Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Philosophical justifications for the extirpation of non-indigenous species: the case of the grasshopper Schistocerca nitens (Orthoptera) on the Island of Nihoa, Hawaii

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Insect Conservation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The case of Schistocerca nitens’ establishment on the island of Nihoa presents a challenging case for conservation biologists with respect to the justification for human efforts to extirpate the insect. In justifying our actions we seek reasons that are ecologically plausible (i.e., consistent with empirical and theoretical understandings of science), ethically compelling (i.e., based on sound reasoning from well-established moral principles), and logically consistent (i.e., avoiding fallacies and contradictions). Our analysis shows that the conventional arguments for conservation programs do not meet these criteria in the case of S. nitens. The following reasons fail on the basis of ecological, ethical, or logical standards: the protection of biodiversity, avoidance of ecological harm, biological qualities of the invasive species (herbivory, fecundity, mobility, recency, and functional integration), anthropogenic basis of arrival, harmfulness or unnaturalness of human agency, the interference with ecological processes, or disturbance of equilibria. Rather, we suggest that an aesthetic argument provides an ecologically, ethically, and logically sound basis for conservation biologists to justify taking action against the grasshopper. The aesthetic concept of a “thick sense” of beauty gives rise to a compelling moral case for extirpation based on virtue ethics in a manner similar to the argument against tolerating roadside litter.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1 
Fig. 2 
Fig. 3 
Fig. 4 
Fig. 5 
Fig. 6 

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alroy J (2001) A multispecies overkill simulation of the end-Pleistocene megafaunal mass extinction. Science 292:1893–1896

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Anonymous (1965a) Notes and exhibitions for September 1964. New immigrant acridids. Proc Hawaii Entomol Soc 19(1):27

    Google Scholar 

  • Anonymous (1965b) Notes and exhibitions for September 1964. Schistocerca vaga (Scudder). Proc Hawaii Entomol Soc 19(1):28

    Google Scholar 

  • Beardsley JW (1980) Notes and exhibitions for October 1977. Proc Hawaii Entomol Soc 23(2):182

    Google Scholar 

  • Callicott JB (1986) On the intrinsic value of nonhuman species. In: Norton BG (ed) The preservation of species. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, pp 138–172

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlson A (2000) Aesthetics and the environment: the appreciation of nature, art, and architecture. Routledge, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Cittadino E (2006) Ecology and American social thought. In: Lodge DM, Hamlin C (eds) Religion and the new theology. University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, IN, pp 73–115

    Google Scholar 

  • Clague DA (1996) Growth and subsidence of the Hawaiian-Emperor volcanic chain. In: Keast A, Miller SE (eds) The origin and evolution of Pacific Island Biotas, New Guinea to Eastern Polynesia: patterns and processes. SPB Academic Publishers, Amsterdam, pp 35–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Clapp RB, Kridler E, Fleet RR (1977) The natural history of Nihoa Island, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Atoll Research Bull no. 207, Washington, DC

  • Conant S (1985) Recent observations on the plants of Nihoa Island, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Pac Sci 39(2):135–149

    Google Scholar 

  • Conant S, Christensen CC, Conant P, Gagné WC, Goff ML (1983) The unique terrestrial biota of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. In: Proc of the Second Symp on Resource Investigations in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, 25–27 May 1983. University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Report (UNIHI-Sea Grant-MR-84-01), Honolulu, HI, pp 77–94

  • COPR (1982) The locust and grasshopper agricultural manual. Centre for Overseas Pest Research, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Culliney J (2004) Nihoa and Necker Islands Expedition, August 27–September 6, 2004. An edited transcript of a log of the expedition recorded by John Culliney, Hawaii Pacific University. Personal Observations. Summary of preliminary findings: natural-history, ecology, and taxonomy (unpublished report)

  • Devall B, Sessions G (2001) Deep ecology: living as if nature mattered. Gibbs Smith, Layton, UT

    Google Scholar 

  • Donlan J, Greene HW, Berger J, Bock CE, Bock JH, Burney DA, Estes JA, Foreman D, Martin PS, Roemer GW, Smith FA, Soulè ME (2005) Re-wilding North America. Nature 436:913–914

