- Table View
- List View
Extinct Madagascar: Picturing the Island's Past
by Steven M. Goodman William L. JungersThe landscapes of Madagascar have long delighted zoologists, who have discovered, in and among the island’s baobab trees and thickets, a dizzying array of animals, including something approaching one hundred species of lemur. Madagascar’s mammal fauna, for example, is far more diverse, and more endemic, than early explorers and naturalists ever dreamed of. But in the past 2,500 or so years—a period associated with natural climatic shifts and ecological change, as well as partially coinciding with the arrival of the island’s first human settlers—a considerable proportion of Madagascar’s forests have disappeared; and in the wake of this loss, a number of species unique to Madagascar have vanished forever into extinction. In Extinct Madagascar, noted scientists Steven M. Goodman and William L. Jungers explore the recent past of these land animal extinctions. Beginning with an introduction to the geologic and ecological history of Madagascar that provides context for the evolution, diversification, and, in some cases, rapid decline of the Malagasy fauna, Goodman and Jungers then seek to recapture these extinct mammals in their environs. Aided in their quest by artist Velizar Simeonovski’s beautiful and haunting digital paintings—images of both individual species and ecosystem assemblages reproduced here in full color—Goodman and Jungers reconstruct the lives of these lost animals and trace their relationships to those still living. Published in conjunction with an exhibition of Simeonovski’s artwork set to open at the Field Museum, Chicago, in the fall of 2014, Goodman and Jungers’s awe-inspiring book will serve not only as a sobering reminder of the very real threat of extinction, but also as a stunning tribute to Madagascar’s biodiversity and a catalyst for further research and conservation.
Extinct Madagascar: Picturing the Island's Past
by Steven M. Goodman William L. JungersThe landscapes of Madagascar have long delighted zoologists, who have discovered, in and among the island’s baobab trees and thickets, a dizzying array of animals, including something approaching one hundred species of lemur. Madagascar’s mammal fauna, for example, is far more diverse, and more endemic, than early explorers and naturalists ever dreamed of. But in the past 2,500 or so years—a period associated with natural climatic shifts and ecological change, as well as partially coinciding with the arrival of the island’s first human settlers—a considerable proportion of Madagascar’s forests have disappeared; and in the wake of this loss, a number of species unique to Madagascar have vanished forever into extinction. In Extinct Madagascar, noted scientists Steven M. Goodman and William L. Jungers explore the recent past of these land animal extinctions. Beginning with an introduction to the geologic and ecological history of Madagascar that provides context for the evolution, diversification, and, in some cases, rapid decline of the Malagasy fauna, Goodman and Jungers then seek to recapture these extinct mammals in their environs. Aided in their quest by artist Velizar Simeonovski’s beautiful and haunting digital paintings—images of both individual species and ecosystem assemblages reproduced here in full color—Goodman and Jungers reconstruct the lives of these lost animals and trace their relationships to those still living. Published in conjunction with an exhibition of Simeonovski’s artwork set to open at the Field Museum, Chicago, in the fall of 2014, Goodman and Jungers’s awe-inspiring book will serve not only as a sobering reminder of the very real threat of extinction, but also as a stunning tribute to Madagascar’s biodiversity and a catalyst for further research and conservation.
Extinction Governance, Finance and Accounting: Implementing a Species Protection Action Plan for the Financial Markets
by Jill AtkinsThe planet is currently experiencing a mass extinction event, with human and business activity being the root cause of species loss and habitat destruction. Industries, companies, banks, investors, accountants and auditors have all played their role. This book explores how they can also provide a solution. The book presents plans, metrics, frameworks, mechanisms and financial innovations that can be, and are being, implemented through the financial markets in order to save and protect species, enhance biodiversity and, at the same time, preserve the financial markets and the business world. This biodiversity handbook addresses the intersection between species extinction and the global capitalist system. With contributions from leading non-governmental organisations such as the Capitals Coalition, Business for Nature, the Ecojustice Foundation, ShareAction and the Endangered Wildlife Trust, plus senior researchers in the field, as well as industry experts from Moody’s, EOS at Hermes Federated Investment Management, BlueBay Asset Management, ODDO BHF Asset Management and OSSIAM (to mention just a few), this book is at the forefront of addressing the crucially important topics of extinction accounting, finance and governance. Drawing on leading research, the book is written in an accessible style and is relevant to researchers and students in the fields of sustainability, governance, accounting, finance, corporate social responsibility and corporate governance. It is essential reading for investors, responsible investors, bankers, business leaders and policy makers in the field of sustainable financial markets. Given the interdisciplinary nature of this book, it is useful to conservationists, ecologists and others involved in species and biodiversity protection.
