Silent Summer
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It is inevitable that the title will draw people to Carson’s Silent Spring and for good reason. Declines in UK wildlife have been catalogued for many years and for many, a crisis point has been reached. Part of the problem, of course, is that a slow decline (fewer numbers one year, one species less another) is hardly headline material even for ecologists and the data need to be gathered for many years to point to a trend. What we see now, according to this book, is a definite trend and one we need to be concerned about. Part of the issue is not decline is specific species but a general malaise in the overall functioning of ecosystems and trophic webs.
This is a book divided into three parts examining, in turn, the drivers of change, our current reactions, and the evidence for a wide range of species. We should start at the beginning, with drivers (part 1) but that misses a short but apposite forward by David Attenborough. He argues, rightly, that the British Isles have always been subject to change not just environmental but human. The need now is not to resist that change but to find out where we start from and where change might head. With these goals in mind we can now move to the drivers. They are indeed a mixed crew. This is not just to show the diversity of the drivers themselves but also to acknowledge the range of experts from which this book is drawn. There are the ‘usual suspects’: climate change (with its key impacts on phenology), land use (the rise of farming on ‘improved’ lands) urbanisation and the rise of invasive species which are all well catalogued. There are others whose impact might be seen as marginal or even, in a way, beneficial. In the former we can group recreational fishing where action by anglers has helped improve river quality but where also artificial stocking which skews river ecology. In the latter we see field sports where the controversies of fox hunting can, to some extent, be balanced by the landscape management needed and where reared fowl are released while wildfowl increase under the same aegis of shooters! One chapter worth noting is by Maclean where he considers the 25most significant questions for wildlife ecology and conservation. It’s diverse and certainly non-trivial list which gets to the heart of modern ideas on wildlife (and not just in the UK). From the drivers we move to the current situation where part two has three brief chapters looking at current developments in UK, UK overseas and international, UK-aided conservation efforts. It might have been more helpful to have a fuller picture here, but this material is hardly difficult to source elsewhere.
Finally, part three looks at individual case histories. This is by far the largest section of the book and the range chosen is considerable. There is no major group that is not mentioned. Scales and examples might change but there is a consistent message – wildlife populations are under pressure and major alterations in ecology appear inevitable. What might surprise some, especially if Carson’s book is recalled at this point, is that the tone is not one of loss but of change. As habitats and climate changes so some species will ‘win’ and others, ‘lose’. The importance for ecology then is to see to what extent this impacts upon ecosystem functioning and ecosystem health.
Overall, this is an excellent text. The range of concepts and species covered gives it a complete air of authority. It succeeds in its basic aim of being a baseline study sounding a clear message without being alarmist (although there is clearly every reason to be so!). It should be required reading in all conservation courses but would equally be an invaluable addition to the school library.
