The Last Extinction: 2nd Edition

509 Pages·1993·4.2 MB·English

by  Les Kaufman

title: The Last Extinction
author: Kaufman, Les.; Mallory, Kenneth.
publisher: MIT Press
isbn10 | asin: 0262610892
print isbn13: 9780262610896
ebook isbn13: 9780585351810
language: English
Biological diversity conservation,
subject Extinction (Biology) , Nature--Effect of
human beings on, Nature conservation.
publication date: 1993
lcc: QH75.L36 1993eb
ddc: 333.95
Biological diversity conservation,
subject: Extinction (Biology) , Nature--Effect of
human beings on, Nature conservation.
Page iii
The Last Extinction
Second Edition
Edited by Les Kaufman and Kenneth Mallory
Published in association with the New England Aquarium
© 1986, 1993 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any
electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or
information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the
publisher.
This book was printed and bound in the United States of America.
The Last extinction / edited by Les Kaufman and Kenneth Mallory.2nd ed.
p. cm.
"Grew out of a public lecture series entitled 'Extinction: saving the sinking ark,'
held in Boston, Massachusetts, at the New England Aquarium during the fall of
1984"Pref.
"Published in association with the New England Aquarium."
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN (invalid) 0-262-11179-1 (HC).ISBN 0-262-61089-2 (pbk.)
1. Biological diversity conservation. 2. Extinction (Biology) 3. ManInfluence on
nature. 4. Nature conservation. I. Kaufman, Les. II. Mallory, Kenneth. III. New
England Aquarium Corporation.
QH75.L36 1993
333.95dc20 93-12575
CIP
Page v
Contents
Preface vii
Preface to the First Edition ix
1 1
Why the Ark Is Sinking
Les Kaufman
2 47
Mass Extinctions: New Answers, New Questions
David Jablonski
3 69
The Amazon: Paradise Lost?
Ghillean T. Prance
4 115
Vanishing Species in Our Own Backyard: Extinct Fish
and Wildlife of the United States and Canada
James D. Williams and Ronald M. Nowak
5 149
Riders of the Last Ark: The Role of Captive Breeding in
Conservation Strategies
Thomas J. Foose
6 179
Sharing the Earth with Whales
Norman Myers
7 195
Life in the Next Millennium: Who Will Be Left in Earth's
Community?
David Ehrenfeld
Beyond the Last Extinction: Environmental Organizations 215
for Biodiversity
Contributors 225
Index 227
Page vii
Preface
As you will read from the appendixes to the chapters of the original
edition of this book, this second edition of The Last Extinction reflects
the many changes that have occurred over a period of seven years. On
the downside, the three remaining and captive dusky seaside sparrows
chronicled in the Williams and Nowak 1986 chapter "Vanishing
Species in Our Own Backyard" are sadly no more. On December 12,
1990, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared the dusky seaside
sparrow officially extinct, a victim of politics and neglect. If we
include the continued destruction of the world's rain forests, the
demise of the dusky is just one of tens of thousands of extinction
stories that have occurred in the past seven years.
On the plus side, there is a new and stronger global awareness of the
issues the first edition of this book took pains to address: the ongoing
reality of mass extinction, destruction of biological diversity caused
by the Earth's ultimate predator, Homo sapiens. As this book goes to
press, newly elected Vice President Al Gore is sharing his call for
environmental advocacy in a book that is the fastest selling hardcover
environmental book of all time, with its first year sales of 250,000
copies outpacing previous best first year sales (Rachel Carson's The
Silent Spring) by 150,000 copies. In The Diversity of Life, Harvard
University's Edward O. Wilson has presented the options he sees for
our planet in his most impassioned and clearly reasoned argument yet.
The positive side of environmental awareness isn't confined to paper
and pen (computer screen and kilobyte). Here in New England one of
the North Atlantic coast's richest mines of biological diversity,
Stellwagen Bank, is now a national marine sanctuary. The Belize
barrier coral reef is the recent recipient of support from the World
Bank, the United Nations Development Program, and the United
Nations Environment Program to create a similar sanctuary off the
coast of Central America. The black-footed ferret of America's Great
Plains, poised on extinction, has now recovered
Page viii
through captive breeding to a point where they have been reintroduced
to the wild (see the appendix to chapter 5).
The New England Aquarium, organizer of the first and second
editions of this book, has changed, too. We are in the middle of plans
to expand and diversify our aquarium with spectacular new building
additions for our present site on Boston Harbor's Central Wharf. The
driving force behind our plans is a newly crafted mission "to increase
understanding of aquatic life and environments, to enable people to
act to conserve the world of water, and to provide leadership for the
preservation and sustainable use of aquatic resources."
The world's aquariums offer a real hope for being a force in
preserving aquatic diversity, but it's a new idea and a difficult
challenge for museums that have traditionally focused on family
entertainment and passive education. One of the greatest contributions
we can make to conservation may be to make our collections centers
for research, just as preservation was the goal of museums in the past.
Institutions such as the Columbus, New York, Indianapolis, and
Chicago aquariums have already played a major role with captive
breeding programs and conservation efforts in the field. Many new
institutions such as the Tennessee State Aquarium in Chattanooga and
the Osaka Aquarium in Japan were designed with strong conservation
roles in mind. The ultimate contributions of so many of these
institutions are yet to be realized.
In addition to the new cover photo of the North Atlantic right whale,
the most endangered whale in the ocean today, this second edition
contains a new chapter called "Sharing the Earth with Whales," by
environmental writer and consultant Norman Myers. Dr. Myers's
timely chapter addresses the critical issue facing biodiversity as we
approach the twenty-first centuryhabitat destruction, which for whales
involves over 70 percent of the Earth. The changes in the Amazon are
reflected by new information added as paragraphs and updates
throughout Ghillean Prance's chapter "The Amazon: Paradise Lost?"
while the other four authors add new perspectives with chapter ending
appendixes. Only David Ehrenfeld's essay remains as it was in the
first edition, standing as it does as a timeless and eloquent plea for
environmental stewardship. The final section of the book offers an
updated list of the many organizations devoted to protection of the
Earth.
Page ix
Preface to the First Edition
This book grew out of a public lecture series entitled "Extinction:
Saving the Sinking Ark," held in Boston, Massachusetts, at the New
England Aquarium during the fall of 1984. Our hope for the series and
for this book is to awaken the general public to the issues underlying
the notion that we must prevent a "last extinction." Beyond ringing an
alarm, we hope that you will realize that a mass extinction is in
progress but that it can be postponed indefinitely; that doing so will
require a rearrangement of your priorities; and that your decisions will
affect the face of this Earth, including the economic and spiritual
welfare of your children. This book is to help you make your own
decisions now.
Many people know that we are rapidly losing the diversity of life on
Earth, but they are not doing anything about it, either because the idea
is only an abstraction or because they think that the problem is too
vast for individuals to have any effect. For these people we offer a bit
of bumper-sticker wisdom, revealed to us in a traffic jam: "Think
Globally, Act Locally." This book is an attempt to bring extinction
down to earth, to help you understand what it is, and what it isn't, so
you can help to reverse it.
There are several new books about extinction with more on the way,
but this one differs from those of our colleagues. As employees of a
major public aquarium that hosts about one million visitors a year, we
have heard some pretty strange interpretations of what evolution and
extinction are about. We are hoping to clarify a few of these
misconceptions. We have noticed a polarity in the way that our
visitors perceive scientists: some think of them as all-knowing gods,
whereas others think they are a bunch of wafflers. For these people we
have tried to make clear distinctions between the certainties and