[ExI] CRISPR and Gene Drives

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On Fri, Nov 20, 2015 at 2:46 PM, BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> I see little sign that the present rate of habitat loss and species
> extinction is slowing down.
> Add in climate change damage and rising sea levels and we have many
> more years of the bust phase ahead.
> What you are describing is cycles of growth and collapse, leading to
> mass extinctions of some species and regrowth with different species.


### Species loss is yet another imaginary hobgoblin conjured up to make us
afraid of the future, alongside climate change and rising sea levels, but I
digress: Robustness of ecosystems is an important feature and a reason to
be optimistic. Of course, this term does not apply when an ecosystem is
destroyed outright by agriculture or urbanization, however, it does
describe a resistance of the ecosystem to disruption by climate change,
invasive species, moderate species loss or reduction in size. There is no
reason to expect economically important ecosystem failures in the
foreseeable future, perhaps with the exception of Africa, where massive
population growth could lead to catastrophes.

Rafał
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