When population geneticist Lisa Meffert began growing houseflies in her lab at the University of Houston back in 1982, she probably never expected that her experiments with the fast-breeding arthropods would throw into question some of the basic axioms of conservation biology. But her findings have done just that, and in the process have created a great deal of consternation among conservation biologists who adhere to traditional breeding techniques, particularly those trying to replenish dangerously low populations of endangered species.

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