Extinction Governance, Finance and Accounting: Implementing a Species Protection Action Plan for the Financial Markets
by Jill Atkins Martina MacphersonThe planet is currently experiencing a mass extinction event, with human and business activity being the root cause of species loss and habitat destruction. Industries, companies, banks, investors, accountants and auditors have all played their role. This book explores how they can also provide a solution. The book presents plans, metrics, frameworks, mechanisms and financial innovations that can be, and are being, implemented through the financial markets in order to save and protect species, enhance biodiversity and, at the same time, preserve the financial markets and the business world. This biodiversity handbook addresses the intersection between species extinction and the global capitalist system. With contributions from leading non-governmental organisations such as the Capitals Coalition, Business for Nature, the Ecojustice Foundation, ShareAction and the Endangered Wildlife Trust, plus senior researchers in the field, as well as industry experts from Moody’s, EOS at Hermes Federated Investment Management, BlueBay Asset Management, ODDO BHF Asset Management and OSSIAM (to mention just a few), this book is at the forefront of addressing the crucially important topics of extinction accounting, finance and governance. Drawing on leading research, the book is written in an accessible style and is relevant to researchers and students in the fields of sustainability, governance, accounting, finance, corporate social responsibility and corporate governance. It is essential reading for investors, responsible investors, bankers, business leaders and policy makers in the field of sustainable financial markets. Given the interdisciplinary nature of this book, it is useful to conservationists, ecologists and others involved in species and biodiversity protection.
Extracellular Composite Matrices in Arthropods
by Ephraim Cohen Bernard MoussianEmphasis is placed on the elaborate cuticular matrices in insects and crustaceans, spider and insect silks, sialomes of phytophagous and blood-feeding arthropods as well as on secretions of male and female accessory glands. Focus is placed largely on insects, due to the extensive body of published research that in part is the result of available whole genome sequences of several model species (in particular Drosophila melanogaster) and accessible ESTs for other species. Such advances have facilitated fundamental insights into genomic, proteomic and molecular biology-based physiology. This new volume contains comprehensive contributions on extracellular composite matrices in arthropods. The building blocks of such matrices are formed in and secreted by single layered epithelial cells into exterior domains where their final assembly takes place.Additionally, the unique mechanical properties of natural biocomposites like chitin/chitosan, the crustacean mineralized exoskeleton, the pliant protein resilin or insect and spider silks, have inspired basic and applied research that yield sophistical biomimetics and structural biocomposite hybrids important for future industrial and biomedical use. In summary, this book provides an invaluable vast source of basic and applied information for a plethora of scientists as well as textbook for graduate and advanced undergraduate students.
Extracellular Matrix (Neuromethods #93)
by Jennie B. Leach and Elizabeth M. PowellThis volume provides comprehensive procedures for analyzing the extracellular matrix in native, injured, and engineered neural tissues. Divided into four parts, each focusing on different aspects of the extracellular matrix and the nervous system, Extracellular Matrix covers methods to analyze native tissue, in vitro models for investigating cell-extracellular matrix interactions in a variety of contexts, protocols to investigate the role of the extracellular matrix in nervous system injury, degeneration, and regeneration, as well as therapeutics and engineered systems. Each chapter is written by leading experts and presents established protocols in a concise format, encompassing current technologies as well as methods developed over years of research. Beginning with an introduction to the method, chapters continue with a listing of the materials and equipment, step-by-step protocols, and a Notes section with troubleshooting tips, supplemental details and alternative approaches, as well as a list of references for further information.As part of the practical and convenient Neuromethods series, Extracellular Matrix serves as an invaluable aid for researchers studying this vital area of neuroscience.
