AFFIRMATIVE ACTION FOR INSECTS IN TROPICAL NATIONAL PARKS

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.