October 2004

This month's book is "Tinkering with Eden: A Natural History of Exotics in America," by Kim Todd. This book talks about how European introduction of species (pigeons, rats, etc) affected native living things in North America. Her book is progressive, starting with the initial introductions, change through history, and recent studies and efforts to reconcile the problems. The title will appeal to anyone interested in environmental science, or ecology, and Todd has a decent prose that makes the book a quick and easy read. Her first section is "Initial Forays."

Initial Forays

The Pigeon's Progress

The chapters in this section start off with a little bit of a history lesson, as Todd recounts the first introduction of a particular species into the Americas. This first chapter deals with a very familiar animal, the pigeon. There are loads of varieties of pigeons, ranging from country life to city life. They have been used by humans, as messengers, pets, even food. They didn't belong to North America, though; they were brought here, likely by the French, as Todd recounts. Along with our domesticated animals like cats and dogs, pigeons are probably one of the most adapted animals to living side-by-side with us. You probably can't think of any city in the world without them. Other than being a pervasive part of Western culture, and travelling along with the Europeans to North America, there isn't much impact by them on the environment, or at least not as described by Todd in this chapter. With this relative low-impact on the ecology and the environment, the pigeon, while an introduced species, makes an easy book-opener.

The Land of Milk and Honey

Since the first colonies, America has been considered as the Land of Opportunity, or as the title of this chapter suggests, Land of Milk and Honey. Here was a new land to live as God intended, but living here was harsh. Perhaps there is some irony, then, in that honeybees were brought here from Europe. North America had its own bees (some 3500 species), but none were domesticated. The European bees, Apis mellifera, edged out many native species, ekeing out a living in areas near their human cohorts. This has had some affect on the native species, but it seems that there is a slight decrease in the European bees. Read further to see what Todd has to say about the future of the native bees in North America.

War Stories

This is an interesting chapter. It begins with the Revolutionary War, and deals with Hessian troops brought in by the British to help fight rowdy colonials. They brought their weapons, supplies, and possibly an insect called the Hessian Fly, or Mayetiola destructor. What makes this interesting is the history associated with it, in that it might not have been brought by the Hessians at all, seems to have reinfected Germany and Austria, and has records of existing prior to the Hessians arrival. Todd points out the connection to the plant it feeds on: wheat, which is itself an exotic species. These two species seem to have evolved with each other, and the fly seems to have followed wheat to exotic locales. We've now developed strains of wheat resistant to the HEssian Fly, but evolution being what it is, how long until the fly comes back?

Flight of the Mosquito

Few insects have had as much influence on humans as the mosquito. They harbor diseases, are hard to eradicate, and bug (pun intended) the heck out of almost everyone. When Hawaii was first discovered by Europeans, they discovered paradise on Earth. I doubt that their notion of paradise meant freedom from mosquitoes, but, Hawaii was indeed mosquito-free. Unfortunately, that didn't last long. In 1826, Hawaiians had their first exposure to mosquitoes, after already having experienced the disease and pestilence brought on by the Europeans. (Disease was common in places where Europeans went; Europeans were immune to things like smallpox, but still tended to be carriers of this disease and many others. This resulted in the death of countless indigenous peoples around the world.) That mosquitoes carry disease wasn't that much of an impact on the Hawaiians, who were already being affected by other diseases, but mosquitoes carry diseases that are harmful to other animals. Being an introduced species, also means that any new diseases mosquitoes arrived with were also introduced, which further meant that native species would have had no resistance to the new diseases. As a result, as Todd recounts, many species have been affected.

An Artificial Wedding

The wedding in the title refers to the joining of the Atlantic Ocean with Lake Erie, as a result of the completion of the Erie Canal. The importance of the canal is retold by Todd in her historical narrative, and it indeed is important, even today. Unfortunately, 19th century engineers didn't have the foresight (or the appropriate government agencies) to study the impact the marriage of waters would have on native species. Because they didn't introduced species (directly and indirectly) have invaded all of the Great Lakes, at least to some degree. This includes sea lampreys, which just found a new niche to exploit (thanks to our help) to zebra mussels, brought in from other parts of the world as part of the bilgewater on internationally traveling ships. This is the last chapter of this particular section, and probably the most extreme of the examples of pre-Victorian species introductions. Todd seems to have staggered these chapters by increasing impact as you read more, an interesting approach. Next comes what has been done since the mid-1800's.

Victorian Embellishments

Following Silk Threads

The Victorian Era in the U.S. was full of people making some kind of industrial success. Our country had joined the Industrial Revolution, and were making huge leaps in industry. Accompanied by industrial success was entreprenuership, the notion that anyone could make a fortune if they tried hard enough. One such person was Leopold Trouvelot, who tried his hand at making his fortune on silk production. He had imported the Gypsy Moth from Europe, with the intention of crossing it with native American silk-producing varieties. As the story goes, though, some of his Gypsy Moths had escaped, and from his home to Massachussetts, spread to much of the rest of the U.S. These moths feasted, devoured, and destroyed countless trees, and are still problems in some parts of the country. This chapter details the history of the Gypsy Moth in America.

Flush with Success

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions; I'd contend the way to the demise of native species is too. This is the story of Owen Denny, and his introduction of several species of pheasants from Asia into the Pacific Northwest. He had these pheasants protected from being hunted, and they spread throughout the countryside almost like an explosion. Farmers and other people were anxious to hunt them, because they were somewhat of a nuisance. These imported pheasants were also able to breed with native grouse, making hybrids and threatening the local native populations. Today, heasants can be found as far east as South Dakota, and they almost seem as much an American species as any other native species.