Extracellular Potentials in the Hippocampus: Sources and Biophysical Mechanisms (Springer Theses)
by Antonio Fernández RuizIn this thesis, the author investigates the biophysical basis of the local field potential (LFP) as a way of gaining a better understanding of its underlying physiological mechanisms. The results represent major advances in our understanding and interpretation of LFPs and brain oscillations. They highlight the importance of using suitable experimental and analytical methods to explore the activity of brain circuits and point to the LFP as a useful, but complex variable for this purpose.
Extracellular Sugar-Based Biopolymers Matrices (Biologically-Inspired Systems #12)
by Ephraim Cohen Hans MerzendorferThe extracellular matrix (ECM) is an acellular three-dimensional network composed of proteins, glycoproteins, proteoglycans and exopolysaccharides. It primarily serves as a structural component in the tissues and organs of plants and animals, or forms biofilms in which bacterial cells are embedded. ECMs are highly dynamic structures that undergo continuous remodeling, and disruptions are frequently the result of pathological processes associated with severe diseases such as arteriosclerosis, neurodegenerative illness or cancer. In turn, bacterial biofilms are a source of concern for human health, as they are associated with resistance to antibiotics. Although exopolysaccharides are crucial for ECM formation and function, they have received considerably little attention to date.The respective chapters of this book comprehensively address such issues, and provide reviews on the structural, biochemical, molecular and biophysical properties of exopolysaccharides. These components are abundantly produced by virtually all taxa including bacteria, algae, plants, fungi, invertebrates and vertebrates. They include long unbranched homopolymers (cellulose, chitin/chitosan), linear copolymers (alginate, agarose), peptoglycans such as murein, heteropolymers like a variety of glycosaminoglycans (hyaluronan, dermatan, keratin, heparin, Pel), and branched heteropolymers such as pectin and hemicellulose.A separate chapter is dedicated to modern industrial and biomedical applications of exopolysaccharides and polysaccharide-based biocomposites. Their unique chemical, physical and mechanical properties have attracted considerable interest, inspired basic and applied research, and have already been harnessed to form structural biocomposite hybrids for tailor-made applications in regenerative medicine, bioengineering and biosensor design. Given its scope, this book provides a substantial source of basic and applied information for a wide range of scientists, as well as valuable textbook for graduate and advanced undergraduate students.
Extraordinary Animals (PDF)
by Leon GrayFrom hagfish to pufferfish, and thorny devils to aye-ayes, this book explores the wonderful world of mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish. Find out how they bodies have evolved in such peculiar ways to help them survive.
The Extraordinary Biology of the Naked Mole-Rat (Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology #1319)
by Rochelle Buffenstein Thomas J. Park Melissa M. HolmesThis volume focuses on the huge advances in the last 25 years on the use of this animal model for biomedical research (cancer, heart disease and neurodegeneration), fundamental neuroscience and basic subterranean biology. In 2013, Science magazine named the naked mole-rat as the Vertebrate of the Year. This was partly due to research carried out documenting its extreme longevity, negligible senescence, and prolonged maintenance of cancer free, good health well into old age as well as seminal work on mechanisms involved in these processes, pain and hypoxia resistance. In addition to this research focus on longevity and chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, the naked mole-rat has also made a substantial contribution to the fields of ecophysiology, neuroscience and behavior. With international contributions, this book provides a valuable text for zoological students, behavioral scientists and biomedical researchers.
Extraordinary Birds
by Sandy Stark-McGinnisEleven-year-old December knows everything about birds, and everything about getting kicked out of foster homes. All she has of her biological mum is the book she left behind, The Complete Guide to Birds, Volume One, and a photo with a message: 'In flight is where you'll find me.' December knows she's truly a bird, just waiting for the day she transforms and flies away to reunite with her mum. The scar on her back must be where her wings have started to blossom – she just needs to practise and to find the right tree. She has no choice; it's the only story that makes sense. When she's placed with Eleanor, a new foster mum who runs a taxidermy business and volunteers at a wildlife rescue, December begins to see herself and what home means in a new light. But the story she tells herself about her past is what's kept December going this long, and she doesn't know if she can let go of it ... even if changing her story might mean that she can finally find a place where she belongs.
Extraordinary Birds
by Sandy Stark-McGinnisFor fans of The Thing About Jellyfish, Counting by 7s, and Fish in a Tree, a heartbreaking and hopeful debut novel about a unique young girl on a journey to find home.Eleven-year-old December knows everything about birds, and everything about getting kicked out of foster homes. All she has of her mother is the book she left behind, The Complete Guide to Birds: Volume One, and a message: "In flight is where you'll find me." December believes she's truly a bird, just waiting for the day she transforms and flies away to her real home. The scar on her back must be where her wings have started to blossom -– she just needs to find the right tree and practice her flying. She has no choice; it's the only story that makes sense. When she's placed with Eleanor, a new foster mom who runs a taxidermy business and volunteers at a wildlife rescue, December begins to see herself and what home means in a new light. But the story she tells herself about her past is what's kept December going this long, and she doesn't know if she can let it go... even if changing her story might mean that she can finally find a place where she belongs.
Extraordinary Bugs (PDF)
by Leon GrayFrom assassin bugs to bullet ants and vampire moths to ogre-faced spiders, this book explores the wonderful world of insects and spiders. Find out how these creatures have evolved in such peculiar ways to help them survive.
Extraordinary Insects: A Hidden History Of The World
by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson*The Sunday Times Bestseller* ‘Extraordinary Insects is a joy’ The Times A Sunday Times Nature Book of the Year 2019 A journey into the weird, wonderful and truly astonishing lives of the small but mighty creatures who keep the world turning.
Extreme Conservation: Life at the Edges of the World
by Joel Berger"Extraordinary. . . . Berger is a hero of biology who deserves the highest honors that science can bestow."—Tim Flannery, New York Review of Books On the Tibetan Plateau, there are wild yaks with blood cells thinner than those of horses’ by half, enabling the endangered yaks to survive at 40 below zero and in the lowest oxygen levels of the mountaintops. But climate change is causing the snow patterns here to shift, and with the snows, the entire ecosystem. Food and water are vaporizing in this warming environment, and these beasts of ice and thin air are extraordinarily ill-equipped for the change. A journey into some of the most forbidding landscapes on earth, Joel Berger’s Extreme Conservation is an eye-opening, steely look at what it takes for animals like these to live at the edges of existence. But more than this, it is a revealing exploration of how climate change and people are affecting even the most far-flung niches of our planet. Berger’s quest to understand these creatures’ struggles takes him to some of the most remote corners and peaks of the globe: across Arctic tundra and the frozen Chukchi Sea to study muskoxen, into the Bhutanese Himalayas to follow the rarely sighted takin, and through the Gobi Desert to track the proboscis-swinging saiga. Known as much for his rigorous, scientific methods of developing solutions to conservation challenges as for his penchant for donning moose and polar bear costumes to understand the mindsets of his subjects more closely, Berger is a guide par excellence. He is a scientist and storyteller who has made his life working with desert nomads, in zones that typically require Sherpas and oxygen canisters. Recounting animals as charismatic as their landscapes are extreme, Berger’s unforgettable tale carries us with humor and expertise to the ends of the earth and back. But as his adventures show, the more adapted a species has become to its particular ecological niche, the more devastating climate change can be. Life at the extremes is more challenging than ever, and the need for action, for solutions, has never been greater.
