I am a big fan of citizen science.1 In my own work on the behavior of dogs, for example, I learn an incredible quantity of people who carefully observe their dogs and send me wonderful stories and videos, often accompanied by important questions about what their dog does and why. I was also delighted when a woman from Chicago became an expert in birds and insects living in her garden on the roof and formed an urban rehabation club after reading Rewilding Our Hearts: Building compassion and coexistence ways. These are among the reasons why I was delighted to learn the new book of Dr Menno Schilthuizen The urban naturalist: how to make the city your scientific playground. Here is what he had to say about his most opportune book.
Marc Bekoff: Why did you write The urban naturalist?
Menno Schilthuizen: The book has really been the confluence of several trends – certain scientists and social, others very personal. To start with the latter, I realized that despite my long professional career In scientific institutions, I am always this schoolboy with a wide eyes in his room with enthusiasm with pinned insects, chemical equipment and dreams Explorations. This is how I started and I always tried to remain faithful to these early and deep motivations. At the same time, because I do a lot of scientific communication and manage a basis for citizens’ science, I realized that the romantic image of science as a pure discovery is also what attracts the general public to take hobbies and science activities. And the time has come: one by one, all the obstacles which, in the 20th century, stood on the path of amateur scientists to really contribute to science in a significant way, deteriorate.
Scientific literature is available online for everyone; Databases with genetic, environmental, biodiversity and geographic information are free to access and use; Scientific equipment, if it is not already inside your smartphone, can be bought on eBay for little money; and at the university level education Can be followed by anyone via open open online courses (MOOC) that most universities offer free. And, finally, I am convinced that the city is the place where these new naturalists can make their most exciting discoveries. The urban ecosystem is new, global and is developing simultaneously by the actions of a single species (Homo sapiens) – Something that has never happened in the history of life on earth. And urban naturalists are in the middle of it so that it all happens.
MB: How is your book linked to your history and your areas of general interest?
MS: What I try to do in the book are two things. First of all, I try to give the tools to my reader and help them develop the state of mind of an explorer. I’m talking about the entire equipment laboratory in your smartphone, but also community laboratories and how to build your own natural history collection (including the ethics to take specimens for science).
Second, I hope to show the ecology of the urban ecosystem: how is nature in the city different and how is it the same as “wild” ecosystems? My journey is to study wild ecosystems, but in the past 15 years, I have become fascinated by the nature of the city. Partly because urban ecosystems are so different from those natural: road killers, light pollution, human food, waterproof surfaces – none of them exists outside cities and urban flora and fauna is constantly called into question, sometimes leading them to rapid evolution. But also also because, surprisingly, they are so similar. For example, the isolated green spaces in cities are, ecologically speaking, no different from the wild ocean islands. There are caves and crevices in the city where you can be an urban speleologist. And in the gutter, we find the miniature equivalent of a tropical forest.
MB: Who do you hope to reach?
MS: I hope to reach anyone living in an urbanized environment (and it is the majority of the people of the world) that has a little curiosity and childhood wonder inside. I hope I can help them revive that shines and become an explorer of their own world. The city is full of nature, as long as you have an eye for that. City downs often feel disconnected from nature, and think that nature is something you see on television or you have to travel far to reach. By realizing that the true fascinating nature is all around them, even (or especially) in the heart of the city where they live, they will reconnect with nature, will benefit from all the health benefits that exposure to nature is known and, hopefully, will also begin to protect and defend the cherished pieces of the nature of the Nature Quarter
MB: What are the main subjects you consider?
MS: Two important subjects are as follows:
The joy of collecting. I am convinced that the collection of natural history is a crucial nucleus of any study of nature. OUR childhood Driving to collect beautiful natural objects and keeping them is the basis of natural history collections, and for an intensive study and an understanding of these objects. I discuss how I have become a collector and how my reader can become a collector and start appreciating the artisanal beauty of warning, labeling, organization, but also how the collections can help you frame scientific questions. I also discuss the ethics of the death of organizations for research and the ways to build a collection if you did not injure a fly.
Evolving traps. The city’s ecology is full of unprecedented causes of mortality, involuntary and unexpected for animals and plants that are only urban naturalists. An example is that insects and flying birds in fresh water are killed in large numbers because they are attracted by circular polarized light which bounces on smooth surfaces of human manufacture, such as car roofs, tarmac roads and solar panels. For millions of years, circular polarized light was a certain sign of bodies of water, but more. Another example is the bottles thrown away and cans These little rodents are mistaken with a burrow and find themselves trapped.
MB: Do you hope that people learn more about urban animals and their homes, they will be more likely to leave them?
MS: Yes, the problem is that people always want to “do something”. We tend to think that nature conservation should involve a lot of activity: planting, fencing, weeding, control. But for me, spontaneity and dynamism, without descending control, is the mark of nature. And the conservation of nature, in particular in cities, is only a question of doing nothing actively and simply looking at the ecosystems take place.