Life Out of Bounds: Bioinvasion in a Borderless World

Bioinvasion, or ""the spread of exotics"" as Bright terms it, causes both economic and ecological disasters. According to Bright, a research associate at Worldwatch, islands showcase the most dramatic effects of bioinvasion. Hawaii is ""the extinction capital of the United States,"" a place whose unusually rich biota is becoming extinct at a rapid rate. That state's endemic species are now overrun by imported exotics: rats, owls, myna birds, mosquitoes, ants, pigs and goats. But not only islands are ravaged by bioinvasion. Conservative estimates, Bright says, place worldwide extinctions at ""4,000 species a year, or about 11 per day."" In his final chapter, ""Remedies,"" Bright contends that we can exercise control over bioinvasion through more accessible information, treaties, laws and biotechnical efforts developed in labs (such as rendering a ship's bilge water free of organisms before dumping it). He stresses one remedy in particular--an ecologically literate society: ""The only real hope against invasion is a public that values the creatures that belong where they are."" Readers may find themselves alternately amazed and depressed by this thoroughly researched volume, an entry in the Worldwatch Environmental series. (Dec.)