Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid

Starred review from June 28, 2021
Biologist Hanson (Buzz) takes readers under the wings of birds, into the shade of spruce trees, and underground to learn about 55-million-year-old fossils in this exciting exploration of nature’s response to climate change. “Understanding biological responses to climate change can help us find our place within it,” Hanson writes. “Simply put, if bush crickets, bumblebees, and butterflies can learn to modify their behaviors, then it stands to reason that we can too.” As he moves across time and habitats, he visits Walden Pond, where temperatures have risen an average 4.3 degrees Fahrenheit since Thoreau’s time; watches Alaskan grizzly bears take a pass on salmon in favor of elderberries; and observes saplings along the Des Moines River migrating to safer terrain than that populated by old growth. Hanson introduces readers to an array of scientists documenting these changes and conducts his own often humorous experiments: during a failed fossil hunt in a childhood stomping ground, he’s “a middle-aged stranger in a pandemic mask, carrying a backpack and a hammer,” and decides “it was time to leave.” With contagious curiosity, Hanson nimbly avoids pedantic, moralistic admonishments. Nature-lovers will be thrilled to see science so vividly described, and will marvel at the incredible ingenuity of creatures across the globe. Agent: Laura Blake Peterson, Curtis Brown.

Starred review from September 1, 2021

Biologist Hanson (Buzz: The Nature and Necessity of Bees) explores ways in which plants and animals adjust to climate change, which fall into three categories: move, adapt, or die. While humans dither about what our responses should be, other species have been getting on with it. Hanson begins with a history of thought about the natural world and the carbon dioxide molecule, then delves into how nature is already shifting in response to changing climate. Not all species are doomed, he writes; the organisms that thrive will be those that display the most flexibility in response to shifts in temperature. For instance, trees can leaf out earlier in the year, and insects may be able to emerge sooner. However, birds, whose migration patterns depend on shortening or lengthening days, will arrive at the same time of year to find that their food sources have already bloomed or hatched. Sea creatures who migrate northward with warming water have the potential to upset the ecosystems they encounter along the way. VERDICT This compelling read will spark the interest of everyone who cares about what is happening to the natural world.--Rachel Owens, Daytona State Coll. Lib., FL

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