Extreme Conservation: Life at the Edges of the World
by Joel Berger"Extraordinary. . . . Berger is a hero of biology who deserves the highest honors that science can bestow."—Tim Flannery, New York Review of Books On the Tibetan Plateau, there are wild yaks with blood cells thinner than those of horses’ by half, enabling the endangered yaks to survive at 40 below zero and in the lowest oxygen levels of the mountaintops. But climate change is causing the snow patterns here to shift, and with the snows, the entire ecosystem. Food and water are vaporizing in this warming environment, and these beasts of ice and thin air are extraordinarily ill-equipped for the change. A journey into some of the most forbidding landscapes on earth, Joel Berger’s Extreme Conservation is an eye-opening, steely look at what it takes for animals like these to live at the edges of existence. But more than this, it is a revealing exploration of how climate change and people are affecting even the most far-flung niches of our planet. Berger’s quest to understand these creatures’ struggles takes him to some of the most remote corners and peaks of the globe: across Arctic tundra and the frozen Chukchi Sea to study muskoxen, into the Bhutanese Himalayas to follow the rarely sighted takin, and through the Gobi Desert to track the proboscis-swinging saiga. Known as much for his rigorous, scientific methods of developing solutions to conservation challenges as for his penchant for donning moose and polar bear costumes to understand the mindsets of his subjects more closely, Berger is a guide par excellence. He is a scientist and storyteller who has made his life working with desert nomads, in zones that typically require Sherpas and oxygen canisters. Recounting animals as charismatic as their landscapes are extreme, Berger’s unforgettable tale carries us with humor and expertise to the ends of the earth and back. But as his adventures show, the more adapted a species has become to its particular ecological niche, the more devastating climate change can be. Life at the extremes is more challenging than ever, and the need for action, for solutions, has never been greater.
Extreme Conservation: Life at the Edges of the World
by Joel Berger"Extraordinary. . . . Berger is a hero of biology who deserves the highest honors that science can bestow."—Tim Flannery, New York Review of Books On the Tibetan Plateau, there are wild yaks with blood cells thinner than those of horses’ by half, enabling the endangered yaks to survive at 40 below zero and in the lowest oxygen levels of the mountaintops. But climate change is causing the snow patterns here to shift, and with the snows, the entire ecosystem. Food and water are vaporizing in this warming environment, and these beasts of ice and thin air are extraordinarily ill-equipped for the change. A journey into some of the most forbidding landscapes on earth, Joel Berger’s Extreme Conservation is an eye-opening, steely look at what it takes for animals like these to live at the edges of existence. But more than this, it is a revealing exploration of how climate change and people are affecting even the most far-flung niches of our planet. Berger’s quest to understand these creatures’ struggles takes him to some of the most remote corners and peaks of the globe: across Arctic tundra and the frozen Chukchi Sea to study muskoxen, into the Bhutanese Himalayas to follow the rarely sighted takin, and through the Gobi Desert to track the proboscis-swinging saiga. Known as much for his rigorous, scientific methods of developing solutions to conservation challenges as for his penchant for donning moose and polar bear costumes to understand the mindsets of his subjects more closely, Berger is a guide par excellence. He is a scientist and storyteller who has made his life working with desert nomads, in zones that typically require Sherpas and oxygen canisters. Recounting animals as charismatic as their landscapes are extreme, Berger’s unforgettable tale carries us with humor and expertise to the ends of the earth and back. But as his adventures show, the more adapted a species has become to its particular ecological niche, the more devastating climate change can be. Life at the extremes is more challenging than ever, and the need for action, for solutions, has never been greater.
Extreme Conservation: Life at the Edges of the World
by Joel Berger"Extraordinary. . . . Berger is a hero of biology who deserves the highest honors that science can bestow."—Tim Flannery, New York Review of Books On the Tibetan Plateau, there are wild yaks with blood cells thinner than those of horses’ by half, enabling the endangered yaks to survive at 40 below zero and in the lowest oxygen levels of the mountaintops. But climate change is causing the snow patterns here to shift, and with the snows, the entire ecosystem. Food and water are vaporizing in this warming environment, and these beasts of ice and thin air are extraordinarily ill-equipped for the change. A journey into some of the most forbidding landscapes on earth, Joel Berger’s Extreme Conservation is an eye-opening, steely look at what it takes for animals like these to live at the edges of existence. But more than this, it is a revealing exploration of how climate change and people are affecting even the most far-flung niches of our planet. Berger’s quest to understand these creatures’ struggles takes him to some of the most remote corners and peaks of the globe: across Arctic tundra and the frozen Chukchi Sea to study muskoxen, into the Bhutanese Himalayas to follow the rarely sighted takin, and through the Gobi Desert to track the proboscis-swinging saiga. Known as much for his rigorous, scientific methods of developing solutions to conservation challenges as for his penchant for donning moose and polar bear costumes to understand the mindsets of his subjects more closely, Berger is a guide par excellence. He is a scientist and storyteller who has made his life working with desert nomads, in zones that typically require Sherpas and oxygen canisters. Recounting animals as charismatic as their landscapes are extreme, Berger’s unforgettable tale carries us with humor and expertise to the ends of the earth and back. But as his adventures show, the more adapted a species has become to its particular ecological niche, the more devastating climate change can be. Life at the extremes is more challenging than ever, and the need for action, for solutions, has never been greater.
