| The Magazine of the CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES |
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REVIEWS The Islands of Ideas Evolution’s Workshop: God and Science on the Galápagos Islands, by Edward J. Larson. Basic Books, New York, NY, 2001, 320 pp., $27.50. hardcover. Edward Larson’s historical voyage through the discovery and exploration of the Galápagos Archipelago is a remarkable journey. Not only does it chronicle the history of scientific discovery and the central role the Galápagos have played in that process, it also examines the evolution of our intellectual and social attitudes toward the environment since the sixteenth century. Early explorers from Obispo Berlanga to Herman Melville found the Galápagos an inhospitable volcanic wasteland that supported an inexhaustible supply of fresh tortoise meat for weary sailors. Darwin shared this contempt for the harsh landscape inhabited by grotesque iguanas that did not conform to his native England, yet he was intrigued by the differences. This curiosity, and what it can tell us about the fundamental process of organic evolution, is the central theme of the book. Larson carefully debunks the popular myth that Darwin saw Galápagos finches and a light bulb suddenly switched on in his head. And he uses Darwin’s finches as a vehicle to demonstrate how our understanding has changed and has been challenged through the works of an unlikely cast of characters that includes Albert Günther, Walter Rothschild, Harry Swarth, David Lack, Robert Bowman and Peter and Rosemary Grant. What readers of Evolution’s Workshop may find most surprising is how California was a key player in the exploration of the Galápagos, and how these islands were central to the first development of science in the West. In 1872, the California Academy of Sciences was entering its third decade as the focus for science in the West. In that year, leading zoologist Louis Agassiz, fresh from his voyage to the Galápagos, gave an address at the Academy. He began with an admonition to prominent San Franciscans: “You are surrounded with wealth as no State ever was and yet I see [the Academy is] still in close quarters. You have not rooms in which to display your acquisitions.” This call for philanthropic support of science and education led community leaders to generously support research activities. The Academy and Stanford University soon positioned themselves as leaders in the study of Galápagos biota and developed the most comprehensive collections from the islands. As today’s Academy begins a major renovation of its facilities in response to similarly crowded conditions, Agassiz’ words loudly echo the need to support the exploration and explanation of the natural world. Evolution’s Workshop is also a tale of changes in the way society perceives and values nature. As tortoises grew rare on most of the Galápagos Islands, many scientists felt that the remaining individuals should be collected for study in scientific institutions. Then Academy ornithologist Harry Swarth, alarmed by what he observed on the islands during the Academy’s 1932 Templeton Crocker Expedition, suggested that Ecuador set the islands aside as a wildlife sanctuary—a call to action not fully realized until more than 25 years later. In 1959, the Charles Darwin Foundation was founded and Ecuador established the Galápagos National Park. This action was largely due to the heroic efforts of Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Robert Bowman, and Julian Huxley, who had enough clout with UNESCO to bring about the necessary action. Although this was a step forward, it did not insure the preservation of the Galápagos. Emigration from the Ecuadorian mainland brought with it increased population, exotic species, and even ecoterrorist tactics to exploit the fisheries. Today, growing shark and sea cucumber fisheries and a recent oil spill are just some of the pressures on this fragile archipelago. While the unique flora and fauna of the Galápagos originated under adverse biological conditions, human activities have continually upped the ante. Evolution’s Workshop provides a superb context for the ways in which the often conflicting motives of exploitation, science, and conservation are interwoven in an ongoing drama that has kept the future of these islands hanging in the balance.
Featuring Fish A Fascination for Fish: Adventures of an Underwater Pioneer, by David C. Powell. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 2001, 339 pp., $29.95. hardcover. In the foreword to Fascination for Fish, Sylvia Earle writes that Dave Powell is the “grand master of wet animal husbandry.” I certainly agree. After six years as diving buddies and 20 years as colleagues at neighboring institutions, I thought I had heard and learned all that Dave had to share—until this labor of love was published. Take a deep breath and plunge in as our dive buddy Dave Powell explains how he turned his childhood dream of caring for sea creatures and sharing the wonders of the aquatic world into reality. In the book, Dave tells us his stories of searching for hagfish 1,100 feet deep in Monterey Submarine Canyon, and collecting flashlight fish at night with Sylvia Earle in an underwater cave off Grand Comorro Island in the Indian Ocean. His accounts of expeditions to Baja California detail everything from how to prepare for a collecting trip to introducing fish to aquarium tanks. Describing his experience researching and developing exhibits, he offers fascinating glimpses into the complex world of aquarium design. Aquarium curators are a close-knit group of hunters, gatherers, and teachers who are intrigued by the unexplained. They take pride in teaching life’s lessons by creating living systems as close to real habitats as they can make them. I was reminded of my favorite childhood book, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, as Dave tells of “Boots,” a collector from Marineland of the Pacific, “Muggs,” “Gator Bill,” and “Chub” from Sea World, as well as “Tonga John,” a Canton Island legend, who accompany him while collecting bony fishes and sharks in Mexico and beyond. Dave takes readers to the depths, writing about Rapa Nui’s (Easter Island) depleted marine fauna, shark physiology, diving hazards, tricks of the curator’s trade and, just for good measure, how to remove parasites from ocean sunfish. He describes the fluid dynamics of the Steinhart Aquarium’s tidepool, which has flushed its water every three minutes for the last 40 years, and how the 238-ton window for the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Outer Bay exhibit was installed. The book is a must-read for both novice and veteran marine biologists and conservationists. Tinkering With Eden: A Natural History of Exotics in America, by Kim Todd. W.W. Norton & Company, New York, NY, 2001, 288 pp., $27.95 cloth. Invasive Plants of California’s Wildlands, Edited by Carla C. Bossard, John M. Randall, and Marc C. Hoshovsky. