Demons in Eden: The Paradox of Plant DiversityAt the heart of evolution lies a bewildering paradox. Natural selection favors above all the individual that leaves the most offspring—a superorganism of sorts that Jonathan Silvertown here calls the "Darwinian demon." But if such a demon existed, this highly successful organism would populate the entire world with its own kind, beating out other species and eventually extinguishing biodiversity as we know it. Why then, if evolution favors this demon, is the world filled with so many different life forms? What keeps this Darwinian demon in check? If humankind is now the greatest threat to biodiversity on the planet, have we become the Darwinian demon? Demons in Eden considers these questions using the latest scientific discoveries from the plant world. Readers join Silvertown as he explores the astonishing diversity of plant life in regions as spectacular as the verdant climes of Japan, the lush grounds of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, the shallow wetlands and teeming freshwaters of Florida, the tropical rainforests of southeast Mexico, and the Canary Islands archipelago, whose evolutionary novelties—and exotic plant life—have earned it the sobriquet "the Galapagos of botany." Along the way, Silvertown looks closely at the evolution of plant diversity in these locales and explains why such variety persists in light of ecological patterns and evolutionary processes. In novel and useful ways, he also investigates the current state of plant diversity on the planet to show the ever-challenging threats posed by invasive species and humans. Bringing the secret life of plants into more colorful and vivid focus than ever before, Demons in Eden is an empathic and impassioned exploration of modern plant ecology that unlocks evolutionary mysteries of the natural world. |
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Contents
| 1 | |
2 The Tree of Trees | 14 |
3 Succulent Isles | 28 |
4 Demon Mountain | 43 |
5 The Panama Paradox | 59 |
6 Nix Nitch | 76 |
7 Liebigs Revenge | 90 |
8 Florida | 102 |
9 New Demons? | 118 |
10 The End of Eden? | 133 |
Scientific Names of Plants Mentioned in the Text | 149 |
Sources and Further Reading | 153 |
Index | 165 |
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Common terms and phrases
adaptive radiation agriculture alien plants American Argyranthemum bamboo biodiversity botanical branches Brazilian pepper Canary Islands canola canopy chalk grassland chapter clade coexist colonization competition Darwin Darwinian demon desert dispersal ecologist Ecology ecosystem endemic Erasmus Darwin Everglades evolution evolutionary evolved extinct fertilizer fir waves flora Florida flowering plants Fuerteventura garden genes genetic genus GM crops grow growth hectare herbicide herbivores hundred hybrid insects invade invasive Janzen Jaraguá Joseph Hooker leaves Liebig living look Macaronesia meadow meters million molecular Mount Shimagare mountain native natural enemies natural habitats natural selection Nitch nitrogen Nutches nutrients olive paperbark Park Grass phylogeny pine plant communities plant diversity plant species pollen ponticum populations problem produce purple loosestrife rare rbcL Rothamsted Sasa seedlings seeds sequences soil spread stems Steve Hubbell survive Tenerife thousand tion trade-off transgenes tree of trees tropical forest vegetation weeds Whiteface Mountain wild
Popular passages
Page 38 - The solution, as I believe, is that the modified offspring of all dominant and increasing forms tend to become adapted to many and highly diversified places in the economy of nature.
Page 14 - As buds give rise by growth to fresh buds, and these, if vigorous, branch out and overtop on all sides many a feebler branch, so by generation I believe it has been with the great Tree of Life, which fills with its dead and broken branches the crust of the earth, and covers the surface with its ever-branching and beautiful ramifications.
Page 9 - I should premise that I use the term Struggle for Existence in a large and metaphorical sense, including dependence of one being on another, and including (which is more important) not only the life of the individual, but success in leaving progeny.
Page 8 - There is no exception to the rule that every organic being naturally increases at so high a rate that, if not destroyed, the earth would soon be covered by the progeny of a single pair.
Page 9 - Even slowbreeding man has doubled in twenty-five years ; and at this rate, in a few thousand years, there would literally not be standing-room for his progeny. Linnaeus has calculated that if an annual plant produced only two seeds — and there is no plant so unproductive as this — and their seedlings next year produced two, and so on, then, in twenty years there would be a million plants.
Page 7 - At last gleams of light have come, and I am almost convinced (quite contrary to the opinion I started with) that species are not (it is like confessing a murder) immutable.
Page 9 - Yes ! smiling Flora drives her armed car Through the thick ranks of vegetable war ; Herb, shrub, and tree with strong emotions rise For light and air, and battle in the skies ; Whose roots diverging with opposing toil Contend below for moisture and for soil...
Page 76 - HE rises and begins to round, He drops the silver chain of sound Of many links without a break, In chirrup, whistle, slur and shake...
Page 9 - ... parts of the world. If the statements of the rate of increase of slow-breeding cattle and horses in South America, and latterly in Australia, had not been well authenticated, they would have been incredible. So it is with plants : cases could be given of introduced plants which have become common throughout whole islands in a period of less than ten years.
References to this book
In the Beat of a Heart: Life, Energy, and the Unity of Nature John Whitfield No preview available - 2006 |
Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens Douglas W. Tallamy No preview available - 2007 |