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Elliot R (2003) Faking nature. In: Light A, Rolston H III (eds) Environmental ethics: an anthology. Blackwell, Malden, MA, pp 381–389

    Google Scholar 

  • Ely CA, Clapp RB (1973) The natural history of Laysan Island, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Atoll Res Bull no. 171, Washington, DC

  • Emory KP (1928) Archaeology on Nihoa and Necker Islands. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bull no. 53

  • Evenhuis NL, Eldredge LG (2004) Natural history of Nihoa and Necker Islands. Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu, HI

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleming PA (2006) Can nature (legitimately) be our guide? In: Lodge DM, Hamlin C (eds) Religion and the new theology. University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, IN, pp 199–225

    Google Scholar 

  • Gensler HJ (1998) Ethics: a contemporary introduction. Routledge, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilmartin WG (2005) Workshop to identify research and mitigation measures to address Schistocerca nitens Crisis on Nihoa Island, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. April 25–26, Honolulu, HI. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, Volcano, HI

  • Goodpaster K (1978) On being morally considerable. J Philos 75:308–325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harrison JF (1989) Temperature effects on intra- and extracellular acid-base status in the American locust, Schistocerca nitens. J Comp Physiol 158:763–770

    Google Scholar 

  • HEAR (Hawaiian Ecosystems At Risk) (2008) www.hear.org, accessed 28 January 2008

  • Heitler WJ, Burrows M (1977) The locust jump. I. The motor programme. J Exp Biol 66:203–219

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hospers J (1946) Meaning and truth in the arts. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC

    Google Scholar 

  • Hull DL (1977) The ontological status of species as evolutionary units. In: Butts R, Hintikka J (eds) Foundational problems in the special sciences. D. Reidel Publishing Co., Dordrecht, Holland, pp 91–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Hursthouse R (1999) On virtue ethics. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson L (1991) A morally deep world: an essay on moral significance and environmental ethics. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Katz E (2003) The big lie: human restoration of nature. In: Light A, Rolston H III (eds) Environmental ethics: an anthology. Blackwell, Malden, MA, pp 390–397

    Google Scholar 

  • Keller DR, Golley FB (eds) (2000) The philosophy of ecology. University of Georgia Press, Athens, GA

    Google Scholar 

  • Kevan DKM (1989) Transatlantic travelers. Antenna 13:12–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Kropidlowski S (2006) Nihoa biological monitoring expedition, April 1–9, 2006. Nihoa Island, Northwest Hawaiian Islands, USFWS-Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Honolulu, HI (unpublished report)

  • Latchininsky AV (2008) Grasshopper outbreak challenges conservation status of a small Hawaiian Island. Journal of Insect Conservation (this issue) http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10841-008-9143-8

  • Leopold A (1968) A sand county Almanac. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Lockwood JA (1988) Not to harm a fly: our ethical obligations to insects. Between Species 4:204–211

    Google Scholar 

  • Lockwood JA (2004) Locust: the devastating rise and mysterious disappearance of the insect that shaped the American frontier. Perseus (Basic) books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Lockwood JA, Lockwood DR (1991) Rangeland grasshopper population dynamics: insights from catastrophe theory. Environ Entomol 20:970–980

    Google Scholar 

  • Lockwood DR, Lockwood JA (1997) Evidence of self-organized criticality in insect populations. Complexity 2:49–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin PS (1967) Prehistoric overkill. In: Martin PS, Wright Jr HE (eds) Pleistocene extinctions: the search for the cause. Yale University Press, New Haven, pp 75–120

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin PS (1984) Prehistoric overkill: the global model. In: Martin PS, Klein RG (eds) Quaternary extinctions: a global revolution. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, pp 354–403

    Google Scholar 

  • Mill JS (1874) Three essays on religion: nature. Henry Holt, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Minteer BA, Manning RE (2003) Pragmatism in environmental ethics: democracy, pluralism, and the management of nature. In: Light A, Rolston H III (eds) Environmental ethics: an anthology. Blackwell, Malden, MA, pp 319–330

    Google Scholar 

  • Mizisin AP, Ready NE (1986) Growth and development of flight muscle in the locust (Schistocerca nitens, Thunberg). J Exp Zool 237:45–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moffett M (2007) A plea for deserts. Red desert symposium, September 29, 2007. University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY

  • Morin MP, Conant S, Conant P (1997) Laysan and Nihoa Millerbirds (Acrocephalus familiaris familiaris and A. f. kingi). In: Poole A, Gill F (eds) The birds of North America. No 302. Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, DC: The American Ornithologists’ Union

  • Norton DF, Norton MJ (2007) David hume: a treatise of human nature. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Neill J (2003) The varieties of intrinsic value. In: Light A, Rolston H III (eds) Environmental ethics: an anthology. Blackwell, Malden, MA, pp 131–142

    Google Scholar 

  • Ritchie M, Pedgley DE (1989) Desert locusts cross the Atlantic. Antenna 13:10–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Rolston H (2001) Naturalizing values: organisms and species. In: Pojman LP (ed) Environmental ethics: readings in theory and application. Wadsworth, Belmont, CA, pp 76–86

    Google Scholar 

  • Rowland C, Jones IL, Swenson C (2007) Nihoa biological monitoring expedition, March 16–25, 2007. Nihoa Island, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. USFWS, Honolulu, Hawaii, http://www.mun.ca/serg/Nihoa_tripreport2007.pdf

  • Russow L-M (1981) Why do species matter? Environ Ethics 3:101–112

    Google Scholar 

  • Sax DF, Stachowicz JJ, Gaines SD (eds) (2005) Species invasions: insights into ecology, evolution, and biogeography. Sinauer, Sunderland, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Singer P (2003) Not for humans only: the place of nonhumans in environmental issues. In: Light A, Rolston H III (eds) Environmental ethics: an anthology. Blackwell, Malden, MA, pp 55–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Sober E (2000) Psychological egoism. In: LaFollette H (ed) The blackwell guide to ethical theory. Blackwell, Malden, MA, pp 129–148

    Google Scholar 

  • Song H, Weissman DB, Barrientos-Lozano L, Cano-Santana Z (2006) The locust Island. Am Entomol 52(3):168–181

    Google Scholar 

  • Stoll M (2006) Creating ecology: protestants and the moral community of creation. In: Lodge DM, Hamlin C (eds) Religion and the new theology. University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, IN, pp 53–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Swanton C (2003) Virtue ethics: a pluralistic view. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor P (1981) The ethics of respect for nature. Environ Ethics 3:197–218

    Google Scholar 

  • USFWS (2001) Pacific Remote Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex Special Conditions & Rules for Moving Between Islands & Atolls and Packing for Field Camps. July 2001

  • US NPS (2007) The U.S. World Heritage Tentative list (August 2007 Draft). U.S. National Park Service Staff Report, http://www.nps.gov/oia/TLEssayFinal.pdf

  • Warren KJ (2000) Ecofeminist philosophy: a western perspective on what it is and why it Matters. Rowman & Littlefield, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Weston A (2003) Beyond intrinsic value: pragmatism in environmental ethics. In: Light A, Rolston H III (eds) Environmental ethics: an anthology. Blackwell, Malden, MA, pp 307–318

    Google Scholar 

  • White PS (2006) Disturbance, the flux of nature, and environmental ethics at the multipatch scale. In: Lodge DM, Hamlin C (eds) Religion and the new theology. University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, IN, pp 176–198

    Google Scholar 

  • Zangwill N (2007) Aesthetic judgment. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, plato.stanford.edu/entries/aesthetic-judgment/

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Wyoming, 1000E. University Ave., Dept. 3392 − Philosophy, Laramie, WY, 82071, USA

    Jeffrey A. Lockwood

  2. University of Wyoming, 1000E. University Ave., Dept. 3354 − Renewable Resources, Laramie, WY, 82071, USA

    Alexandre V. Latchininsky

Authors
  1. Jeffrey A. Lockwood
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alexandre V. Latchininsky
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexandre V. Latchininsky.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lockwood, J.A., Latchininsky, A.V. Philosophical justifications for the extirpation of non-indigenous species: the case of the grasshopper Schistocerca nitens (Orthoptera) on the Island of Nihoa, Hawaii. J Insect Conserv 12, 429–445 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-008-9152-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-008-9152-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation