Why there are species at risk of extinction? Who is responsible? What can be done against their extinction? And which organisms went already extinct? She meets with experts or scientists who provide not only time, but also knowledge and information for her book project about species extinctions. This time about bats, as several bat species are affected by another fungus - Geomyces destructans - which is responsible for the death of - this time - thousands of bats.īut what can be done to save all these amphibians or bats against these fungi, and thus, from extinction?Ī tough question scientists still look for an answer (please correct me, if there is recent research with a solution to these extinction events).Įlizabeth Kolbert grounds her stories in science. In a later chapter, Elizabeth Kolbert writes about another desperate situation. What to do against this fungus killing thousands of amphibians? Amphibians that are exposed to this fungus are not able to take up electrolytes through their skin anymore, and thus, die (apparently because of a heart attack). A frog that was once abundant in Panama, but severely decimated by a fungus - Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis or amphibian chytrid fungus, respectively - affecting amphibians not only in Panama but worldwide. In Panama she was in search of the Panamanian golden frog ( Atelopus zeteki). For one research she even went to a remote island - One Tree Island, close to Heron Island - in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.īut her first story starts in Panama. Her extensive research led her to places like Iceland, Italy or Scotland in Europe, but also to more remote places like in the Amazonian rain forest in Brazil and Peru in South America. In her book The Sixth Extinction she writes about creatures that are currently vanishing of this planet or creatures that have already vanished, respectively.
Elizabeth Kolbert is an American journalist writing about environmental issues.
One of the most important books I have read recently was definitely the one by Elizabeth Kolbert: The Sixth Extinction.
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