Can conservation projects sometimes stop the process of natural selection?

Question

if yes, is it bad?

Answer 1

It's difficult to say if zoo's are a form of conservation, but they sure stop natural selection. It's more like controlled selection.

Answer 2

maybe we need a definition of "natural selection".

eg. if we completely pave over the environment of a species, wiping it out, is that "natural selection"?

or is it annihilation?

this is a real question -- here are some examples.

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/speci...

http://www.mountainwatch.org/mountain/fa...

http://www.mountainwatch.org/mountain/fa...

http://www.baynature.com/v07n04/v07n04_p...

http://atkinsinstitute.blogspot.com/2007...

http://www.sfgate.com/getoutside/1996/oc...

http://www.reclaimingquarterly.org/96/96...

some species have been saved by conservation efforts.

others have not.

that species have been saved is a good thing.

http://www.well.com/~davidu/extinction.h...

Answer 3

That is an interesting question, but I'm pretty sure the answer is no.  Natural selection is a process where in species go extinct and other species eventually fill their niche.  However, this process takes millions of years.  Right now we might be in the middle of a mass depletion, where we are probably causing many more species than normal to go extinct.  It will take even longer for species to naturally evolve to fill the niches of the species that are going extinct.  So really, conservation projects are just trying to keep everything closer to natural order, because, if it weren't for us, these species probably wouldn't be endangered.

Answer 4

yeah... i would say so, but if you look at the idea of natural selection and the idea of deforestation you would see that we actually are the ones to blame. We should conserve wildlife b/c if we don't we will drive every specie to extinction.

The predator prey relationship is always fluctuating, it's designed to balance out.

Look at studies in national parks, such as isle royale.

Wolf population goes up, moose population drops, and vise versa.

I'll admit, sometimes nature selects a specie to die out. For instance, the tic population is severely weakening the moose on the island and killing them off. There is a possibility that the moose population will die off on the island; however, they won't b/c it's for the sake of science.  

I know very little about the subject. So i guess it's a penny for my thought but i had to get my two cents in.