Trout Diplomacy

This is the story of the brown trout (Salmo trutta), brought to America by Fred Mather from his German correspondent Herr von Behr. Although there are a lot more exotic species mentioned in this article, the main focus is on the development of transporting exotic species from one place to another. Another aspect to this story is how frequently exotic species show up in new places, and where they're from originally. Transporting exotic marine organisms has been a big deal both in America and around the world.

The Bug Hunters

As more and more exotic plants were transported into the U.S., so did the the things that fed on them. Scales, aphids, and other nasty critters could ruin an exotic crop, and there was no end to people claiming to have found "magical" cure-alls to wipe them out. Not relying on magic, Benjamin Walsh, Charles Valentine Riley, and Albert Koebele, among others, sought a biological solution to a biological problem: find the predators of the pests. Afterfinally getting the government to approve transporting a predator of particular scale (Icerya purchasi) from its native Australia, Koebele returned to America with an excellent answer: Vedalia cardinalis (later renamed Rodolia cardinalis). Thus began the first battle of biological fire with fire.

Words on the Wing

According to Todd, Americans were in love with the arts at the turn of the century. Eugene Schieffelin was one of those so enamored by the arts; his passion was Shakespeare. It was his thought, as Todd tells us, that America needed the birds of Shakespeare. As a result, he introduced starlings into Central Park, and they've pretty much been "American" ever since.

Mission to the North

Caribou (Rangifer tarandus granti) and reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) are actually very close cousins, the major difference being the domestication of the latter. When it was thought that the Eskimoes of the Alaskan north were struggling, Sheldon Kackson thought that the easiest way to help would be to bring in reindeer for them, being that they were so closely related to the caribou, which in turn were useful to the Eskimoes. After finally raising enough money to transport reindeer to Alaska, the transplants did fairly well. Or, maybe too well. Nature has a nice way of keeping the balance of things, and both reindeer and caribou feed off of a special kind of lichen. Too many animals meant too much grazing, and the lichen didn't fare to well with that. This resulted in a case of supply and demand; too much demand, not enough supply, and animals died.

Here and Now

Improving the Olympics

The Olympics are a majestic mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of western Washington State. They are a large untouched, nearly pristine natural attraction, which, of course, draws in tourists by the droves. Before there was a national park, before really anyone knew of the Olympics at all, a man by the name of E. B. Webster noted that these alpine mountains lacked something almost uniquely alpine: mountain goats. The nearby Cascade mountain range had a population of them (Oreamos americanus), but the Olympics didn't. The introduction of the mountain "goat" (apparently its related to antelopes, not goats) has threatened many unique species of plants, because they can eat almost anything.

Tarzan in the Empire of Sunshine

This is the story of macaques in Florida. These monkeys were never part of a native population, and were brought to Florida as a tourist attraction in the 1930's. While not much is mentioned about their impact on other animals in the interior of Florida where they now live, Todd does talk about how monkeys can be found in the backyards of Floridians.

Swamp Riches

America in the early 20th Century was all about decadence, and one indulgence was some article of clothing made of rich, fine furs. Looking out for the next best fur, Edward Avery McIlhenny, of Tabasco™ fame tried his hand at raising the nutria, a South American rodent that looks kind of like a cross between a rat and a beaver. They have a soft pelt under their outer fur, and some people thought that their skin would make a nice profit for them in the fur trade. So, they bought nutrias, had them shipped to the States, raised them to a healthy stock for pelt harvest, and found out that that the demand for nutria wasn't what they had suspected. Eventually, the nutria became a nuisance to people living in Florida.

A Borderline Case

No one really seems to know how the monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus) made it out of cages and into city life, but they've been present in many cities since about the 1970's These birds, in contrast to many of the other species in this book, don't seem to have had an impact on other creatures; they live in our cities only. What is intriguing about these birds is that they are originally from tropical South America, and seem to do just fine during harsh Chicago winters.

A Fly in Every Seed Head, a Weevil in Every Root

This chapter is a return to the same kind of biological warfare first used by Albert Koebele to fight invasive weeds, in particular Spotted Knapweed. They have brought in quite a fewinsects that feed on the weed to various stages, but it has proven difficult, because these insects also like some native species. Fortunately, this is the safest method to get rid of nasty newcomers, and (in general) the method that has the least impact on the environment.

Narrow Miss

We've seen what kinds of things introduced species have done to America, but not all of them get a foothold here. That is the subject of this last chapter, and the failed introduction of the kangaroo to the American west. The roos were very succesfful at first, no doubt, but people soon realised that they were more pest than pet, and the roos were eventually exterminated.

Summary

It isn't hard to see that humans have had an impact on living things the world over. We've domesticated dogs, horses, cows, wheat, rice, and many other things that we would now be hard-pressed to survive without. Todd shows us a very intriguing way to see how else we've affected the world we live in. This book is an interesting read, and certainly not difficult to understand. Each chapter is presented as a story, not just a fact-filled, tasteless, bland story about what exotic species have done. I also get the feeling she's only scratched the surface, as if there is a lot more to talk about. I would be interested in seeing more about exotic species elsewhere, especially in colonial areas. This book isn't a must read, but I would definitely say it is a should read.