Re: Planting under cherry tree
Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2017 10:41 pm
DND
There is a group that subscribes to the theory of a "global ecology". Its basis is that man moving species around the planet is a natural process and that eventually everything will even itself out and reach a balance. From my perspective, the impacts of these new species that not only change the biology of the environment but also the environment itself the simply cannot be justified - example is southern alps sphagnum bogs invaded by clovers (imported for pastures); clovers boost the nitrogen content of the soil, allowing other exotics to survive which in turn out compete the locals and ultimately dry out the wetlands.
My position is that we should recognise fully modified environments essential for our food and fibre and manage these while preserving the intact environments.
We have a simple approach to determining what is native or not - if it was here when the ships arrived it is native. Interestingly we have "native" tamarind, citrus and others in the far Nth probably brought in by the SE Asian fishers etc. centuries ago.
There is a group that subscribes to the theory of a "global ecology". Its basis is that man moving species around the planet is a natural process and that eventually everything will even itself out and reach a balance. From my perspective, the impacts of these new species that not only change the biology of the environment but also the environment itself the simply cannot be justified - example is southern alps sphagnum bogs invaded by clovers (imported for pastures); clovers boost the nitrogen content of the soil, allowing other exotics to survive which in turn out compete the locals and ultimately dry out the wetlands.
My position is that we should recognise fully modified environments essential for our food and fibre and manage these while preserving the intact environments.
We have a simple approach to determining what is native or not - if it was here when the ships arrived it is native. Interestingly we have "native" tamarind, citrus and others in the far Nth probably brought in by the SE Asian fishers etc. centuries ago.