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futurity_sci_tech 00890.txt

#To avert mass extinction, is genetic engineering the best option? Cornell University rightoriginal Studyposted by Blaine Friedlander-Cornell on September 30 2013with estimates that 15 to 40 percent of the world s species will be lost over the next 40 years due to warming and habitat loss researchers are considering the option of a genetic rescue. The technique would involve escuing a target population or species with adaptive alleles or gene variants using genetic engineeringwrite Josh Donlan Cornell visiting fellow in ecology and evolutionary biology and his colleagues. The method is n increasingly viable...option which we call facilitated adaptation but it has been little discussedadds Donlan co-author of an article about the topic published in the journal Nature. To avert mass extinctions the group thinks that three options each with its own set of challenges complications and risks exist. They are: The Nature commentary draws from a recent workshop cological and Genomic Exploration of Environmental Changethat occurred in March where scientists met to understand issues surrounding climate change adaptation. In those spirited discussions a hot question emerged: is managed relocation of animal and plant species really the only approach to averting extinction? Instead of moving plant and animal populations could genes be moved into populations? hus the term facilitated adaptation was bornsays Donlan. Averting climate change altogether would be a preferableâ##albeit unlikelyâ##outcome. The scientists fear that implementing genetic solutions could potentially deter other climate change action. serious concern is that even the possibility of using genetic-engineering tools to rescue biodiversity will encourage inaction with regard to climate change. Before genetic engineering can be entertained seriously as a tool for preserving biodiversity conservationists need to agree on the types of scenario for which facilitated adaptation managed relocation and other adaptation strategies might be appropriate and where such strategies are likely to fail or introduce more serious problemsthey write. Source: Cornell Universityyou are free to share this article under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noderivs 3. 0 Unported license D

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