Subject: more thoughts on listing of Washington sage grouse (fwd)
Date: Jan 11 21:09:23 2001
From: Deborah Wisti-Peterson - nyneve at u.washington.edu



hello all,

stan moore, who briefly joined tweeters this past summer at my request,
has given me permission to pass on his thoughts regarding the listing
of the sage grouse as endangered in washington state. he points to
something that is quite simple but really difficult to refute.

regards,

Deborah Wisti-Peterson, PhD Candidate nyneve at u.washington.edu
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
Visit me on the web: http://students.washington.edu/~nyneve/
Life is better when you are reading a good book -- Author Tim Green



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 09:56:02 -0600
Subject: more thoughts on listing of Washington sage grouse

It might be of interest to note that population viability issues are raised
in the petition to list sage grouse in Washington state. Geneticists have
established theoretical formulas under which isolated populations can be
considered viable, and one requirement is the presence of a certain mimimal
number of "effective breeders." Not all birds in a population are effective
breeders, and thus an entire population of sage grouse may number far more
than the number of those able to contribute to the gene pool in any given
year. Also relevant in birds like sage grouse is the fact that not all
males breed; in fact, most male sage grouse are left out of contributing to
the gene pool.

As a result of these facts, I believe I recall correctly that biologists in
Washington have considered and perhaps even implemented translocations of
sage grouse from other areas to Washington populations to improve genetic
variability and population viability.

Now, I have to ask -- if it is necessary for biologists to bring in fresh
genes to a local population of any species for it to remain viable, HOW CAN
THAT SPECIES or distinct breeding segment thereof, NOT DESERVE ESA LISTING?


Stan Moore San Geronimo, CA hawkman11 at hotmail.com
_________________________________________________________________