Springer Mendel's Ark: Biotechnology and the Future of Extinction

Does extinction have to be forever?  As the global extinction crisis accelerates, conservationists and policy-makers increasingly use advanced biotechnologies such as reproductive cloning, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and bioinformatics in the urgent effort to save species.  Mendel's Ark considers the ethical, cultural and social implications of using these tools for wildlife conservation. Drawing upon sources ranging from science to science fiction, it focuses on the stories we tell about extinction and the meanings we ascribe to nature and technology.  The use of biotechnology in conservation is redrawing the boundaries between animals and machines, nature and artifacts, and life and death.  The new rhetoric and practice of de-extinction will thus have significant repercussions for wilderness and for society. The degree to which we engage collectively with both the prosaic and the fantastic aspects of biotechnological conservation will shape the boundaries and ethics of our desire to restore lost worlds. Review “This book looks at the impacts of modern molecular techniques on biodiversity and extinction. … The information presented is clear and concise, providing relevant examples for the issues at hand. … Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above in biology, ecology, and biodiversity.” (K. R. Thompson, Choice, Vol. 52 (8), April, 2015) Review “The author begins by discussing the issues involved in the extinction of plant and animal life overall worldwide today.  She then goes on to review some ways in which the threat of extinction can be reduced for some species, with particularly strong chapters on the cloning of animals that have long been extinct and animals that have only recently become extinct or are now threatened with extinction.” (David E. Newton, author of “Cloning: A Reference Handbook”) From the Back Cover Does extinction have to be forever?  As the global extinction crisis accelerates, conservationists and policy-makers increasingly use advanced biotechnologies such as reproductive cloning, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and bioinformatics in the urgent effort to save species.  Mendel's Ark considers the ethical, cultural and social implications of using these tools for wildlife conservation. Drawing upon sources ranging from science to science fiction, it focuses on the stories we tell about extinction and the meanings we ascribe to nature and technology.  The use of biotechnology in conservation is redrawing the boundaries between animals and machines, nature and artifacts, and life and death.  The new rhetoric and practice of de-extinction will thus have significant repercussions for wilderness and for society. The degree to which we engage collectively with both the prosaic and the fantastic aspects of biotechnological conservation will shape the boundaries and ethics of our desire to restore lost worlds.