Extreme Insects
by Richard JonesInsects are the most extreme organisms on Earth and, despite their diminutive size, they wield inordinate power. With the exception of the polar icecaps, every terrestrial ecosystem on earth is colonized by them, and they account for almost three-quarters of all named animals – that's one million species at the last count!
The Extreme Life of the Sea (Princeton Science Library #125)
by Anthony R. Palumbi Stephen R. PalumbiA thrilling tour of the sea's most extreme species, coauthored by one of the world's leading marine scientistsThe ocean teems with life that thrives under difficult situations in unusual environments. The Extreme Life of the Sea takes readers to the absolute limits of the ocean world—the fastest and deepest, the hottest and oldest creatures of the oceans. It dives into the icy Arctic and boiling hydrothermal vents—and exposes the eternal darkness of the deepest undersea trenches—to show how marine life thrives against the odds. This thrilling book brings to life the sea's most extreme species, and tells their stories as characters in the drama of the oceans. Coauthored by Stephen Palumbi, one of today’s leading marine scientists, The Extreme Life of the Sea tells the unforgettable tales of some of the most marvelous life forms on Earth, and the challenges they overcome to survive. Modern science and a fluid narrative style give every reader a deep look at the lives of these species.The Extreme Life of the Sea shows you the world’s oldest living species. It describes how flying fish strain to escape their predators, how predatory deep-sea fish use red searchlights only they can see to find and attack food, and how, at the end of her life, a mother octopus dedicates herself to raising her batch of young. This wide-ranging and highly accessible book also shows how ocean adaptations can inspire innovative commercial products—such as fan blades modeled on the flippers of humpback whales—and how future extremes created by human changes to the oceans might push some of these amazing species over the edge.
The Extreme Life of the Sea (Princeton Science Library #125)
by Anthony R. Palumbi Stephen R. PalumbiA thrilling tour of the sea's most extreme species, coauthored by one of the world's leading marine scientistsThe ocean teems with life that thrives under difficult situations in unusual environments. The Extreme Life of the Sea takes readers to the absolute limits of the ocean world—the fastest and deepest, the hottest and oldest creatures of the oceans. It dives into the icy Arctic and boiling hydrothermal vents—and exposes the eternal darkness of the deepest undersea trenches—to show how marine life thrives against the odds. This thrilling book brings to life the sea's most extreme species, and tells their stories as characters in the drama of the oceans. Coauthored by Stephen Palumbi, one of today’s leading marine scientists, The Extreme Life of the Sea tells the unforgettable tales of some of the most marvelous life forms on Earth, and the challenges they overcome to survive. Modern science and a fluid narrative style give every reader a deep look at the lives of these species.The Extreme Life of the Sea shows you the world’s oldest living species. It describes how flying fish strain to escape their predators, how predatory deep-sea fish use red searchlights only they can see to find and attack food, and how, at the end of her life, a mother octopus dedicates herself to raising her batch of young. This wide-ranging and highly accessible book also shows how ocean adaptations can inspire innovative commercial products—such as fan blades modeled on the flippers of humpback whales—and how future extremes created by human changes to the oceans might push some of these amazing species over the edge.
