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Conclusion to Wild Read Posts
February 12, 2013
(Originally posted as a guest moderator at America's Wild Read)If you’re looking for a cheap thrill, I recommend a little etymology. A little research and suddenly a word you have been taking for granted all your life becomes a window on history and the human condition.JutlandTake for example, the name of the language in which this is written. English derives from the name of a Germanic tribe that migrated from the Jutland peninsula across the North Sea to Britain some time around the fifth century A.D. . . .


What Will They Say in 50 Years?

February 3, 2013
(Originally posted as guest moderator at America's Wild Read)This morning, I received an email from someone who had attended a talk I gave recently. He asked: “Is there anything going on nowadays that you would consider comparable to the Green River poisoning? Is there anything that we are currently doing that is as stupid or outlandish or that will be considered insane 50 years from now?”Good question. . . .


The Hybrid Conundrum
January 28, 2013
Westslope cutthroat native range(Originally posted as guest moderator at America's Wild Read)One of the most vexing problems posed by the widespread introduction of rainbow trout in the American West has been their propensity to hybridize with the natives. Take for example, the westslope cutthroat of the northern Rockies. Once the most widespread cutthroat subspecies, their range has been dramatically reduced in the last century due to the introduction of rainbows. Just how far it has shrunk, though, is a matter of some contention. According to the criteria applied by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a fish can still be considered a Westslope cutthroat even if it has a small amount of rainbow trout DNA (say from a great-grandparent). Such fish still occupy about 20 percent of their original range. . . .


The Technological Fix
January 21, 2013
(Originally posted as guest moderator at America's Wild Read)George Perkins Marsh is primarily known today for his 1864 book, Man and Nature, which is widely credited with ushering the idea of conservation into the national discourse. Seven years earlier, though, Marsh wrote a state-commissioned report on the decline of Vermont’s fisheries that previewed many of the same themes. . . .


Introduction as Guest Moderator at America's Wild Read
January 13, 2013
(Originally posted as guest moderator at America's Wild Read)Thanks all for joining this discussion. I’m looking forward to your insights.I’ll start by giving some background on how I came to write An Entirely Synthetic Fish. About ten years ago, I was working on a Ph.D. in which I used molecular tools like DNA fingerprinting to study ecology, evolution, and conservation. More specifically, I was working with amphibians, mostly wood frogs, addressing questions about inbreeding, kin selection, and microevolution. . . .
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