The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

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The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
LC Class
QE721.2.E97 K65 2014

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History is a 2014

Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for the book in 2015.[1]

The

peer-reviewed science, Kolbert estimates flora and fauna loss by the end of the 21st century to be between 20 and 50 percent "of all living species on earth".[2][3][4][5][6][7]

Anthropocene

Main article: Anthropocene

Kolbert equates current, general unawareness of this issue to previous widespread disbelief of it during the centuries preceding the late 1700s; at that time, it was believed that

heat stress
, heat regulation by the Earth's ice, and so on.

The

suburban sprawl, which increase discontinuity between viable habitats throughout the world.[2][3][4][5][6]

Background

science writer for The New Yorker magazine. She is the author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe, as well as several other books. Her writing focuses on the effects of humans and civilization on our planet's ecosystem. Much of her writing involves her experiences of various locations, as noted above. Previously, she was a reporter for The New York Times.[2][4]
Kolbert resides in Williamstown, Massachusetts, with her husband and children, and she writes in her home office across from Mount Greylock in Massachusetts.[8] Kolbert has been interviewed by national news and media organizations.[9][10][11][12][13]

Kolbert's decision to write this book was influenced by a 2008

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper, titled, "Are we in the midst of the sixth mass extinction? A view from the world of amphibians". Subsequently, Kolbert wrote an article for The New Yorker, titled (similarly to her eventual book), "The Sixth Extinction?"[14]
Researching this article involved amphibian hunting in Panama. She then realized, "I hadn't scratched the surface, that there was a book there."[7][15]

Summary of chapters

Chapter 1: The Sixth Extinction

The ancestors of

alleles
for their environment.

Chapter 2: The Mastodon's Molars

Kolbert explains how fossils of the American

phenotypes that should have increased its chances of survival. Cuvier concluded there must have been sudden and violent natural catastrophes that caused mass extinctions of viable species.[18] Kolbert uses the mastodon as a symbol for the idea that catastrophe
is an important mechanism of extinction.

Chapter 3: The Original Penguin

The great auk was a large flightless bird that lived in the Northern Hemisphere. It had a large, intricately grooved beak. When the first settlers arrived in Iceland, the auk population was probably in the millions. However, the settlers found the auks to be “very good and nourishing meat.” They also used their oily bodies for fuel and fish bait, and their feathers for stuffing mattresses.[19] Despite attempts at protecting the species, by 1844, the last auks were killed. Kolbert uses the great auk as a symbol of how human overexploitation of resources is another important mechanism of extinction.

Chapter 4: The Luck of the Ammonites

Kolbert explains that the main cause of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event was not the impact of the asteroid itself. It was the dust created by the impact. The debris from the impact incinerated anything in its path.[20] She states that it is impossible to estimate the full extent of the various species that died out due to this catastrophe. However, one class of animals we know did die out because of the effects of the asteroid's impact, are the ammonites. Kolbert explains that, even though ammonites were 'fit' for their current environment, a single moment can completely change which traits are advantageous and which are lethal.[21]

Chapter 5: Welcome to the Anthropocene

Kolbert uses the extinction of

primary producers of the oceans' coastal waters and changed the composition of the atmosphere by deforestation and fossil fuel combustion.[23]

Chapter 6: The Sea Around Us

Since the beginning of the

Castello Aragonese as a warning sign of what is to come if we continue to increase carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere.[25]

Chapter 7: Dropping Acid

Coral reefs support thousands of species by providing food and protection. Subsequently, many species have co-evolved with corals. Due to ocean acidification, corals may become extinct by the end of the century. Before the Industrial Revolution, underwater reefs had an aragonite saturation state between 4 and 5. However, if current emission intensities remain as they are today, by 2060, there will no longer be a region above 3.5. This will lead to an increase in the energy needed for calcification.[26]
This extra energy that will eventually be expended on calcification is currently vital to corals, as they use it to recover from being eaten away by marine species and battered by waves. Thus, ocean acidification is a mechanism of extinction.

Chapter 8: The Forest and the Trees

trees and other plant species. Even more difficult to estimate is the extent to which ecological communities of species will be able to tolerate disruptive changes.[28]

Chapter 9: Islands on Dry Land

Kolbert points out how everything in life is interconnected, and discusses the importance of patch dynamics. Over time, the fragmentation of environmental areas leads to a decrease in the number of species in an area. This occurs, in part, because the size of such "islands" is too small to support a stable number of species members. Also, smaller populations are more vulnerable to these changing events. In addition, the disconnection of islands makes it more difficult for species to reach and recolonize them. One researcher describes this as "an obstacle course for the dispersal of biodiversity."[29]: 189  Kolbert also notes that the habits of many species can be highly specialized to their environment. She explains that one minor change can cause a domino effect in various ecological systems.[30][31][32]

Chapter 10: The New Pangaea

Kolbert points out that there is an

Cryphonectria parasitica) started to cause chestnut blight. It was nearly 100 percent lethal. This fungus was unintentionally imported to the US by humans.[34] Kolbert then explains that global trade and travel are creating a virtual "Pangaea
", in which species of all kinds are being redistributed beyond historical geographic barriers. This furthers the first chapter's idea that invasive species are a mechanism of extinction.

Chapter 11: The Rhino Gets an Ultrasound

The

agricultural pest. However, as Southeast Asia's forests were cut down, the rhino's habitat became fragmented. In the 1900s, the rhino population had shrunk to just a few hundred. A captive breeding program was widely regarded as a failure and resulted in the deaths of several rhinos, and it was decades before a single baby was born. Today, there are only one hundred living Sumatran rhinos.[35] Kolbert uses this rhino species to illustrate habitat fragmentation
as another mechanism of extinction.