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 2000, 360 pp., $60.00 cloth, $29.95 paper. When European settlers landed on the shores of North America, so did plants and animals from their homelands. Just as these pioneers expanded into millions of individuals spanning from shore to shore, their companions have grown into thriving wild populations that, in some cases, have literally taken over the landscape. The hordes of pigeons (Columba livia) that now live in many of our city plazas were intentionally brought to present-day Nova Scotia in 1604 by French colonists. As New France grew, more pigeons were imported as delicacies and companions. Other creatures were brought over accidentally, such as the mosquitoes which hitchhiked to Hawaii aboard merchant ships. In Tinkering With Eden, author Kim Todd explains how these introductions forever altered the landscape and ecology of the New World. Todd eloquently explains how one man single-handedly brought European starlings to New York’s Central Park, why brown trout (Salmo rutta) arrived in 1883 as a generous gift from Germany, and how gypsy moths (Bombyx dispar) were imported into Massachusetts to try to jumpstart the country’s silk industry. In all cases, Todd weaves myth, fact, and humor into interesting stories that enlighten us about our everyday surroundings. Emphasizing the impact of exotics on our native wildlife, she writes, “What we ended up with after centuries of experimentation is an ecosystem at risk, biodiversity in decline, and a scramble to eradicate exotics and reintroduce natives.” She continues, reminding us that this mess is the result of our own poor judgment, “But as weevils lay eggs in the knapweed roots, mountain goats pick their way over Olympic peaks, and house sparrows flit through the alleys, we are witnessing the manifestation of all our desires.” Evidence for Todd’s observations can be found closer to home in Invasive Plants of California’s Wildlands. Anyone who has traveled the highways and byways of the Golden State can see that nonnative weeds are creating a problem that can no longer be ignored. Weedy species are now abundant and aggressive enough to threaten the state’s native plant and animal species, especially those with more limited ranges. Not even agricultural lands have escaped, as fields of yellow star thistle (Centaurea solstitalis) show. The book offers land managers and reserve stewards valuable information on why and how to take defensive action against many plant invaders such as Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius), pampas grass (Cortaderia jubata and C. selloana), and tamarisk (genus Tamarix), which have become so common that many people don’t recognize them as exotics.But the heart of the book lies in its species accounts—in-depth discussions of 78 of the state’s worst weeds, covering everything from how to recognize a certain pest to its effects on the ecosystem and how to keep it from spreading. Photographs, line drawings, and distribution maps accompany each description. Together, Tinkering and Invasive Plants illustrate the old dictum, “Don’t mess with Mother Nature. She always gets the last laugh.” Recommended Reading from the Editors' Desks
Dr. Art’s Guide to Planet Earth, by Art Sussman. Chelsea Green Publishing Company, White River Junction, VT, 2000, 122 pp., $14.95 paper. Global temperatures are climbing, ozone is thinning, and the species extinction rate is racing at more than 100 times the average historical level. Meanwhile, human energy and resource consumption is higher than ever, especially in our own country. But learning about the waning health of our planet does not need to mean losing hope or interest in it. In his Guide to Planet Earth, Art Sussman provides an accessible and lighthearted account of the way the world works, along with feasible suggestions for how to keep those processes in balance. As he traces the interlocking cycles of Earth’s matter, energy, and life systems, Art taps into our imaginations, takes us on a time machine, and turns us into water molecules. At the end of the journey, readers of all ages reach “Not the End,” Art’s final message of hope for a healthier planet. Native Grandeur: Preserving California’s Vanishing Landscapes, David Wicinas et al. The Nature Conservancy of California, 2000, 136 pp., $20.00 softcover. $40.00 hardcover. No place is a place until it has had a poet,” wrote Wallace Stegner. He may as well have said “a painter,” for the artist’s insight calls our visual attention to place. The Nature Conservancy of California has relied upon painters to illustrate Native Grandeur. This luscious volume celebrates the conservation group’s 42 years and the more than 100 projects that have helped preserve California’s remarkable natural heritage. Rich text describes—region by region—the unique and diverse habitats that make California forever inspiring to naturalists, poets, and painters alike. Personal essays by Paul McHugh, Tupper Ansel Blake, and Joan Irvine Smith, among others, recount indelible connections to particular places and underline how identification with a landscape shapes a person’s being. The magnificent paintings are the carrots that entice further exploration of the book. Each turn of the page presents another captivating landscape painted by a who’s who of turn-of the-century California realist landscape painters. Many of the works—so brilliant and colorful that they seem to have been painted yesterday—are of places that no longer exist as such today. Depictions of the wild lands of Los Gatos hills and Grandville Redmond’s endless fields of California poppies are testaments to landscapes lost before our generation. How sad that all that’s left to us are these paintings. Yet, the book also gives readers hope: the knowledge that The Nature Conservancy is so strongly committed to ensuring that some of California’s precious natural lands will remain wild. The Nature Conservancy’s exhibit “Native Grandeur: Preserving California’s Vanishing Landscapes,” will open at the Oakland Museum November 17, 2001. |