Pulitzer-prize-winning author Elizabeth Kolbert highlights the potential applications of gene drives, assisted evolution, and lengths researchers are going to in the name of conservation.

Today our natural ecosystems are not so “natural.” Humans have altered systems through development, the spread of invasive species, and climate change. One of the most pressing challenges of our time is finding repairs for the problems we have caused. In her latest book, Pulitzer-prize-winning author Elizabeth Kolbert notes the discrepancy between our view of pristine, wild places and the reality of saving ecosystems that have already suffered human influence.

Islands are a prime example.

There are approximately 465,000 islands globally, and almost 90 percent of island chains are experiencing harm from the presence of invasive rodents. Rodents are among the most devastating invasive species for island ecosystems; they devour the seeds and seedlings of native plants, decimate native wildlife populations, and threaten the food security of island communities. All this damage comes as a result of humans spreading rats and mice worldwide. The good news is, eliminating invasive species from islands has remarkable results for plants, animals, and people. The bad news is that the available methods have social, ecological, and financial constraints and can not meet the immense need for island restoration.

Cue a potential new tool—genetically altered rodents.

Genetic Biocontrol of Invasive Rodents, or GBIRd, is a partnership between Island Conservation, North Carolina State University, Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, and New Zealand’s Biological Heritage aimed at developing a gene drive mouse capable of eliminating an invasive population. Gene drive rodents potentially offer an effective and more humane method for accomplishing the same goal, ultimately removing rodents through natural attrition within a few generations. Gene drives are not only being developed in mice, noted Kolbert:

Scientists in New Zealand are researching the use of gene drive to eradicate invasive wasps, and scientists at Michigan State University are investigating the possibility of using gene drive to control invasive sea lampreys in the Great Lakes.”

Kolbert engaged with experts worldwide to understand these and other potential tools that are out there for protecting threatened species, combating climate change, and ensuring human well-being. In her new book “Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future.” Kolbert details the insights and opportunities she uncovered, including work by the GBIRd partners.

Beyond gene drives, experts are exploring various methods to fix the problems people have created or better adapt wildlife to their new surroundings. Katherine Moseby, an expert in reintroduction biology, has been working to help Australia’s endangered marsupial species avoid predatory feral cats. Moseby has started looking at the issue from the prey perspective and working from the premise that humans will have to intervene to help species adapt. Meanwhile, researchers at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in New York recently produced a genetically modified American Chestnut Tree. The tree is resistant to a fungal pathogen called chestnut blight that killed off nearly every Chestnut Tree on the continent 100 years ago.  

Kent Redford, a conservation consultant, and Bill Adams, a professor of conservation and development at Cambridge, argue that these innovative technology represents a necessary way to view conservation options:

The distinction between what is natural and what is artificial no longer provides a sound guide to thinking about people and nonhuman life.”

To learn more about the innovative conservation projects Elizabeth Kolbert explored, check out the following:
YaleEnvironment360
The New Yorker Magazine

Featured photo: Shearwater chick in a burrow on Lehua Island, Hawaii. Credit: Island Conservation