Scientists Send Conservationists Back to the Drawing Board

September 5, 2007 By: Marshall Cutchin

Talk about imperfect science. Researchers recently discovered that the fish being used to replenish stocks of endangered greenback cutthroat in the U.S. west were in fact a different species, the Colorado cutthroat. According to this piece in Conservation magazine, the mistake may mean that greenbacks are even more endangered than before.
Meanwhile, you may remember that a few years ago California’s Department of Fish and Game suspended planting high country waters with hatchery-reared trout, believing the trout were responsible for the decline in red-legged and yellow-legged frogs. Now scientists at two California universities believe that a fungus is the actual culprit.