Reviving Extinct Species: Is It Worth the Cost? [View all]

[In_The_Wind]

Reviving Extinct Species: Is It Worth the Cost?
By Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributor | February 27, 2017 11:22am ET

Bringing extinct species back from the dead could mean letting living species slip away.

A new study of de-extinction — the potential to use genetic techniques to recreate lost animals and plants — finds that given limited conservation dollars, the benefits of bringing back one lost species would probably cost the extinction of more species that are currently on the brink. For example, if New Zealand resurrected 11 of its extinct species, the government would have to sacrifice the conservation of 33 living species to pay to keep the revived species alive, researchers reported today (Feb. 27) in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

"There would be sacrifices," said study author Joseph Bennett, a professor of biology at Carleton University in Ontario. "Without major increases in budgets, it would be like a one-step forward, two-step back scenario."

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Carolina parakeet
Credit: Jonathan S. Blair/National Geographic
The Carolina parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis) was the only native species of parrot in the eastern United States, having ranged from southern New York to the Gulf of Mexico, and as far west as Wisconsin. The birds went extinct in the early 20th century.