Epistemic and Ethical Concerns with Hybridization and Conservation: Are They Misguided or Reason for

Featured Speaker: Derek Halm, Ph.D.

Many conservation decision-makers are concerned about hybridization because genetic differences between populations, lineages, or species may be swamped by hybridization, which may lead to the extinction of a local variant or species. In this presentation, however, Derek Halm will argue that these concerns are often misguided and that, in practice, conservation decision-makers are more concerned about whether hybridization is human-mediated or not. While practitioners should still consider hybridization and its effects on conservation, the reasons should consider the longterm environmental consequences, such as changing ecological function, or social effects on people that hybridization may facilitate rather than humanmediation.

Presenter Biography

Derek Halm is a post-doctoral scholar at the Institute for Practical Ethics at UC San Diego. As an applied environmental ethicist and philosopher of biology, his current work on the conservation of hybrid species involves the intersection of applied ethics, philosophy of biological conservatism, environmental and animal ethics and public policy. His research is informed by how decision-makers put empirical data, public policy, biological theory and core ethical values into practice. Halm holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Utah.