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REVIEWS Your house is a jungle... Artwork by Olaf Hajek www.olafhajek.com Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson discovers why sharing our homes is a good thing Never Home Alone: From Microbes to Millipedes, Camel Crickets, and Honeybees, the Natural History of Where We Live Rob Dunn Basic Books, 2019 ISBN: 9781541645769 Imagine a jungle, with thousands of species multiplying, crawling, scurrying and flapping – all intricately connected to each other. A few of them might pose a potential threat to humans, but if the system is healthy they are kept in check by the multitude of other species. This jungle is not outside in a faraway place – it’s in your house. This is the image I am left with after reading Rob Dunn’s brilliant book Never Home Alone. Now, in the morning, I stand under the shower pondering the stream of life pouring down on me, and Dunn’s statement that the healthiest water for bathing comes from aquifers rich with underground biodiversity. When baking, I muse over the microbes that add flavour to the bread I make. In this book, Dunn explains why we should care about this household biodiversity. He sets the scene by telling us that the average US child spends a whopping 93% of their time inside, in a building or a vehicle. Since we humans built our first primitive houses some 300,000 years ago, we’ve created more and more indoor space. The indoor area of Manhattan, for instance, with all its floors, is almost three times bigger than the size of the island itself, Dunn says. Indoor biodiversity matters because it helps to keep these spaces healthy. Incredibly, in their survey of houses in different countries, Dunn and his colleagues found more than 200,000 species. Dunn describes the “biodiversity hypothesis of human health”, which observes that biodiversity loss and the increasing incidence of inflammatory diseases seem to be interconnected. We tend to think we should be at war with our tiny tenants, that their presence always transfers disease. Hence we scrub and spray and clean. But the fight against our household biodiversity is not only futile, as resistance will develop faster than we invent new pesticides. It is also counterproductive. 58 Resurgence & Ecologist January/February 2020

REVIEWS By removing the ‘nice’ microbes, we pave the way for the ‘bad guys’, the most resistant and toughest microbes and critters. Instead, Dunn argues, we should welcome a more natural and rich abundance of species and leave them to do as they do outside: keep a dynamic balance where no single species becomes superabundant. The book is also a collection of curious facts. Like the tale of how camel crickets – considered an annoying indoor pest species in the US – turn out to be a source of new enzymes that can help break down waste products. But the book isn’t just about the scientific evidence and arguments for why we need the multitude of co-inhabitants in our indoor spaces. It’s also about curiosity and open-mindedness. It’s about citizen science and outreach, and the importance of scientists asking unusual questions. That’s when you might stumble across new knowledge, literally right under your nose. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was one of the first to marvel at the tiny wonders of the wilderness in our homes, through his homemade lenses in the 17th century, and his contribution is honoured in this book. Rob Dunn carries this legacy further as his book confirms, even in the 21st century, one of Leeuwenhoek’s quotes: “All we have yet discovered is but a trifle in comparison with what lies hid in the great treasury of nature.” Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson is Professor of Conservation Biology at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and is the author of Extraordinary Insects. (HarperCollins). Going native Kate Blincoe enjoys a fresh look at invasive species Invasive Aliens: The Plants and Animals From Over There That Are Over Here Dan Eatherley William Collins, 2019 ISBN: 9780008262747 Invasive Aliens would be a good name for a sci-fi film, so it’s no great surprise when the pages of this book open onto a crime scene: “Graham paced up and down, his attention focused on the boundary hedges. Drawn by reports of sightings in the area, his team had last week netted several specimens of the invader … A reliable line of sight had been achieved and further samples dispatched for DNA analysis.” The fugitive at large is the Asian hornet, stealth fighter of the insect world. This prolific killer lingers at a hive exit, decapitating native bees as they attempt to pass, before taking control of the hive. The UK government operates a zero-tolerance policy of eradicating this species – when it can be found. Surely the case is clear and all invasive species should be similarly destroyed? Of course it is far more complex than that. Dan Eatherley deftly unpicks the complicated, globe-sweeping movement of species through history, in this confidently written and impeccably researched book. As I read, I began to look afresh at the world around me and challenge my cosy assumptions about the Britishness of our countryside. I knew that pheasants, muntjac deer and London’s growing flock of ring-necked parakeets are not native to the UK, but I didn’t know their stories, and I certainly had not appreciated how many ‘British’ species are not truly native. The field poppy, that Remembrance Day symbol of bloodshed and renewal, is in fact from the Middle East. Snowdrops, horse chestnut trees and daffodils are longterm immigrants. The fallow deer was brought here to adorn medieval parks, and the little owl was captured in Europe and released by aristocrats, establishing a British population. Some introductions were deliberate, whether for pets or pest control. Many were culinary, such as tomatoes and potatoes, or ornamental, like the pretty rhododendron (which vigorously out-competes other plants). The history of the rabbit proved especially fascinating – who knew they were once a status symbol? Meanwhile, many species’ movements were accidental: stowaways in boats, like the brown rat, or the quagga mussels on the hulls of ships, now displacing native ones with their hogging of the river bed. I have always felt uncomfortable with the labelling of species that we don’t deem ‘from round here’. In a world where accepting diversity of humans is of paramount importance, there is something disturbing about the discourse surrounding creatures from elsewhere: ‘aliens’ that are aggressive, invasive and dangerous, causing species pollution, and requiring eradication. It can feel very xenophobic. Thankfully, Eatherley addresses this issue, discussing how the language used perpetuates the myth that we are somehow under attack, as if the creatures have some sort of strict battle plan. It is far more complicated than ‘native good, but alien bad’. Yes, some creatures have blemished the reputation of incomers: grey squirrels, signal crayfish, American mink and Japanese knotweed are a few. But the vast majority are benign and unremarkable in their integration, and some are beloved of us now. One thing is for sure: the pace and volume of species’ movement around the globe are growing. The wonder of this ‘story of species’ is that it is our story too. A great sweeping human history told through quirky, freaky, beautiful and diverse living organisms. Nature and people are in an interlinked and forever shifting pattern of movement, whether we like it or not. Kate Blincoe is a Nature lover, writer and mother. Issue 318 Resurgence & Ecologist 59

