Abstract:
The conselVation of a tropical wildland InlO perpetuity
demands that h o.ffer a product 10 hs neighbors and other users.
This product must be offered with a minimal loss 01 biodiversity
in the conserved witdland. All uses Involve some interference and
Impact on individual organlsms and ecosystems under
examination, study. manipulaUon etc; this is the tax that
conserved wildlands must pay for their existence. Just as tha rugs
In a library wear out and some borrowed books never retum. In
general: a) the larger the population 01 the focal organism. b) the
laster hs replacement rate, c) the wilder Its swings In density In
tha natural circumstance, and d) the less bothered h Is by the
presence 01 a large mammal, the more likely Is tha human
population to be able 10 make use 01 h without interfering with Its
conservation. either In IsolaUo" or in its Interactions with other
organisms. Insects (and other invertebrates) rank much higher
on this scale 01 potential use than do vertebrates. That is 10 say,
tha conservation problems generatad by human·insect
interactions in a user·lrfendly national pari< are potentially much
less than are those generalad by interactions between humans· and
other vertebrates.
