Killer Algae - Hardcover

In the late 1970s, a Stuttgart zoo imported a lush, bright green seaweed for its aquarium. "Caulerpa taxifolia" was captively bred by the zoo and exposed, for years, to chemicals and ultraviolet light. Eventually a sample of it found its way to the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco, then headed by Jacques Cousteau. Five years later, while cleaning its tanks, that museum dumped the pretty green plant into the Mediterranean. This supposedly benign little plant - that no one thought could survive the waters of the Mediterranean - now covers 10,000 acres of the coasts of France, Spain, Italy and Croatia, and has devastated the Mediterranean ecosystem. And it continues to grow, unstoppable and toxic. When Alexandre Meinesz discovered a square-yard patch of it in 1984, he warned biologists and oceanographers of the potential species invasion. His calls went unheeded. At that point, one person could have weeded the small patch out and ended the problem. Now, however, the plant has defeated the French Navy, thwarted scientific efforts to halt its rampage, and continues its destructive journey into the Adriatic Sea. This text presents the biological and political horror story of this invasion. For despite Meinesz's pleas to scientists and the French government, no agency was willing to take responsibility for the seaweed, and while the buck was passed, the killer algae grew. In short, this work - part detective story and part bureaucratic object lesson - is a classic case of a devastating ecological invasion and how "not" to deal with it.

Meinesz is professor of biology at the University of Nice and is a member of various scientific committees on the environment. He is President of the Environmental commission for the region of Provence-Alps-cote d'Azur.

Daniel Simberloff is Nancy Gore Hunger Professor of Environmental Studies in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His previous books include "Ecological Communities: Conceptual Issues and the Evidence" and "Strangers in Paradise: Impact and Management of Nonindigenous Species in Florida."Marcel Rejmanek is Professor in the Department of Evolution and Ecology at the University of California, Davis. Among other books and publications he coedited "Plant Invasions: General Aspects and Special Problems "and "Biological Invasions: A Global Perspective. "

David Quammen is the author of The Song of the Dodo, among other books. He has been honored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters and is the recipient of a John Burroughs Medal and the National Magazine Award. He lives in Bozeman, Montana.