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Beneath us lies what Science magazine recently called the true
'final frontier.' A growing array of scientists is exploring life
in soils and sediments, uncovering a living world literally alien
to our own senses - and yet one whose integrity turns out to be
crucial to life above ground.
The human love of novelty and desire to make one place look like
another, coupled with massive increases in global trade and
transport, are creating a growing economic and ecological threat.
The same forces that are rapidly "McDonaldizing" the world's
diverse cultures are also driving us toward an era of monotonous,
weedy, and uniformly impoverished landscapes. Unique plant and
animal communities are slowly succumbing to the world's "rats and
rubbervines" -- animals like zebra mussels and feral pigs, and
plants like kudzu and water hyacinth -- that, once moved into new
territory, can disrupt human enterprise and well-being as well as
native habitats and biodiversity.From songbird-eating snakes in
Guam to cheatgrass in the Great Plains, "invasives" are wreaking
havoc around the world. In "A Plague of Rats and Rubbervines,"
widely published science writer Yvonne Baskin draws on extensive
research to provide an engaging and authoritative overview of the
problem of harmful invasive alien species. She takes the reader on
a worldwide tour of grasslands, gardens, waterways, and forests,
describing the troubles caused by exotic organisms that run amok in
new settings and examining how commerce and travel on an
increasingly connected planet are exacerbating this oldest of
human-created problems. She offers examples of potential solutions
and profiles dedicated individuals worldwide who are working
tirelessly to protect the places and creatures they love.While our
attention is quick to focus on purposeful attempts to disrupt our
lives and economies by releasing harmful biological agents, we
often ignore equally serious but much more insidious threats, those
that we inadvertently cause by our ownseemingly harmless actions.
"A Plague of Rats and Rubbervines" takes a compelling look at this
underappreciated problem and sets forth positive suggestions for
what we as consumers, gardeners, travelers, nurserymen, fishermen,
pet owners, business people -- indeed all of us who by our very
local choices drive global commerce -- can do to help."
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