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April-June 2008 (Vol. 9, No. 2)

Let’s Not Starve Them
Thank you for your article bringing light to the crisis in our world oceans and our responsibility for the problem (10 Solutions to Save the Ocean, July-September 2007). The discussion in your series was interesting, but the solutions were somewhat lacking in alternatives. I would suggest ecologically sustainable aquaculture and supporting coastal sewer infrastructure as key objectives. If we just shift our consumption and overfishing to the lower levels of the food chain (as the article suggests), we will be starving the apex predators rather than harvesting them directly. What is needed is an alternative supply such as sustainable open-ocean aquaculture. This also provides an economic alternative to the destructive wild-caught fisheries. Just as altern-ative resources are now coming to the market for energy and water resources, we need to establish alternative sources of supply rather than just targeting different species.

Brian Braginton-Smith
Lewis Bay Research Center
South Yarmouth, Massachusetts

More Than Predators
I would like to provide a comment on “Ecosystems Unraveling” by W. Stolzenburg (January-March 2008). The article potentially provides an intriguing example of a cascade of destructive effects on an ecosystem subsequent to human impact. However, Stolzenburg weakens a systemic view of the extinction crises by polarizing the effects of fragmentation and habitat destruction on the one hand and the role of apex predators within ecosystems on the other. The key role of large predators in ecosystems as stated by Terborgh is undisputed, but this recognition definitely does not mitigate the relevance of habitat destruction and fragmentation within the context of the extinction crisis. Stolzenburg’s interpretations of Terborgh’s research risk underestimating the importance of habitat connectivity in future conservation concepts. Terborgh’s research impressively underlines the important role of predation within ecosystems. But the interpretations should not lead to conceptual placebos that distract from the development of strategies capable of coping with one of the main challenges facing conservation in the future — the permanently increasing human impact on landscapes, habitats, and ecosystems.

Thomas A.M. Kaphegyi
University of Freiburg, Germany