Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Long‐Term Consequences of European Invasions

2018; Wiley; Volume: 32; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/cobi.13080

1523-1739

Julianne Farrell, Myron P. Zalucki,

Genetically Modified Organisms Research

Killing the Koala and Poisoning the Prairie. Australia, America, and the Environment. Bradshaw, C. J. A., and P. R. Ehrlich. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, U.S.A. xvi + 235 pp. US$22.50 (paperback). ISBN-13 978-0-226-31698-7. Managing Australia's Pest Animals. A Guide to Strategic Planning and Effective Management. Braysher, M. 2016. CSIRO Publishing, Clayton, Australia. 216 pp. AU$49.95 (paperback). ISBN 9781486304431. If the provocative title of the first book does not capture the potential reader's attention, then open at any page and the contents will. The authors boldly state that they will not hold back and they do not. The take-home message is repeatedly provided; we are in big trouble because of the unholy trinity: overpopulation, overconsumption, and finite resources. The book does not make for pretty reading, but it is worth reading whether you are a believer or a sceptic. The presentation is a different take on the environmental-apocalypse-now theme because it focuses on the homelands of the two authors: the United States and Australia. These two countries are not presented as paragons of virtue in environmental matters, which does not bode well for the rest of the world as it rushes to catch up with these models. The opening chapter “Ausmerica” in Killing the Koala and Poisoning the Prairie sets the scene for the naïve reader. If you are a politically sensitive, politically correct, new-age reader and resident of either of these two regions put on your flak jacket. You are pictured as a naked ape and held collectively responsible for the mess in these 2 countries (chapter 2). The environmental movement, the papering over of cracks, and “Remorse” (chapter 3) for our destruction of the natural world will not cut it. The next 3 chapters (“Biowealth,” “Liquidated Assets,” and “Sick Planet and Sick People”) detail why we are in deep, deep trouble and examine the “still-ticking bomb” (chapter 7). If you are not yet totally depressed, then the following chapters (“Ignorance and Greed,” “Theocracy,” and “Circling the Drain”) will put you over the top. Economists do not get off lightly and neither do religious zealots, politicians, or the chardonnay green set. We are all collectively responsible. The final chapter “Save This House,” the battle plan for salvation, is weak after the eloquent presentation of the disaster. Salvation is not going to happen in any rational sense. Alas, it will take a disaster for the world to wake up and focus the mind; maybe it is too late already. We have wrought overpopulation, overconsumption, destruction of our life-support system, climate disruption, on a toxin-laden planet. All hail the Anthropocene. There have been attempts in the United States and Australia to present a facade of progress on fixing the ails of civilization. Nonetheless, the destruction of species continues, and with protection and recovery plans in place to ease consciences, developers continue to destroy prime habitat in the name of job and wealth creation. No doubt it makes locals feel good, for example, to plant the odd koala host tree in their new backyards. We are not sure about the prairies in the United States, but genetically modified glyphosate-resistant crops have pretty much driven the iconic monarch butterfly to extinction (Stenoien et al. 2016). Is it time to borrow from Asimov and allow a Foundation to deal with a postapocalyptic world? In this sense the book is a commentary on our current predicament, so particulars of the message will become dated quickly, but the key points will remain relevant. For example, there is a lot of ranting and raving about the former Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, as a throwback to what has brought us to this mess, but he fades into the background relative to the current U.S. president, Donald Trump. The authors are very much in the vein of the prophets of old, although they must be reminded what the prophets in the Torah and Talmud called society to account for: “You have ignored the poor, the widowed, the orphaned…” Years ago in a course on human ecology, The Population Bomb and Population, Resources, Environments: Issues in Human Ecology were among the readings. Interestingly, the course was run by Jeremy Evans (an entomologist) and Stephen Boyden (originally a medical researcher). We had vigorous debates in the class. If you held a certain position, you had to argue against it. The universities of today have become no more than job-training centers, obsessed with assessment criteria and feedback, as opposed to an education where the accepted order is challenged, questioned, and debated. This book should be mandatory reading for first-year ecology and economics majors. Perhaps it will bring debate back into the musty halls of universities because it throws down the gauntlet on so many issues. The second