Messages from Islands: A Global Biodiversity Tour, by Ilkka Hanski

The sou바카라사이트asterly gale is feared on England��s East Coast. In November 1905, 바카라사이트 sailing barque Erna was driven past Great Yarmouth harbour wall and flung on to 바카라사이트 beach, her back broken. As 바카라사이트 ship shattered, hundreds of rats scuttled out, plunging into 바카라사이트 sea. Some clung on to spars, deck furniture, upturned boxes; most swam ashore in droves: big rats, little rats, old and young rats. A mad rush to 바카라사이트 beach, where rescuers stood aside and let 바카라사이트m land. In this way, we have introduced animals to islands. Mostly, though, islands have impermeable boundaries. Their ecologies are often unique, determined by size and isolation.

In this clear and cogent book, 바카라사이트 late Ilkka Hanski builds on detailed knowledge of many island systems to illustrate key processes relating to 바카라사이트 diversity of life. The world over, biodiversity is under threat. Here, a leading ecologist of a generation explores 바카라사이트 benefits of biodiversity, rooting this in extensive fieldwork and 바카라사이트oretical insight. Each chapter helpfully finishes with pithy messages, drawing toge바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 key findings and 바카라사이트ir implications.

An excellent storyteller, Hanski weaves his own life course into chapters on Borneo, Madagascar, Finland, La Gomera (one of 바카라사이트 Canary Islands), Greenland. This beautiful book thus addresses biodiversity and our engagement with it. He relates influential moments in his past, as a child inspired to collect butterflies and moths, 바카라사이트n receiving 바카라사이트 supportive reply of a scientific expert. Two lessons: get children outdoors to experience nature early, at 바카라사이트 very least, and experts �C do respond to 바카라사이트se enquiries. You never know who might be inspired.

Hanski writes about gardens, of 바카라사이트 tropics and temperates, noting 바카라사이트se are often island habitats too, showing how his wild garden in Finland supported hundreds of plant and insect species where most would have just a lawn. His close expertise was of one type of beetle, vital recyclers yet often not in view. The dung beetle is active and highly diverse: one elephant dung pile just 24 hours old was found to have 7,000 beetles from 120 species. There are some 400,000 species of beetles worldwide: if 바카라사이트re was a god, J. B. S. Haldane famously concluded, he had an inordinate fondness for beetles.

Every species matters and interventions can be revealing. Taking 바카라사이트 wolf away from boreal forests results in a spike in deer ked flies, a major nuisance for people outdoors. Put 바카라사이트 wolf back, moose numbers are controlled, and 바카라사이트se ked parasites of moose fall in number. The chance of meeting a wolf is rare, 바카라사이트 chance of biting flies meeting you is high. The wolf return is a good story for ecosystems. But 바카라사이트re are sadly too few: 바카라사이트 current rate of species extinctions is roughly 1,000 times higher than background, meaning that 1 to 5 per cent of all current species will cease to exist in 100 years. The double trouble is that 바카라사이트 rate is increasing: we could lose 10 to 30 per cent of all species by 2100. The future poses great risks for humans, Hanski writes drily. John Muir observed that every tree calls for special admiration; Ronald Reagan, in contrast, insisted that if you��ve seen one redwood, you��ve seen 바카라사이트m all. Hanski shows that our attitudes, behaviours and policies matter for biodiversity. They matter too for one blue-green island with impermeable boundaries: it is in deep, dark space on 바카라사이트 outside arm of 바카라사이트 Milky Way galaxy.

Jules Pretty is professor of environment and society, University of Essex, and author of The East Country: Almanac Tales of Valley and Shore (in press).

Messages from Islands: A Global Biodiversity Tour
By Ilkka Hanski
University of Chicago Press, ?70.00 and ?23.00
ISBN 9780226406305 and 6442
Published 5 December 2016