Mother Nature’s Melting Pot

Environmental preservationists often raise alarms about invasive species – whether it’s Asian carp in the US or Norway rats or Canada geese in China. The “natural landscape is a shifting mosaic of plant and animal life,” argues anthropologist Hugh Raffles in an opinion essay for the New York Times. Labels “native” or “alien” bestowed by humans on others are misnomers, ignoring how migration is an essential feature of evolution and the history of a dynamic planet. Europeans introduced honeybees to the Americas in the 1600s, and they quickly becoming essential for agriculture. Biologists increasingly recognize that efforts to restore ecosystems by eliminating new entries are costly and regularly fail, often doing more harm than good, Raffles explains. As the climate changes, so-called native species often find new settings. As a new US citizen, Raffles compares the battles against invasive species with ongoing resentment for immigrants, arguing that diversity strengthens community at all levels. – YaleGlobal