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BOOK ¨ REVIEW The Age of Extinction Prasanna Venkhatesh V The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History Elizabeth Kolbert Bloomsbury Paperbacks, Pages: 336, 2014, Price: ~`250 (ISBN-13:9781408868218) Or [Kindle Edition], Amazon Digital South Asia Services, Inc. Pages: 336, 2014, Price: ~`182 (3362 KB, ASIN: B00HXEF3V2) “If you want to think about why humans are so dangerous to other species, you can picture a poacher in Africa carrying an AK-47 or a logger in the Amazon gripping an axe, or better still, you can picture yourself, holding a book on your lap.” [I bought the ebook and I will recommend the reader to do the same]. The Earth has seen 5 mass extinction events (Big five) in its geological history, but now owing to the human activity on the planet we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction event. About 20–50% of the species that share the Earth with us are expected to be completely eliminated by the end of this century, for various reasons which are fundamentally man made. The author makes this point clearly and gives substantial evidence supporting the claim. The book is well written in a lucid way with interviews of prominent scientists, environmentalists and ecologists. The scientific content of the book is also backed up with good main stream peer-reviewed articles. Each of the thirteen chapters of this book represents 748 an emblematic creature that is either extinct or faces the threat of extinction. You can also find the intellectual history of the concept of extinction which predates the concept of evolution by half a century. The author elucidates, with ample examples, that the causes underlying the future of extinctions is not just a single factor. Rather, a combination of many things that are manmade. Since the industrial revolution, around 320 species have already been wiped out. Megafauna, in particular, face the highest rate of decline. The reasons include deforestation, fragmentation of habitats and introduction of non-native invasive species that wipe out native population, poaching, overharvest and hunting leading to direct destruction of species, unintentional introduction of pathogens from different parts of the world, and changes in global climate caused by over utilization of the fossil fuels. In this book one can find striking examples of the loss of biodiversity due to the reasons mentioned above. In spite of the fact that many factors are affecting the biodiversity of the planet, climate change has an effect which will dwarf the other possible reasons for the elimination of many of the species on Earth. The world’s appetite for energy remains voracious and our carbon footprint is astounding. Humans are using the land, atmosphere and the ocean as a wasteland. Every day, more than 90 million tons of gaseous wastes are released into the atmosphere. By doing this we are indirectly wreaking havoc on the Earth’s delicately balanced ecosystems. The RESONANCE ¨ August 2015 BOOK ¨ REVIEW enormous rate at which we are burning coal and oil deposits is rapidly warming our planet. It took Earth millions of years to sequester carbon. By burning fossil fuels, we are pushing it back into the atmosphere in less than half a century. In the author’s words, “We are running the geological history not only in reverse but at warp speed”. It is not just CO2 and other greenhouse gases; there are other purely man-made chemicals such as CFCs (chloro-fluoro- carbons) which are out there in the atmosphere. What is startling is the fact that each chlorine atom that reaches the stratosphere, has the potential to deplete 1,00,000 ozone molecules. The lifetime of the CFCs that are emitted into the atmosphere is about 100 years and it will take about half a century to mend the ozone that has been depleted by the emissions that took place in the past. Thanks to the Montreal Protocol, CFC emission levels have been brought down, preventing further depletion of ozone in the atmosphere. The increasing average global temperature has clear effects on flora and fauna, and the author compares the impact of temperature rise on various ecosystems. Animal, plant and insect species have been pushed far beyond their native range. By altering the complex web of living species we are risking the future viability of our civilization and also putting our survival in grave danger. The author has chosen Eastern Peru, the edge of the Andes, to portray the decline in the floral biodiversity. The Great Barrier Reef – the marine equivalent of the Amazon rain forests in terms of its RESONANCE ¨ August 2015 biodiversity – hosts more than 6000 species that include invertebrates, plants, fishes, birds. 450 million people rely on the reefs for their food and survival. Ocean acidification, often referred to as an evil twin of climate change, has tremendous adverse effects on the marine ecosystem. In the recent past, a significant fraction of the coral population has been depleted, and coral bleaching events are becoming frequent. The author elegantly captures the difference between humans and other species by saying, “The way corals change the world – with huge construction projects spanning multiple generations – might be likened to the way that humans do, with this crucial difference. Instead of displacing other creatures, corals support them.” The author gives good examples of how the native population of a species is destroyed by invasive species that unintentionally get there. We have altered global flora and fauna to the extent that in some parts of the world, the nonnative species outnumber the native species. By doing so we are undoing millions of years of geographic separation of species, creating what is sometimes called as the New Pangaea. Even though the author does not provide any prescription for mending the cur rent biodiversity crisis, her attempt is to create awareness among the general public about the current situation and the impending catastrophe. She successfully conveys that the choices that we make today will have an enormous impact on the biodiversity of our planet in the long run. I recently heard a podcast by BBC Radio 4 749 BOOK ¨ REVIEW which discussed how sea birds are affected by plastic wastes. According to one study, nearly a third of all the sea birds around the world have plastics in their stomach. It is shocking to know that we are slowly wiping out other species on earth because of our carelessness. As I write, the Great Indian Bustard is becoming locally extinct at the Rollapadu Wildlife Sanctuary in Andra Pradesh. Fewer than 200 individuals are found in other parts of the country. We are effectively destroying the beauty, the variety and the richness of the world, which has taken millions of years to evolve. We have now reached a tipping point. Prevent or Perish Prasanna Venkhatesh V The Sixth Extinction: Patterns of Life and the Future of Mankind Richard Leakey and Roger Lewin We can proceed to do things as we always have done – with very little regard or concern for the future. Alternatively, small changes that each of us makes in our current lifestyle could help reduce the pace of change and save the planet for our future generations. After reading this book one is left with a lot of grief and anger, which should be channelled to prevent the planet from the upcoming danger. I strongly recommend this book to everybody and also request every individual who has read this book to spread the awareness among others. It is a must read for every student. and Roger Lewin give numerous persuasive reasons for saving the biodiversity and its inherent values which benefit humanity. Although first published 19 years ago, sadly the state of affairs has not changed even now and it appears that the contents are fresh. Anchor Books, Reprint Edition, Pages:288, 1996. Paperback, Price: ~`650 (ISBN-13:9780385468091) This book is a predecessor to Elizabeth Kolbert’s, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. The central themes of both these books are the same; however there are subtle differences. While both the books talk about the eroding diversity of life on our planet at an alarming rate by anthropogenic activities, Elizabeth Kolbert lays more emphasis on the role of climate change whereas Richard Leaky 750 The authors perfectly blend various concepts from geology, palaeontology, anthropology, ecology, evolutionary biology and conservation biology to give a cogent picture of the life on planet Earth in the past, present and future. To aid this, the authors discuss the history of ideas like catastrophism, extinction, uniformitarianism and evolution originally proposed by giants like Cuvier, Charles Lyell and Charles Darwin. The authors present excerpts from the works of highly acclaimed scientists including E O Wilson, Jared Diamond, Stephen J Gould, David Tillman, James RESONANCE ¨ August 2015