Re: Question About Natives

**"* C* <d*@sympatico.ca>**

I guess I'm a titch dyspeptic this evening.

My first thoughts about only natives-before-1600-is-good causes me to wonder 
why we "non-natives" apply that rule only to plants. Shouldn't we apply it 
to ourselves, too? Look at the continent before and after the "introduction" 
of ourselves.

But seriously...

Jeff's question is a very good one and it raises others right along with it.

Which of the various native characteristics were "improved" and why?

Is that improved plant occupying the same ecological niche as it did in 
1600, as opposed to the same geographical area?

Does that environment still exist today? If not, has our selecting been to 
re-create a plant for an environment that we created?

Are the improvements that we "helped along" the same improvements that 
nature would have introduced through natural selection? Or, what would the 
native look like today if we had never shown up?

I don't think there can be definitive answers to those questions,albeit, 
there can be some definitive discussion.
Dan

From: "Jeff Ball" <jeffball@usol.com>

>,,,the tightest definition of a "native"  is that it grew in some area of 
>the country before 1600...The question is whether those plants bred in  the 
>past fifty years to improve on various native characteristics have the same 
>contribution to the ecology as the parent natives...>
> Jeff Ball
> jeffball@usol.com
> 810-724-8581
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