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34 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Invasion Biology: Critique of a Pseudoscience, March 18, 2004
This review is from: Invasion Biology: Critique of a Pseudoscience (Paperback)
Invasion Biology is a profound, devastating critique. Well-written and lucid, professionals will appreciate the thoroughness of the citations (I searched in vain for a statement of fact not supported by citation); and the style, while technical, will still be readable by the non-specialist. Sure to be the most controversial book in ecology in a decade. Clear and compelling, this book completely changed my world-view about invasive species. In Part I, Theodoropoulos draws on paleobiology, historical records of the movement of species, and studies of natural changes, to disabuse us of naive views of "natural, stable, co-evolved" ecosystems. Then, he details the true causes of the population outbreaks that are called invasions, showing that these are symptoms of anthropogenic disturbance -- changes in hydrology, pollution, fire regime changes, etc. For me, this was the most devastating and convincing part of the book: one realizes that the so-called "invasive species" are not the problem, and we must address the true causes underlying these population outbreaks. He then examines many of the most popular "alien invaders" in the media -- purple loosestrife, eucalyptus, star thistle, wild boar, fire ants, kudzu, salt cedar, and others -- and neatly demolishes common misperceptions about them. He exposes the extremism of the anti-invader movement, and shows the harm that too often results from extermination efforts. Part II will be the most difficult for most readers, dealing with the psychology of belief and the nature of xenophobia and prejudice. At first I was prepared to be repelled or offended by his comparisons of biological nativism to racism, but his tone is so dry and unemotional when examining these potentially explosive parallels, and he calmly presents case after case, leaving the reader no choice but to give the matter serious consideration. He also "follows the money" and exposes the herbicide industry funding of anti-invader efforts. This part of the book answered for me the question I was left with after reading Part I -- how could we have forgotten the basic lessons of ecology when considering these species, and created the environmental equivalent of a "demon theory" of disease? Part III builds a new view of "anthropogenic dispersal", showing the many beneficial effects of invaders, demonstrating the rapid ecological integration of man-dispersed species, and showing the way towards a new direction for the conservation of biological diversity. After thoroughly demoralizing me and demolishing my world-view, this part revived my spirits and energized me to take a fresh approach to restoration and conservation. My own approach to land management has been radically changed, and I will be focusing on underlying causes, rather than treating mere symptoms. The book really could use some illustrations to break things up, and many of the numerical facts would have been better handled in tables or with bar charts. Certainly I found parts of the book to quibble with, and there were several minor errors resulting from outdated research, but the basic message of the book cannot be ignored. It should be mandatory reading for every biology student, every land manager, and every policy-maker who deals with invasive species.
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10 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Science, protected, August 10, 2006
This review is from: Invasion Biology: Critique of a Pseudoscience (Paperback)
This is a book of righteous science. The radical environmental movement has launched an entire industry based on bad science, and David Theodoropoulos shines a light on their misdeeds. A few well-placed but unfounded untruths -- that the status quo is "good" and change is bad, that existing biota have inate rights to posess the land they are in, and that new interactions between species are morally abhorant -- and the stage is set to have the tale wag the dog.
And what tales the IBs tell! It's easy to be taken in by the inflammatory jargon. New species in a region are called "invaders" -- never mind that species are constantly moving, even between continents, and such moves are both natural and beneficial. Other derogatory words reinforce the slander: alien, aggressive, dominating, crowding, habitat robbing, monocultural, choking, threats to bio-diversity. It's not hard to figure out who's bad side some species ended up on.
Theodoropoulos rightly observes that hot-headed words have no place in real science. Real science uses the scientific method to build upon established precepts, is open to disproof, and welcomes rational argument. IBs label any dissenters as unlearned, unqualified, and obviously maliciously untrustworthy. That is, of course, what the IBs say about Theodoropoulos -- he's not in the invasion biologist's Who's Who, so he's an ignorant rube. No defense of IB is thus required.
He also unmasks the motive behind the invasion biology mentality: plentiful funding for finding threats, mostly unreal and imagined. No funding at all for finding out that everything is A.O.K.