The Extreme Life of the Sea
by Stephen R. Palumbi Anthony R. PalumbiThe ocean teems with life that thrives under difficult situations in unusual environments. The Extreme Life of the Sea takes readers to the absolute limits of the ocean world—the fastest and deepest, the hottest and oldest creatures of the oceans. It dives into the icy Arctic and boiling hydrothermal vents—and exposes the eternal darkness of the deepest undersea trenches—to show how marine life thrives against the odds. This thrilling book brings to life the sea's most extreme species, and tells their stories as characters in the drama of the oceans. Coauthored by Stephen Palumbi, one of today’s leading marine scientists, The Extreme Life of the Sea tells the unforgettable tales of some of the most marvelous life forms on Earth, and the challenges they overcome to survive. Modern science and a fluid narrative style give every reader a deep look at the lives of these species. The Extreme Life of the Sea shows you the world’s oldest living species. It describes how flying fish strain to escape their predators, how predatory deep-sea fish use red searchlights only they can see to find and attack food, and how, at the end of her life, a mother octopus dedicates herself to raising her batch of young. This wide-ranging and highly accessible book also shows how ocean adaptations can inspire innovative commercial products—such as fan blades modeled on the flippers of humpback whales—and how future extremes created by human changes to the oceans might push some of these amazing species over the edge.An enhanced edition is also available and includes eleven videos.
The Extreme Life of the Sea
by Stephen R. Palumbi Anthony R. PalumbiThe ocean teems with life that thrives under difficult situations in unusual environments. The Extreme Life of the Sea takes readers to the absolute limits of the ocean world—the fastest and deepest, the hottest and oldest creatures of the oceans. It dives into the icy Arctic and boiling hydrothermal vents—and exposes the eternal darkness of the deepest undersea trenches—to show how marine life thrives against the odds. This thrilling book brings to life the sea's most extreme species, and tells their stories as characters in the drama of the oceans. Coauthored by Stephen Palumbi, one of today’s leading marine scientists, The Extreme Life of the Sea tells the unforgettable tales of some of the most marvelous life forms on Earth, and the challenges they overcome to survive. Modern science and a fluid narrative style give every reader a deep look at the lives of these species. The Extreme Life of the Sea shows you the world’s oldest living species. It describes how flying fish strain to escape their predators, how predatory deep-sea fish use red searchlights only they can see to find and attack food, and how, at the end of her life, a mother octopus dedicates herself to raising her batch of young. This wide-ranging and highly accessible book also shows how ocean adaptations can inspire innovative commercial products—such as fan blades modeled on the flippers of humpback whales—and how future extremes created by human changes to the oceans might push some of these amazing species over the edge.An enhanced edition is also available and includes eleven videos.
Extreme Measures: The Ecological Energetics of Birds and Mammals
by Brian K. McNabAlong with reproduction, balancing energy expenditure with the limits of resource acquisition is essential for both a species and a population to survive. But energy is a limited resource, as we know well, so birds and mammals—the most energy-intensive fauna on the planet—must reduce energy expenditures to maintain this balance, some taking small steps, and others extreme measures. Here Brian K. McNab draws on his over sixty years in the field to provide a comprehensive account of the energetics of birds and mammals, one fully integrated with their natural history. McNab begins with an overview of thermal rates—much of our own energy is spent maintaining our 98.6?F temperature—and explains how the basal rate of metabolism drives energy use, especially in extreme environments. He then explores those variables that interact with the basal rate of metabolism, like body size and scale and environments, highlighting their influence on behavior, distribution, and even reproductive output. Successive chapters take up energy and population dynamics and evolution. A critical central theme that runs through the book is how the energetic needs of birds and mammals come up against rapid environmental change and how this is hastening the pace of extinction.
Extreme Measures: The Ecological Energetics of Birds and Mammals
by Brian K. McNabAlong with reproduction, balancing energy expenditure with the limits of resource acquisition is essential for both a species and a population to survive. But energy is a limited resource, as we know well, so birds and mammals—the most energy-intensive fauna on the planet—must reduce energy expenditures to maintain this balance, some taking small steps, and others extreme measures. Here Brian K. McNab draws on his over sixty years in the field to provide a comprehensive account of the energetics of birds and mammals, one fully integrated with their natural history. McNab begins with an overview of thermal rates—much of our own energy is spent maintaining our 98.6?F temperature—and explains how the basal rate of metabolism drives energy use, especially in extreme environments. He then explores those variables that interact with the basal rate of metabolism, like body size and scale and environments, highlighting their influence on behavior, distribution, and even reproductive output. Successive chapters take up energy and population dynamics and evolution. A critical central theme that runs through the book is how the energetic needs of birds and mammals come up against rapid environmental change and how this is hastening the pace of extinction.