Rambunctious Garden Chap 5 & Puth and Burns

Chapter 5 of Marris’ “Rambunctious Garden” and the Puth & Burns article focus primarily on the concept of assisted migration. In a nutshell, assisted migration is taking species that are on the brink of extinction from the natural habitat, and moving those species to a new habitat in hopes that they will thrive there. Right off the bat, Marris discusses the hardships of the American pika, a “small flower-nibbling mammal” native to the North American West. As the global climate gets warmer and warmer, the pika “curls up” and dies. Their natural habitat, high peaks on mountains, is getting smaller and smaller by the day and the pikas’ have nowhere else to go. They can’t make it down the mountain by themselves, nor can they make it to the safe haven of a close-by mountain. But, Marris says, what if someone came along and provided the pikas’ with a refrigerated crate as their new home? It’s possible that they might just save a life or two. (73) For the pikas’ sake, assisted migration could be a potential life saver, much like the American beeches native to the North American east coast; spanning from southern Canada all the way to northern Florida. Like the pikas’, the beeches are victims of climate change. As the planet gets warmer, the beeches can no longer grow as quickly, nor can they reproduce as well. However, as colder areas of Canada subsequently heat up, beech seeds may be planted, and this small degree of human intervention might just give the trees a new home, and save the species in the process. Similarly, the Puth & Burns article discusses how increased urbanization has been severely detrimental to species native to areas such as New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Their findings have noted a dramatically decreasing trend in amphibian, reptilian, fish, bird, lichen, and plant life in the New York metro area. Now, assisted migration sounds like the savior conservationists have been waiting for, but will it really work?
Perhaps the most obvious question that arises when conservationist efforts are being pitches is, will it really work? Much like the idea of Rewilding, assisted migration has a dark cloud looming above it due to the lack of real testing in the field. Its virtually impossible to predict how certain species will react to being exposed to new habitats. Marris herself even validates this point by stating that there might be some sort of difference in the soil of the species’ old habitat. For these reasons, I’m not sure just how supportive I would be of assisted migration or rewilding as scientific tools; however, given the choice between the two, I believe assisted migration is superior. Conservation is an unpredictable field, so I’m sure the expert scientists are on the fence about this issue just as much as I am.