What Is Natural?: Coral Reef Crisis

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During the late 1960s and 1970s, massive herds of poisonous crown-of-thorns starfish suddenly began to infest coral reef communities around the world, leaving in their wake devastation comparable to a burnt-out rainforest. In What is Natural?, Jan Sapp both examines this ecological catastrophe and captures the intense debate among scientists about what caused the crisis, and how it should be handled.The crown-of-thorns story takes readers on tropical expeditions around the world, and into both marine laboratories and government committees, where scientists rigorously search for answers to the many profound questions surrounding this event. Were these fierce starfish outbreaks the kind of manmade disaster heralded by such environmentalists as Rachel Carson in Silent Spring? Indeed, discussions of the cause of the starfish plagues have involved virtually every environmental issue of our timeover-fishing, pesticide use, atomic testing, rain forest depletion, and over-population, but many marine biologists maintain that the epidemic is a natural feature of coral-reef life, an ecological "balance of nature" that should not to be tampered with until we know the scientific truth of the crisis. But should we search for the scientific truth before taking action? And what if an environmental emergency cannot wait for a rigorous scientific search for "the truth?"The starfish plagues are arguably one of most mysterious ecological phenomena of this century. Through the window of this singular event, What is Natural lucidly illustrates the complexity of environmental issues while probing the most fundamental questions about the relationship between man and nature.

Hardcover: 304 pages

Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (January 21, 1999)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0195123646

ISBN-13: 978-0195123647

Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1 x 9.3 inches

Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #2,341,093 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #55 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Ecosystems > Coral Reefs #896 in Books > Science & Math > Biological Sciences > Biology > Marine Biology #1116 in Books > Science & Math > Biological Sciences > Animals > Marine Life

As a wedge in the reflection of our coral reef management policy, crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks attracted people's attention on our deteriorating reef environments. With the concern of biodiversity conservation, Jan Sapp included and organized documents of scientific studies and political events to examine the proposed reasons of starfish plagues and its influence on global reef management. For those who are interested in coral reef biology and environmental management, this easy-read book provides good amount of reef ecology knowledge, also reveals a good case to understand how on-land decision makers determine the fate of underwater world.

Wow! Great read. Ultimately, the topics Sapp goes after are deep and not easily answered. Nor should they be. (Yeah! Publishers Weekly Review!) Surely the book is about Crown-of-thorns-Starfish and their impact on the coral reef. Yet science doesn't happen in vacuum, and this book is as much about how scientists interact with society-at-large, as it is about starfish. At time when less that half of americans "believe in evolution" and much much more sadly even fewer understand what evolution even is, books like this can help explain how the conversations between scientists and the public should probably go.

The book is good so far, I needed it for class and its a nice read. It teaches a lot in a relaxed way

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