APES Book Report

Alex Knapp

The book, The Diversity of Life, is written in three sections that correlate to how diverse life

really is. The first section details the tendency for life to adapt to changing conditions and how

life always prevails. Wilson describes this by providing an example of the volcanic eruption that

occurred on Krakatau, an island in Indonesia in the 1800s. It decimated the landscape and the life

living there but as soon as months later, forms of life began to reinhabit the island. After this, the

book transitions into the mechanisms of how biodiversity arises. Evolution occurs in a species

causing one species two spilt into two distinct species. This same process occurs on each of the

new species and the succeeding generations which leads to the vast array of species and diversity

in life. The final section of the book discusses the human impacts on biodiversity and why that is

an issue. The book connected a wide variety of environmental themes that all related back to

biodiversity. Speciation and hybridization were some of the most prominent examples in the

book. Speciation is a necessary mechanism for biodiversity. One species is through time spilt

into two species, which is further split, creating many different species over time from the single

species. Another environmental theme mentioned in the book was the mechanism for speciation

evolution. Evolution was key upon a lot in the book because of how important it is in creating

such large biodiversity for an area. Evolution of natural selection is what allows speciation to

occur by selecting for certain traits in a species that best fit the environmental pressures. If two

groups of the same species are put under different pressures, with natural variation in the two

groups, it will with enough time and different pressures give rise to two distinct species that can

no longer interbreed. A small environmental topic mentioned in the book was the idea of island

biogeography. Its purpose for being in the book was to serve as an example of how biodiversity
can increase and decrease by a different factor other than human impact. Wilson’s claim is that

biodiversity is a key resource for humans that we are not only destroying, but also not using. The

author is writing from the point of view of someone who is deeply knowledgeable and cares

about nature. There is some an assumption that the reader knows some about environmental

issues because environmental jargon used in the book that someone with no background in

science or something pertaining to the environment may be unfamiliar with. The author dedicates

an entire chapter to provide evidence for the fact that humans are not using biodiversity to their

advantage. He provides a plethora of examples of different species of plants and animals that

have great benefits to humans that may not be possible if our biodiversity is low. Specifically, he

gives the example of the Zea diploperennis which is a species of maize. It is highly resistant to

diseases and could be used to genetically modify domestic corn to make a type of corn more

beneficial to humans. It almost was eradicated from human destruction and by fire. The example

illustrates well the idea that there could be unknown species that humans could use to benefit

themselves. The book and the author are both a credible source. E. O. Wilson is a

world-renowned scientist with a degree in biology from Harvard University. He has written 15

books about the environment. He also includes a list of credible references in the back of the

book that can be checked for credibility about facts and other information used in the book. One

of the most emphasized counterpoints presented in the book was what is the turning point for

when two groups of organisms that stemmed from the same species but have differences are no

longer the same species. E.O Wilson gave his definition as the one that is most accepted in that

species become distinct when they can no longer interbreed and create a viable offspring. The

counter-argument was that some species may only differ by a change in one gene. Although they

can not interbreed the small change was so minuscule that they should still be classified as the
same species. Wilson paints a big picture scene by breaking up the book into three sections. They

flow well together starting with the resilience of life, how life differentiates and creates

biodiversity, and finally why biodiversity is important, and how we are destroying it.

Much of the information in the book was not completely new to me. The middle section of the

book talked about how biodiversity arises and because I took AP biology last year, the

mechanisms of evolution and speciation were not a new concept for me. Some of the examples

presented in the book to illustrate a point were very interesting, but I did not find the beginning

of the book very interesting which caused me to drag through it a little., but I enjoyed the middle

and the ending. I agree with Wilson’s claim made in the book as it presented a new perspective to

me on why biodiversity is important. I had always thought of it as important solely because of

the ethics of who’s to say humans have the right to eradicate species if no though but themselves.

Wilson presented the idea that biodiversity is also important because many different species

could provide untapped potential that could lead to new human benefits. I would read something

by this author again, I thought the text was well written, and the book was organized in a way

that was easy to follow and supported his claim. The book didn’t change much of my

environmental awareness I know what actions myself and others do on the daily that harms the

environment. Much of the human impact presented in the book that destroyed biodiversity was

from colonization by settlers. It didn’t mention any newer human activities that are harming the

environment but that also could be due to the fact that is was written in the early 1990s. Overall,

I think the book was a good read and I think it could serve well for someone who is interested in

beginning to learn about how the environment works.