Page Text

REVIEWS

Your house is a jungle...

Artwork by Olaf Hajek www.olafhajek.com

Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson discovers why sharing our homes is a good thing

Never Home Alone: From Microbes to Millipedes, Camel Crickets, and Honeybees, the Natural History of Where We Live Rob Dunn Basic Books, 2019 ISBN: 9781541645769

Imagine a jungle, with thousands of species multiplying, crawling, scurrying and flapping – all intricately connected to each other. A few of them might pose a potential threat to humans, but if the system is healthy they are kept in check by the multitude of other species. This jungle is not outside in a faraway place – it’s in your house. This is the image I am left with after reading Rob Dunn’s brilliant book Never Home Alone. Now, in the morning, I stand under the shower pondering the stream of life pouring down on me, and

Dunn’s statement that the healthiest water for bathing comes from aquifers rich with underground biodiversity. When baking, I muse over the microbes that add flavour to the bread I make.

In this book, Dunn explains why we should care about this household biodiversity. He sets the scene by telling us that the average US child spends a whopping 93% of their time inside, in a building or a vehicle. Since we humans built our first primitive houses some 300,000 years ago, we’ve created more and more indoor space. The indoor area of Manhattan, for instance, with all its floors, is almost three times bigger than the size of the island itself, Dunn says. Indoor biodiversity matters because it helps to keep these spaces healthy. Incredibly, in their survey of houses in different countries, Dunn and his colleagues found more than 200,000 species. Dunn describes the “biodiversity hypothesis of human health”, which observes that biodiversity loss and the increasing incidence of inflammatory diseases seem to be interconnected. We tend to think we should be at war with our tiny tenants, that their presence always transfers disease. Hence we scrub and spray and clean. But the fight against our household biodiversity is not only futile, as resistance will develop faster than we invent new pesticides. It is also counterproductive.

58 Resurgence & Ecologist

January/February 2020

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