Each day we pillage habitats of myriad animals and plants—think of all the miles of Brazilian rain forest maimed each year—and yet nature somehow bounces back with plan B, on our own turf. Darwin Comes to Town brims with absorbing, evocative stories, but it’s also cutting-edge science; Schilthuizen, along with only a handful of biologists around the world, is plumbing the genomic mutations and natural selection erupting around us ... Darwin Comes to Town, then, is surprisingly optimistic as it dives deep into the data of HIREC, or Human-Induced Rapid Evolutionary Change. As our world grows increasingly urbanized, as we design 'green' buildings among our congested downtowns, Schilthuizen’s book makes for essential reading. But don’t expect a dry textbook: he’s written an enthralling account that stands out from the pack of environmental literature.
There's no denying nature's resilience, even — maybe especially — when the changes have occurred swiftly enough that traditional expectations about adaptation and evolution can't seem to keep up. Schilthuizen carefully picks his way through those particulars ... But though there are few cut-and-dry conclusions there, one thing is clear: This isn't just about the adaptation of some clever species to a new environment — it's about a world in which there's no other option ... the unavoidable facts of Schilthuizen's case mean that occasionally his rhetorical devices verge on disingenuous ... The threat we pose to nature is so self-evident that it is, on some level, beside the point. Instead, the book offers food for thought, and aims to give you new appreciation for the weeds in your driveway, the bugs in your porch lights, or the pigeons on your telephone wires. It succeeds; Darwin Comes to Town is a vivid portrait of a world changing to survive us.
The animals that are moving into built-up areas are adapting and even evolving at breathtaking speed in response to this new and richly varied ecosystem. Not only are those mosquitoes, for example, a new strain, they also vary according to which Tube line they inhabit. Evolution in the city is quick and precise. In saying this, Schilthuizen is taking on three centuries of literature and polemic that defends the virtues of rural nature against the vices of city life ... This is a spellbinding and important book. Its only notable flaws are the bewilderingly dumb title and equally dumb cover picture of a zebra on a zebra crossing. Never mind, the message is thrilling. We might be reasonably fearful of our vast urban agglomerations, but at least we can console ourselves that they are not the sterile, alienated wastelands of the post-industrial imagination. For us, and countless forms of our distant relatives, they are just a new home.
Through a series of 20 short but connected chapters that mix natural history vignettes, interviews with visionary scientists, and visits to childhood haunts, science journalist and biology professor Menno Schilthuizen introduces readers to the striking facts of ongoing urban evolution in Darwin Comes to Town. But while the prose may be playful...the underlying message may cause discomfort ... Schilthuizen tacitly acknowledges that we have bent Earth to our bidding and that the rest of its inhabitants will either adapt or perish. This is undoubtedly true. But his view of the future replaces a nature where we decidedly do not meddle with one where we decidedly do. For some, this will seem the very opposite of natural. And that dissonance may put a sting in an otherwise fascinating tale.
The overall scientific message of the book is that Darwinian evolution — adaptation to changing environmental circumstances through natural selection — can take place far more rapidly than Charles Darwin realised. After his ideas became accepted wisdom in the late 19th century, people generally saw evolution of plants and animals as a very slow process ... Darwin Comes to Town is packed with examples of species evolving to thrive in cities ... No one really knows why some species are, as Schilthuizen says it, 'pre-adapted' to take advantage of an urban niche through rapid evolution ... Answers may emerge as the efforts of enthusiastic pioneers such as Schilthuizen drive forward research in urban ecology.
Awash with unfamiliar foods, shelters, and dangers, cities reward imagination, exploration, and problem-solving, so creatures normally shy in the wild become bold. The author points out urban ecosystems are becoming increasingly homogenized—e.g., 80 percent of herbs growing in the tiny islands of soil around street trees are identical to those in Europe. An expert romp through urban natural history, which, despite the absence of glamorous megafauna, turns out to be a turbulent, hothouse ecosystem whose life is evolving before our eyes.
...[a] jaunty romp through current theories about evolution in cities ... Yet for all that this book is both erudite and illuminating, Darwin Comes to Town, suffers, in the end, from its blithe approach. For a world of birds with loud calls and toxin-resistant mammals itself sounds like far too low a bar too hope for. Nor is it really enough ... Indeed, Schilthuizen’s whole premise blurs the urban/nature divide—reminding us that everything is an ecosystem for something, even if it is an oil-filled puddle at the side of a stripmall. However, if that radical idea propels the book forward, I’d push the writer to be more explicit about leaning against another divide we humans seem to take for granted.
In a conversational style as appealing as it is informative ... Schilthuizen is careful throughout to distinguish between true evolutionary changes and learned behaviors passed between individuals. He also does a superb job of introducing important ecological principles along the way, leaving readers with a fascinating question: 'Can we harness the power of urban evolution to use it to make more livable cities for the future?'
