Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
in the Galápagos Islands, because the ecosystem of these islands is relatively
simple. The Mergui Archipelago and other tropical ecosystems that teem
with life are evolutionary hothouses, battlegrounds where natural selection
interacts with numerous ecological niches to spew forth a stream of new
species. Such ecosystems are so rich in available energy that even highly
specialized ecological niches provide sui cient resources to maintain a spe-
cies.
I realized, as I swam among the crowds of fi ercely competing species on
Myanmar's reefs, that I was looking at a kind of delicate evolutionary baro-
queness. Perhaps, I thought, these swarms of species are akin to those deco-
rative elaborations of furniture and décor that became more fl orid with each
successive Capetian king during France's
Ancien Régime
.
Conditions changed in France with the fall of the Bastille and the rise
of the grim and decidedly undecorative Committee of Public Safety. Talley-
rand, who survived the French Revolution and many subsequent upheavals,
famously said: “
Ceux qui n'ont pas connu l'Ancien Régime ne pourront jamais savoir
ce qu'était la douceur de vivre
.” Those who never knew the
Ancien Régime
will
never know how sweet life can be.
And now conditions are changing on the whole planet, as we play the
role of Robespierre and destroy entire ecosystems. It is a truism that those
who have never experienced the sheer exuberance of rich ecosystems will
never realize the sweetness of life as it used to be.
Will most of these wonderful species, these evolutionary ornaments, dis-
appear? If they do, what are the conditions under which similar species could
evolve in the future? How long might it take before the planet can return to
the delightful excesses of evolutionary ornamentation that still survive in the
Mergui Archipelago?
In the next chapter we will explore these questions. We will see how eco-
logical diversity is produced by natural selection, how it is maintained over
time, and how it is destroyed. And we will confront a remarkable paradox.
The process of evolution has endowed the living world with both fragility
and robustness. Life on Earth will survive no matter what we do. Our great
challenge is to see whether we can preserve enough diversity on our planet
to make the lives of our descendants worth living.
