What Is Natural Coral Reef Crisis [Hardcover]

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. InWhat 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 inSilent 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 Naturallucidly illustrates the complexity of environmental issues while probing the most fundamental questions about the relationship between man and nature.


Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Green Island
2. Guam, 1968-1969
3. The War of the Worlds
4. Under Capricorn
5. Crown-of-thorns Inquisition
6. A Tree Fell in the Forest ...
7. Knowledge and Action
8. Oceans Apart
9. Remote Control
10. Complexil£ã