Chapter 12: The Madness Gene

Europe was home to the

molecular sequencing, scientists have found that there is one to four percent Neanderthal DNA in all non-African humans. This indicates that humans and Neanderthals interbred, and the resulting hybrids reproduced. The pattern continued until Neanderthals were literally bred out.[37]
Kolbert states there is every reason to believe that Neanderthals would still exist if it weren't for Homo sapiens.

Chapter 13: The Things with Feathers

Kolbert concludes with hope in humanity, pointing to various efforts to conserve or preserve species. Whether meaning to or not, we are deciding which evolutionary pathways will be shut off forever, and which can be left open to flourish.

Sources

Some sources for the book include The Song of the Dodo by

ecologist, atmospheric scientist Ken Caldeira, wildlife and conservation experts, a modern-day geologist, and fungus researchers in New England and New York State.[4][6]

Awards and honors

Bill Gates named the book to his 2014 Summer Reading List.[42]

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2015-General-Nonfiction Pulitzer citation
  2. ^ a b c Gore, Al (vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001) (February 10, 2014). "Without a Trace. 'The Sixth Extinction,' by Elizabeth Kolbert". New York Times Sunday Book Review. New York City. Retrieved July 10, 2014.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^
    New York Magazine. New York City: New York Media. Archived from the original
    on February 11, 2019. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  4. ^ a b c d Kakutani, Michiko (February 2, 2014). "Cataclysm Has Arrived: Man's Inhumanity to Nature". The New York Times. New York City. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  5. ^ a b Hannibal, Mary Ellen (February 9, 2014). "Sixth Extinction". HuffPost. New York.
  6. ^ a b c Darwall, Rupert (February 14, 2014). "Book Review: 'The Sixth Extinction' by Elizabeth Kolbert". The Wall Street Journal. New York: Dow Jones & Company. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  7. ^ a b Anthony, Andrew (March 3, 2014). "Elizabeth Kolbert: 'The whole world is becoming a kind of zoo'".
    Guardian News and Media Limited
    . Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  8. ^ "Elizabeth Kolbert". Henry Holt & Co. Retrieved February 13, 2014.
  9. ^ Dreifus, Claudia (February 10, 2014). "Chasing the Biggest Story on Earth". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 3, 2014. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  10. ^ "In The World's 'Sixth Extinction,' Are Humans The Asteroid?". NPR. February 12, 2014. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  11. ^ "Elizabeth Kolbert". The Daily Show. Season 19. Episode 62. February 11, 2014. Comedy Central.
  12. ^ CBS This Morning. CBS News. February 9, 2014.[dead link]
  13. ^ "The Earth's 'Sixth Extinction' May Be One Of Our Own Making". NPR. February 11, 2014. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  14. ^ Kolbert, Elizabeth (May 25, 2009). "The Sixth Extinction?". The New Yorker. New York City: Condé Nast. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  15. PMID 18695221
    . PNAS
  16. S2CID 39250988. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on June 7, 2019. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  17. ^ Johnson, Paul. "Amphibian Chytrid Fungus". US Department of the Interior. National Park Service. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
  18. ^ Cuvier, Georges. "Elegy of Lamarck". Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal. 20: 1–22.
  19. ISBN 978-0198564782
    .
  20. ISBN 978-1-4051-6067-4
    .
  21. ISBN 978-0199214983
    .
  22. ISBN 978-0199214983
    .
  23. ^ Zalewicz, Jan (2008). "Are We Now Living in the Anthropocene?". GSA Today (18): 6.
  24. ^ Sabine, Chris. "PMEL CO2". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. Retrieved April 28, 2014.
  25. ^ Kolbert, Elizabeth (April 2011). "The Acid Sea". National Geographic Magazine. National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on January 29, 2019. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  26. doi:10.1038/nclimate1122
    .
  27. ISBN 978-1597261975
    .
  28. S2CID 21634733
    .
  29. ISBN 9780805092998
    .
  30. ISBN 978-0300084832
    .
  31. ^ Wright, Emma (December 9, 2010). "Army Ant Camp Followers". Conservation: The Environment and Food Security. Retrieved April 29, 2014.
  32. doi:10.1890/070062
    .
  33. S2CID 20838840
    .
  34. ^ Rellou, Julia. "Chestnut Blight Fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica)". Introduces Species Project. Retrieved April 28, 2014.
  35. ^ Welz, Adam (November 27, 2012). "The Dirty War Against Africa's Remaining Rhinos". Yale University Press.
  36. S2CID 87796857
    .
  37. ^ Alroy, John (1999). Putting North America's End Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinction in Context. New York: Kluwer Acdamix/Plenum. p. 138.
  38. ^ "National Book Critics Circle Announces Finalists for Publishing Year 2014". National Book Critics Circle. January 19, 2015. Archived from the original on January 22, 2015. Retrieved January 29, 2015.
  39. ^ "Library Journal's Best Books of 2014". lj.libraryjournal.com. Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved December 4, 2016.
  40. ^ "Previous Winners". massbook.org. Massachusetts Center for the Book. Retrieved April 4, 2019.
  41. ^ "The 2015 Pulitzer Prize Winners: General Nonfiction". pulitzer.org. For a distinguished and appropriately documented book of nonfiction by an American author that is not eligible for consideration in any other category, Ten thousand dollars ($10,000). Awarded to "The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History," by Elizabeth Kolbert (Henry Holt), an exploration of nature that forces readers to consider the threat posed by human behavior to a world of astonishing diversity.
  42. ^ Gates, Bill (July 13, 2014). "6 books I'd recommend". Gates Notes. Retrieved October 8, 2020.

External links

External links below:

Kolbert

Miscellaneous


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