In chapter 5 of Rambunctious Garden, Emma Marris discusses the idea of assisted migration—intentionally “guiding” certain species to new locations for a better chance of survival in their new environment. Because of the global climate change, many species are having, and will have, difficultly adjusting to their changing surroundings. This will surely cause some species to become endangered, or even extinct, since many species are unable to migrate to a safer environment because of certain barriers—like seas, cities, roads, and distance (75). One example of a species that has trouble migrating is the American Pika, which cannot move to another mountain peak to escape the warm climate. Therefore, humans guiding the transportation of specific species to more suitable and comfortable environments sound like an easy and amenable solution—sometimes even necessary.
However, with this possible solution, there are its own problems. Specific species may be unable to adapt to a new environment because of something small as the presence of “specific soil microbes” or the unobserved “microclimatic condition” (77). The species may pose as a threat to their new ecosystem as an invasive species. Transporting animals is also an expensive process. The relocated species may also die out in their new environment because of a lack of certain resources, rendering it extinct–a backfired result.
While assisted migration poses some solutions and problems, Marris points out that humankind has been involved with assisting migration for a very long time. Thus, it may be agreed that since humans have been interfering with ecosystems for thousands and thousands of years, it makes sense for people to help specific species that rely on assisted migration in order to survive. For some experts, assisting species sounds favorable in urban ecosystems like New York City because there is a gradual decline in “species richness”, especially of native species (Puth, Burns, 12). It sounds reasonable for humankind to try to restore depleting native species in an area with assisted migration, but the process must be advance with caution, for artificial help may produce undesirable results.
Personally, I feel like changes that occur in the environment should be natural and organic. However, humankind is the most unnatural and advanced species to exist, in terms of using resources and altering the environment. Since humans are a large part of the alteration of nature, it sounds reasonable for people wanting to help nurture back the environment with something like assisted migration.
