The reading and the lecture are both about saving Toreyya taxifolia trees, which grows in the state of Florida. The author of the reading claims that there are three possible solutions to save the Torreya trees from extinction. The lecturer casts doubt on the claims made in the article. She thinks that these solutions are unlikely to work.
To begin with, the author claims that Torreya trees could be replanted in the same area where they grow. The reading notes that Northern Florida has well-suited cool and wet weather. This specific argument is challenged by the lecturer. She claims that global warming and human activities have changed Northern Florida’s weather by making it warmer and drier. Furthermore, she points out that it is unlikely that Northern Florida has the same conditions to grow the Torreya trees.
Secondly, the writer suggests that Torreya trees could be migrated into other regions. The article mentions that previously torreya seeds and saplings have been successfully planted in forests in further north. This argument is rebutted by the lecturer. She says that migrating a tree in a new area could endanger plants that already grow there. She elaborates on this by bringing up the point that this has happened before with black locust tree when the black locust trees were migrated into different region they spread rapidly that it killed many plants and trees.
Finally, the author mentions about growing the torreya trees in research center. He is of the opinion that growing the trees in a research center would give option of saving the trees and researching them more thoroughly. The lecturer, on the other hand, feels that planting the trees in a small research center is unlikely to save the trees. She notes that in order to resist the diseases, trees have to be in large and diverse population.