Communicating Biological Science to the Public

Seven Modern Plagues & How We Are Causing Them. Walters, M.J. 2014. Island Press, Washington, D.C., U.S.A. 236 pp. $26.66 (paperback). ISBN 9781610914659. Unnatural Selection: How We Are Changing Life, Gene by Gene. Monosson, E. 2014. Island Press, Washington, D.C., U.S.A. 200 pp. $30.00 (hardcover). ISBN 9781610914987. Wild Life: the Institution of Nature. Braverman, I. 2015. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, U.S.A. 344 pp. $24.95 (paperback). ISBN 9780804794763. These three books deal with a range of important topics that have direct or indirect relevance to conservation biology. Two focus on the emergence and reemergence of pests and diseases, whereas the third examines the politics and differing perspectives prevalent in the field of conservation. In all three books, the authors have used case studies to illustrate key concepts, and in doing so they made the material more accessible to a broader audience than would generally be the case with more specialized textbooks. With the media's coverage of a wide range of scientific topics and the growing availability of pseudoscientific information through the internet, there is a need for academics to make their research, and scientific perspective, more readily available to the public. To be effective, this needs to be done in a readable format using a style to which a broad audience can relate. In considering the value of this approach, academics need to be aware that the more formal scientific literature is rarely accessed by the public and so there is a growing need for researchers and subject experts to share their findings with a wider audience through different formats including popular media. The Seven Modern Plagues by Mark Jerome Walters is well written and easy to read. He uses a series of personalized stories to provide context and atmosphere to his theme. The book has seven chapters, each of which outlines a specific disease event or series of events. Walters is a veterinarian by profession, and this background along with his skills as a journalist have facilitated an insightful overview of current concerns about emerging and reemerging infectious diseases. The diseases discussed include the spongiform encephalopathies, food-borne diseases such as salmonellosis, the pandemic potential of avian influenza viruses, and vector-borne diseases such as West Nile Virus and Lyme disease. There is also some mention of hantavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome, and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus. The writing style makes the information on disease epidemiology accessible to a wider audience than would have been the case if he had used a more formal scholastic approach with more technical information, and inferences the author makes about the disease events appear reliable. The infectious diseases outlined in the book are largely those with the potential to be transmitted between animals and humans, and most have been featured recently in the media. Although the majority of the chapters focus on the developed world, there is some mention of emerging concerns in more remote and resource—poor parts of Asia and Africa. The latter reminds the reader that the world is an interconnected world and that infectious diseases generally do not observe national and international political borders. One of the chapters that I found most interesting was the author's perspective on the first cases of the prion disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), on a farm in the United Kingdom. This and other examples are reminders to be aware that new diseases can emerge as a result of human interference, including changes in agricultural practice, as well as occurring as a result of pathogen evolution and natural selection pressure. In another chapter, Walters’ uses an example from southern Asia to illustrate the potential harm that using tainted fish products in animal feed can have, and he explores a potential link of such practices to the emergence of antimicrobial resistance. The broader threat of antimicrobial resistance to animal and human health is discussed, although the topic is given a more comprehensive treatment in Emily Monosson's book, Unnatural Selection. In Walters’ chapters on vector-borne diseases, he discusses the role of environmental change, including the impact of deforestation and climate change, on the survival and prevalence of arthropod vectors and how this can affect the epidemiology of diseases that they have the potential to transmit. These chapters possibly have a little less depth than those on BSE and the pandemic potential of influenza viruses. In the latter, Walters explains that epidemiologists are braced for the next influenza pandemic and that the next emergent virus could affect the human population to the same extent as the influenza pandemic of 1918–1919, which killed at least 20 million people worldwide. Recently, there have been several candidates for such a virus, including the H5N1 bird flu, which circulated widely across Asia and Europe in 2003 and more recently the emergence of a new strain of influenza in swine with zoonotic potential (H1N1). There is ongoing concern that concurrent emergence of new influenza strains in pigs and poultry and subsequent infection of humans could result in viral strains with enhanced potential to transmit from human to human (Capua & Alexander 2002; Kalthoff et al. 2010; Van Ranst & Lemey 2013). The chapter on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has a focus that is slightly different from other books. Walters devotes quite a bit of space to discussing the risk of HIV, and potentially other virus infections, from consumption of bush meat and the potential interspecies transfer of pathogens linked to cultural dietary preferences. In summary, this book is a really informative read that talks about the ways in which diseases can spread and about the challenges faced by scientific experts and clinicians when dealing with emerging and reemerging zoonotic diseases. It also points to the interconnectedness of humans and nature, which has obvious implications for conservation, although this link is for the reader to make. Emily Monosson's Unnatural Selection is a well-paced book in which the author uses case studies to illustrate how humanity is “changing life, gene by gene.” The case studies are well chosen and cover antimicrobial resistance, emergence of insecticide-resistant bedbugs, herbicide-resistant weeds, and the potential impacts of pollution on our environment. I especially enjoyed Monosson's insights into gene expression and how environmental stressors are leaving their mark on plants, animals, and humans, potentially for generations to come. In layman's terms Monosson, a toxicologist, eloquently describes how life is resilient, and she cleverly illustrates her thoughts with contemporary examples that should interest a wide readership. The chapter on bedbugs, in particular, provides a good example of an emerging problem that was previously considered easy to address with readily available insecticides. The emergence of resistant strains of bedbugs as well as current concerns over increasingly resistant strains of head lice should stimulate interest from a wide readership especially given these examples may represent the tip of the iceberg with regard to what society may face in both the developed and developing world (Downs et al. 2002; Zhu et al. 2013). The evolutionary adaptations of insects, bacteria, and other organisms will not surprise evolutionary biologists, but the public may find the information disturbing. This is most likely the author's intent in her attempt to bring current science to the layman, which she does in a way that should allow most readers to relate. Despite its brevity, the book delivers a good range of material that would be of interest to a wide spectrum of readers. Irus Braverman's book, Wild Life: the Institution of Nature, deals with a very different theme and focuses largely on the heated debate between advocates for in situ versus ex situ conservation strategies. The issue is not a new one and has often led to polarized views and heated debates among conservation advocates (Blamford et al. 1995). Braverman has a legal background, but she demonstrates familiarity with key issues in conservation and has evidently consulted widely with a variety of experts who present a range of different viewpoints. Much of the book is devoted to explaining key concepts and the terminology used in conservation science. This volume follows her well-received book, Zooland (Braverman 2012). In Wild Life, Braverman illustrates some of the politics behind conservation efforts through case studies. Overall, this work presents some important issues that can complicate and detract from the success of conservation initiatives, and it will be of value to graduate students and professionals seriously considering a career in conservation. All three of these authors effectively used case studies to illustrate key concepts. Walters and Monosson provide a number of different examples on the social impact of a range of pests and diseases and both used their personal insight to provide added interest for a general audience. They also show that people's activities and conservation can mix in unexpected ways. Braverman's book is more focused and is probably more suited to the specialist reader than the broader public.

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