offering is a lot more traditional. Invasive species, both vertebrate and invertebrate, have major impacts on the Australian environment and agricultural production, threatening biodiversity, causing native animal extinctions, and sometimes acting as disease vectors. With its 56 introduced vertebrate pest species, Australia has become a Noah's Ark of the world's riffraff. The annual impact of the 11 most invasive species in 2004 was almost AU$720 million (McLeod 2004). Should Homo sapiens be included? Mike Braysher, who has published widely on invasive pests in Australia, has written a clear and comprehensive guide to best-practice vertebrate pest management. Although written with an Australian focus, the principles and strategies detailed for managing invasive animal species could easily be applied in other countries with similar problems, and there are many because we seem bent on homogenizing the planet. The book is a long overdue text and manual for natural resource managers, wildlife biologists, pest-animal researchers, and educators. The opening chapter reviews the history of vertebrate pest management, defines pests, discusses their origins, and describes how they affect the environmental, economic, and social landscape. Mention is made of the legal framework and animal-welfare guidelines, 2 areas that receive scant coverage in other pest-animal publications. The second chapter progresses to the current principles that underpin best-practice management. Seven of these are listed, described in some detail, and examples of strategies employed for some pests are discussed. These principles set the stage for subsequent chapters that follow a logical sequence of research, planning, implementation, and evaluation of a pest-management program. This is followed by an introduction to the strategic approach in which steps are established for defining the problem, setting clear and achievable objectives within a detailed management plan, implementing the plan, and then evaluating its effectiveness. European carp (Cyprinus carpio) and black rats (Rattus rattus) are used as examples to discuss perceived pest problems. Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii) are unlikely to recover unless a range of other detrimental issues are addressed besides the presence of carp in river systems, such as silted refuges, lost shade from riparian vegetation removal, and loss of seasonal flows that stimulate cod breeding. Losses in so-called Hawaiian macadamia (which is an Australian native) crops were blamed on black rats, but it was later shown that after pruning excess developing fruit, the rats were not affecting overall yield (Tobin et al. 1993, 1997). These examples illustrate the importance of not jumping to conclusions and blaming the pest to the exclusion of all other related factors. Score a victory for evidence-based science as opposed to hearsay, uninformed opinion, and conjecture—which abound among stakeholders. In the fourth chapter, the involvement of stakeholders and communities is covered. Dealing with these groups in the development of a management program is often fraught with problems due to the many conflicting interests. The author explains in clear and concise language why stakeholder and community engagement is necessary and ultimately how better outcomes can be achieved by including these groups in the design phase. The case studies included in the chapter highlight problems faced by 3 very different projects and the methods used to overcome difficulties to achieve a positive outcome. Chapter 5 covers implementation of a pest-management plan. This chapter is quite detailed and is probably the best part of the book. The final 3 chapters wrap up the well-rounded text and cover minimization of risk, evaluation of non-native animals for their pest potential, cost–benefit analyses, monitoring and evaluation, data collection and analysis, and effective implementation of a pest program. Each stand-alone chapter covers a different topic, contains evidence-based elaboration of the topic, and finishes up with a list of learning outcomes and exercises that educators will find very useful. All chapters are comprehensively referenced, tables and graphs are well designed, and the black and white photos add impact to the text. In reaching the end of this very readable book, we see that vertebrate pests are just one of many factors that affect a desired outcome. When designing an effective pest-animal management program, other factors including weed and fire management, climate, and funding resources need to be considered and integrated for agricultural or nature conservation purposes. Dealing more effectively with invasive species is at least one small step in healing the ailments inflicted on the planet. Perhaps a limitation of the book is that the knock-on effects of invasive mammals in Australia, particularly of the domesticated sort (cattle, sheep, goats, etc.), are not dealt with. The landscape changes wrought by these probably exacerbated outbreaks of other native pests, such as the Australian plague locust (Deveson 2011; Zalucki 2015), to the detriment of all.