Chapter 10 (Kwasi Obeng-Dankwa)

Chapter 10 brings us very close to home, by putting us in Albany, New York. This is where a team of biologists was supposed to do a routine bat census. However, when they got there, they realized that many of the bats were dead and covered in a white powdery substance. They returned the following year to experience results. It was found out that a fungus called Geomyces destructans which was accidentally imported to the U.S from Europe was the cause for the death of the bats. The issue of invasive species and the transport of species are pointed out in this chapter. Humans are to blame for the transfer of species to totally new countries and ecosystem. Some examples include the brown tree snake to Guam from Australia. This led to it eating two species of mammals in Guam. The movement of species of animals from their original habitats to new areas has been dubbed the "New Pangea." This has led to invasive species decreasing biodiversity as they take over the new areas they are introduced to.

This chapter made me realize just how many times the work of Charles Darwin is referred back to. In the past few chapters, Kolbert has found a way to infuse Charles Darwin's studies into it. For example, in this chapter, his name was brought up when talking about the dying off of the bats and in previous chapters when a new idea or understanding was presented, the views of Charles Darwin weighed in on it. This makes me wonder if Kolbert has a liking to the thinking of Charles Darwin or his work. Regardless, Darwin's name has found a way to be in a lot of the chapters and somehow always connects to what is being discussed. This chapter especially connected with the theme of: Humans alter natural systems. This is because of the constant talk about invasive species throughout the chapter. For instance, it states "Before human arrived on the scene, many whole categories of organisms were missing from Hawaii; these included not only rodents but also amphibians, terrestrial reptiles, and ungulates(212)." This easily shows the great impact of humans and us altering natural systems. We practically created a whole new system in Hawaii just by bringing various species onto the island when they didn't belong in the first place. The introduction of these new species led to the death of original species living in Hawaii such as land snails, species of birds, ferns, and flowering plants. Not only did we alter the natural system in this place, we almost made it new.

A picture of a brown bat with white-nose syndrome