A Plague of Rats and Rubbervines: The Growing Threat of Species Invasions

Baskin provides an excellent introduction to invasive species, chronicling through many enlightening anecdotes the history and consequences of this problem. All too often this subject is presented by specialists for others with biological training, but this book is written well-enough for the general reader. She provides examples of the hard work to remedy the problems associated with invasive species, as well as potential solutions for the future, giving us hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel, if we make the effort and dedicate appropriate resources. If I had to find faults with the book, I would say that she focuses too intensely on just a few regions (albeit important ones): Montana, Hawaii, Galapagos Islands, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa (a little about Florida). Problems in other regions receive little or no attention. But the book is still a great one for this very neglected yet extremely important subject.

Plague Of Rats And Rubber Vines provides a very important discussion of species invasions around the world while also addressing many of the little-known consequences of such invasions, including the consequences of global trade and world travel so popular with Westerners. Plant and animal communities are increasingly being degraded by invasive species, and Plague Of Rats And Rubber Vines provides a discussion which includes solutions to the threat.

In a world shrinking because of an increase in global trade and travel, the economic and ecological impacts wrought by invasive species can no longer be ignored and, in some cases, it may already be too late to react. That's the premise of a new book entitled "A Plague of Rats and Rubber Vines - The Growing Threat of Species Invasions", by Yvonne Baskin (Island Press/Shearwater Books 2002). Baskin, a Montana-based science writer and author of a 1997 book, "The Work of Nature", paints an occasionally grim picture of how humans have diluted, mixed and meddled with the planet's biological wealth, often with troubling consequences. Written in an easy-to-read style, Baskin makes her case using plentiful examples, from the so-called Cinderella Snail that once promised economic miracles in the Philippines yet managed the opposite, to the dreaded zebra mussel, the tenacious Kudzu vine and the vanishing iguana. She writes candidly and authoritatively on the propagation of feral goats overrunning parts of the Galapagos Islands, and the common house sparrow that lived and bred innocuously in Europe, but "exploded" upon arrival in North America and New Zealand. As she put it, "Take the house sparrow, a rather sedentary bird that fledges three to five chicks each year in its European homeland. What formula could have warned the acclimatizers and their like - had they cared - that this sparrow would rapidly take much of the New World by storm? Yet nineteenth century observes reported sparrow pairs producing 24 fledglings per year as the birds exploded across North America, and 31 fledglings per year in New Zealand." In the Galapagos National Park, feral dog packs were killing off the iguana population in the late 1970s. It prompted a captive-breeding program to bring back the numbers. Baskin noted that "few of the nitty-gritty details of reptile husbandry were known then, such as how to get males to breed with females instead of killing them, and how long and at what temperature to incubate iguana eggs." Studies of free-living iguanas helped provide the answers. Further, many of the dogs, pigs, cats and rats preying on the iguanas were eliminated, but such eradication efforts are becoming increasingly more difficult. Sharpshooters have been hired to reduce the goat population. On a small island east of Auckland, the author and a companion peered under thickets to catch sight of a kokako, New Zealand's largest surviving native songbird. According to Baskin, the kokako belongs to an ancient family of wattlebirds that exist only there, yet her foray into the bush ended before she had heard its organ-like call. Such an observation might easily have been forgotten by the reader, considering the book is laden with examples of decreasing biodiversity, but Baskin relied on popular culture to cement her point. "The kokako's song reverberates through the sound track of director Jane Campion's 1994 Oscar-winning movie, `The Piano'

Every now and then I take a look at my garden - does my passion vine do well?, are my ferns lush and green?, and so on. After reading this book, I'm still looking at my garden, but in a different way. Is that vine a potential invader? That knotweed overthere, is it causing trouble somewhere else where it invades the natural area? Are there potential killer weeds in my garden??Baskin's book changed my view, not a minor achievement. The reason is simple: A Plague of Rats and Rubbervines is an excellent read, informative and well written! It's about biological invasions in a broad sense, from crop pests and foreign diseases to ecological catastrophs caused by alien wildlife. Writing about such a topic has the danger of monotony, and endless lament on past and lost paradise. But Baskin skillfully knows to circumvent such a negative approach. Although the first chapters sketch a grim picture of the havoc caused by alien invasions, the book than continues by describing what current measures must turn the tide. Quarantain at borders and airports are an essential ingredient of fighting invasions. Though often a nuisance to naive passengers, these measures are much more understandable to me now I've read this book. There are also some succes stories about invasions that have been combatted and nearly or completely defeated.Rats and Rubbervines does not give an exhaustive overview of all invasions - there are simply to many to do this. But more importantly, such an approach would be of little interest. Instead, Baskin offers the reader insight in the underlying causes of invasions, and the economic aspects involved. After reading Rats and Rubbervines, you have a reasonably balanced overview of this important topic.There is one minor drawback: readers not familiar with common names of the plants and animals involved would love to see a line drawing or picture of the organisms, but apart from a small number of photographs illustrations are lacking. An idea for a second edition? The book certainly deserves that!