolia traps were intermixed
> with intermedia traps. Capillaris shares some features of intermedia
> and rotundifolia... it seems reasonable that they all share a common
> past.
Paul--
With all due respect, this is not "evidence," particularly not to support
something as dangerous as you propose. A few plants in domestication do
not in any way provide insight on how the same or other species will
interact in the wild, with different substrata, no pots, different water
source and composition, different competitors, etc. Further, as has been
hashed over on this list repeatedly, plants in cultivation are being
selected for adaptation to cultivation, perhaps at the germinal
level--introducing those alleles and altered allele frequencies into a
wild population could easily open a Pandora's box of unpleasant outcomes
for established populations, and for the introduced plants as well.
I stand by my initial advice. You have the power not to do it, and there
is no reason for you to do it except as a potentially devastating
"experiment" without a supported hypothesis. To me the choice is clear.
I'd opt for the safety of the wild populations and keep my domestic seeds
at home.
Sean Barry
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