The Jewel Box
How Moths Illuminate Nature’s Hidden Rules
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
Every morning, ecologist Tim Blackburn is inspired by the diversity contained within the moth trap he runs on his roof. Beautiful and ineffably mysterious, these moths offer a glimpse into a larger order, one that extends beyond individual species and into a hidden landscape.
Footmen, whose populations are on the march as their lichen food recovers from decades of industrial pollution. The Goat Moth, a thumb-sized broken stick mimic, that takes several years to mature deep in the wood of tree trunks. The Oak Eggar, with the look of a bemused Honey Monster, host to a large wasp that eats its caterpillars alive from the inside. The Uncertain, whose similarity to other species has motivated its English name. The Silver Y, with a weight measured in milligrams, but capable of migrating across a continent. A moth trap is a magical contraption, conjuring these and hundreds of other insect jewels out of the darkness.
Just as iron filings arrange themselves to articulate a magnetic field that would otherwise be invisible, Blackburn shows us that when we pay proper attention to these tiny animals, their relationships with one another and their connections to the wider web of life, a greater truth about the world gradually emerges. In THE JEWEL BOX, he reflects on what he has learned in thirty years of work as a scientist studying ecosystems, and demonstrates how the contents of one small box can illuminate the workings of all nature.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Blackburn, a biology professor at University College London, debuts with a meditative take on what moths reveal about the "workings of nature." Homing in on nine moth species that he's caught on the terrace of his London home, Blackburn explains how each speaks to the mechanisms through which ecosystems operate. He describes how the gypsy moth's introduction to the U.S. in the late 1860s led to a rapid increase in their population until disease eventually tempered their numbers, illustrating the ways in which natural processes put a cap on species growth rates. Noting that there are scores more species of hawk moths found in tropical equatorial areas than at cooler latitudes, Blackburn expounds on how the higher frequency of hot periods in Earth's history has led to a greater number of species suited to such climes. Other chapters on the codling, silver Y, and stout dart moths contemplate the role climate change, lifespan, and migration play in the insects' lives. Blackburn succeeds in drawing broad ecological lessons from the world of moths, though some won't come as a surprise (his examination of the oak eggar moth centers on how predators keep in check the populations of their prey). Lepidopterists will want to take note. Photos.
