Natural History

With changes in technology and a renewed effort to catalog the world’s biodiversity, huge amounts of data are being generated on biodiversity issues. As response to the call for better information systems to manage the biodiversity crisis, a wide range of solutions are being developed for inventoryi..

Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. It is an integrative field of inquiry that unites concepts and information from ecology, evolutionary biology, and other biological sciences as well as geography and geology. This..

Containing contributions from leading proponents of differing methods within biogeography, this book defines the differing, sometimes conflicting, perspectives in the field and their methodological approaches. This gives readers the opportunity to re-focus on a range of issues including the role of ..

Analyzing the evolutionary losses characteristic of subterranean animals, this volume is a comprehensive account of all known subterranean species. Cataloging examples of eyelessness and loss of structure in general, it evaluates the Lamarkian theory of degeneration evident in these animals versus t..

Analyzing the evolutionary losses characteristic of subterranean animals, this volume is a comprehensive account of all known subterranean species. Cataloging examples of eyelessness and loss of structure in general, it evaluates the Lamarkian theory of degeneration evident in these animals versus t..

The combined anatomical materials provided in this book point out that modern humans have fewer head, neck, pectoral and upper limb muscles than most other living primates, but are consistent with the proposal that facial and vocal communication and specialized thumb movements have probably played a..

Reflecting the wide variety of ideas and hypotheses concerning decapod phylogeny, the world’s leading decapodologists assemble their knowledge in this volume for the sole purpose of elucidating these relationships. These experts present methodological updates for research on the diversity and relati..

Examining the conditions necessary to support life in a wide range of environments, this book investigates the parameters required and the destruction thereof. Given that the loss of viable habitat is the primary cause of species extinction, the book clearly establishes this link and maintains that ..

In this collection, first published in 1951, the central theme is that everything has a history, and that we cannot fully understand anything without some knowledge of its history. Professor Haldane writes mainly on geology, astronomy and zoology, but includes a variety of other topics, including eu..

Written by leading biogeographers, based upon the dynamic studies over the last 30 years, this revision of Australasian biogeography covers terrestrial, freshwater, and marine organisms. A handbook, rather than a natural history, the volume is a unique resource that is invaluable to anyone intereste..

When looking at groups of organisms, shared characteristics (homologues) provide the raw data from which hypotheses of common ancestry may be suggested. In order to explore the relationship between homologues and particular hypotheses of common ancestry, complex matrices are devised, where homologue..

Unique in its approach, this work updates our understanding of human variation by employing both laboratory and field perspectives. Written by a team of scientists, it reviews the way we examine and analyze human variation with special reference to genetics, growth and development, and physiology. I..