The hubric notion that some species "belong" in certain places just because some self-proclaimed experts say so loses its power once you see behind the curtain. The irony is that IBs acuse Theodoropoulos of being a self-proclaimed expert, while presenting no scientific basis for their own supposed expertise. IBs somehow are able to know just which species belong where, and have the moral compass to steer the rest of us to genocide.
Invasion biology inflates its already self-invented importance by not just claiming that "invasions" are something to guard against, but by screaming that we are in a full-fledged invasion crisis. Crises require immediate action. Now. Kill that plant now. Drain that pond, now! Wipe out that evil, aggressive, choking, unfairly competing, lifeform NOW, before it multiplies! DO IT NOW! THIS IS A CRISIS FOR PETE'S SAKE!
Theodoropoulos names names and gives details. Purple loosestrife, rather than the desolator of species IBs libel it as, actually befriends more native insects and avians than the official "native" plants. Tamarisk is not a soul sucker, but a savior, increasing rather than decreasing bio diversity. Theodoropoulos gives dozens of other examples, with persuasive documentation and irresistable reasoning.
Invasion biology is the emperor's new science. Hopefully it will be eradicated by an invasion of common sense.
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19 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Time to expose this environmental fraud!, June 28, 2004
This review is from: Invasion Biology: Critique of a Pseudoscience (Paperback)
I am the director of a group in Hawaii called CHIRP (Coqui Hawaiian Integration and Reeducation Project), trying to stop the ridiculous "Frog War" against the introduced coqui tree frog. These small frogs, the size of a quarter, are so enchanting with their nocturnal "Ko-Kee" song, and so beneficial to humankind by eating mosquitoes, cockroaches, fruit flies, tree borers, and other health and agricultural pests, that they are revered in their native Puerto Rico, where they are the national animal. In Hawaii, however, there is an official smear campaign being waged against the frogs, spreading lies and doomsday prophesies, and warning people that their sleep will be disturbed by the "noise". For example, eradication promoters are misinforming the public about the frogs' diet, saying that they don't eat mosquitoes. (We have so many mosquitoes in Hawaii that the eradicators know that people would like the coquis if they knew they ate mosquitoes.) These same "scientists" predict, without any evidence, that the frogs will eat too many insects, depriving native insect-eating birds of food. And the media and government always characterized the coquis' nighttime sound as a disturbing, shrill shriek, certain to keep people awake and possibly lead to disease. The Hawaii Department of Agriculture designated the coqui an "agricultural pest", even though frogs are considered beneficial to agriculture, eating insect pests and reducing the need for insecticides. The entire campaign against the coqui has been one of propaganda and fraud, not science. The State and Federal governments have declared war against the tiny frogs, demonizing the enemy and whipping the public into a killing frenzy. Many places in Hawaii are now looking like there is a war going on, too. For example, Lava Tree State Park was logged, defoliated, and drenched with citric acid to kill the frogs. You can see pictures on our website, HawaiianCoqui.org. The acid takes 45 minutes to burn the frogs to death, a procedure the government considers humane. Meanwhile, the acid indiscriminately kills geckos, spiders, and other non-target creatures, and further burns the vegetation. Those promoting this destruction care nothing about the geckos or most of the vegetation. They consider them all "alien" species, and in invasion biology ideology, alien species are bad and do not deserve to live anywhere but in their "native" environment. (By the way, the Lava Tree State Park destruction was completely in vain, spreading the frogs for a mile around. Now the frogs are back in the park in even higher numbers, and the park still looks like a logging site, nearly 2 years later.) Environmentalists used to hike through the woods photographing birds and trees and admiring the wild, natural beauty. Now they march through forests with shovel and poison spray in hand, searching for alien plants and animals to kill to return the environment to some idealized vision of the past, especially here in Hawaii where these zealots want the environment as it was 500 years ago. What I appreciated most about Invasion Biology: Critique of a Pseudoscience is that it showed how my experience with the coqui is typical of the invasive species mentality. The breeding of hate and intolerance for alien species is a disease that is infecting environmentalism throughout the world. Invasive species extremists are wanting to define a natural order and to enforce that order by killing animals and plants that "don't belong" in a given environment. They are quite willing to slash and burn the environment in an attempt to purify it of "aliens". I hope his book encourages rational, concerned environmentalists throughout the world to publicly and professionally expose and discredit this pseudoscience of invasion biology.
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