killing and conservation
Brought on by a conversation, one might say, visible at
https://inaturalist.nz/flags/487426#activity_comment_4490364
My perspective, which isn't finished evolving, is that if you're not prepared to kill, then conservation work probably isn't for you. Weeding is killing, managing pest species is killing. I don't go out of my way to do either, and I don't even particularly enjoy it for its own sake, but it is part of ecosystem preservation, if we value biodiversity. If a species cannot live in the place where it evolved, where should it live?
Consequently, when I see a tree lupin or coastal wattle growing over Autetaranga or Tataraheke, it often stimulates me to action. Effects of weeds can be a great deal more subtle than that obvious example.
I have long identified four species of exotic spiders which prey on katipo. This is not published in any journal yet, but my scientific advisors have been aware of this state for more than five years. As a consequence, every time I see Sidymella trapezia, Steatoda capensis, Australomimetus hartleyensis or Nyssus coloripes, they get the squeeze. And I often reflect this information in my observations, to let others know that this is the case. If you look for it, there is hard evidence enough amongst my observations. At most I might some day update the Wikipedia article on katipo to reflect this, and address other shortcomings in that piece.
The situation is very different when native species impacts on native species. If mankind had not interceded to introduce all of these exotic species, then Mother Nature's plans would have had such native-vs-native conflicts resolved on her own terms. That's not my argument to get involved in.
