Nature Out of Place: Biological Invasions In The Global Age

Not long ago, while waiting to board a plane, environmental scientist Jason van Driesche noticed a Hawaiian tourism poster that showed a lush ravine carpeted with flowering trees and shrubs, "an exotic destination if ever there was one." If, that is, "exotic" means "alien," for the plants in the picture were all invaders from other continents: African tulip trees, Indian kahili ginger, and other non-native species that thrive on ecological disturbance and the willingness of humans to transport plants and animals from one ecosystem to another without pausing to consider the consequences.

Those consequences, write van Driesche and his fellow scientist and father Roy van Driesche, are enormous. The ever-increasing globalization of agriculture and commerce is remaking the earth into a "planet of weeds," replacing biological diversity with a seemingly inescapable sameness of forms. In Nature Out of Place, they catalog some of these losses, showing how humankind's preference for the "best" species is yielding catastrophe on every continent. More helpfully, they offer a program of action for people to stem and even undo some of that destruction by landscaping with native plants, shunning exotic pets, eating locally grown foods, and protecting old, biologically rich habitats close to home. Clear-headed and illuminating, their book makes a useful tool for anyone concerned with environmental restoration and preservation. --Gregory McNamee