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Take, for example, the so-called escalator to extinction, a phenomenon as sad as it is insidious. Like all land-dwelling species, temperature and humidity patterns change with altitude. On a warming planet, these animals and plants, which have adapted to certain altitudes, are forced to ascend to higher altitudes until they reach the top and disappear with nowhere to go. Studies have documented this effect on birds, moths and tree seedlings, and it seems likely that other life forms, including mammals, reptiles and amphibians, are vulnerable to this uphill migration towards extinction. With 25 percent to 85 percent of the world’s species currently in the process of relocating, we wonder if the hottest regions on Earth will turn into barren lands devoid of any life, such as the “dead zone” that covers a place in the Gulf of Mexico. approximately 7,000 square miles.
Despite the seriousness of its subject, this is not a depressing book. An award-winning biologist and author whose previous work has focused on bees, feathers, seeds and gorillas, Hanson is a friendly guide and storyteller with a knack for analogy, a sense of humor and the natural curiosity of a scientist. In an intense chemistry class using a jar of pickles and a lit match, he and his son Noah conduct an experiment to demonstrate the power of carbon dioxide. In another case, he takes his ax to a dead pine in his garden to discover if his tree has been attacked by destructive borer beetles.
Elsewhere, Hanson outlines the ubiquity of carbon dioxide, its gradual underground conversion to fossil fuels (oil, coal, natural gas) and its much faster release into ecosystems when we burn it. Ocean acidification erodes and weakens the protective shells of tiny mollusks vital to marine food ecosystems, leading to sensory confusion for fish that rely on water chemistry to mate, eat, find homes and avoid predators. When coral reefs decline, this reduces not only food but also the reef inhabitants.
In this deteriorating world, some evolutionary agility is required to prevent a species from sometimes literally losing control over life. An experiment with Anole geckos demonstrates rapid natural selection, favoring feet and toes that can better hold onto branches and branches during severe storms. The tiny reptiles cling to a stick while being subjected to close-range blasts from a leaf blower. I don’t think the Anoles are subject to near hurricane-force winds (never mind the noise!), but I was pleased to see them all make it back to the wild unharmed.
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