A common Huntsman spider is caught in the world of a little human girl. Will the Huntsman spider survive? Children are too often taught to quickly rid their world of pesky, scary spiders. A Huntsman Spider in My House is an imaginative and engaging story of a Huntsman spider and a little girl, designed for young children all over the world. The delightfully simple style and vivid graphics will entertain and inspire children to appreciate the world in which they live. A Huntsman Spider in My House is the first in the Little Aussie Critters children’s book series.
Human population is growing rapidly, disproportionate to food supply, which necessitate production of more volume of food in the near future. The reliance on insecticides for quick and dramatic results was not totally free from adverse effects. This book intends to fill the gap by providing a critical analysis of different management strategies that have a bearing on agriculture, sustainability, and environmental protection. This book emphasizes the management strategies with evaluation of each strategy in the bigger picture of ecologically driven pest management. This book includes 24 chapters, which cover ecological and biorational basis of pest management, integrated pest and disease management, crop breeding for resistance, use of entomopathogenic nematodes and other agents, remote sensing, biosecurity issues, risk to biodiversity by exotic species, new and emerging pests of horticultural crops, saffron and stored grains, the role of extension technologies in dissemination of IPM and, future challenges and strategies. The book is aimed to serve as reference book for teachers, researchers, extension officers, and policy makers associated with IPM. This book can also be used as supplementary reading material in undergraduate and postgraduate courses. This book provides a multidisciplinary IPM perspective to entomologists, plant pathologists, extension educationists, anthropologist and economists.
“Delightful and charming . . . Deliver[s] a valuable lesson on treating all such creatures with respect, without falling into the trap of being preachy.” —Kiddiespace A Huntsman Spider in My House features a young girl concerned about the huge unwelcome guest in her room. Rather than reacting by immediately killing the spider, as commonly taught by society, she finds another way: She catches the Huntsman instead, and then releases it outside to let it live and contribute to the ecosystem of Australian fauna. The little girl’s actions show that insects are important, necessary, not so scary, and support the world too. “The young, nameless female protagonist of Sylvie Ashford’s charming book speaks in rhyme as she explains the habits of Huntsman Spiders to children as well as to the adults that read the book aloud . . . We thoroughly endorse educating young children to have more tolerance for the lower beasts.” —What’s That Bug? “The story follows her beautifully simplistic childlike thought process as she explores her feelings about it, and the ways in which the spider could be dealt with . . . It leaves you with a deep sense of satisfaction, and provides a practical fear-resolution solution to which kids of all ages can relate.” —Kiddiespace “Michelle Ray, author of A Huntsman Spider in My House, does a wonderful job weaving a story to teach young children not to be afraid.” —The Education Cafe
Explores the physical characteristics and behavior of spiders, discusses their role in myth and legend, provides an illustrated guide to spider-watching, and offers tips on conquering arachnophobia.
Spiders are among the most diverse groups of terrestrial invertebrates, yet they are among the least studied and understood. This first comprehensive guide to all 68 spider families in North America beautifully illustrates 469 of the most commonly encountered species. Group keys enable identification by web type and other observable details, and species descriptions include identification tips, typical habitat, geographic distribution, and behavioral notes. A concise illustrated introduction to spider biology and anatomy explains spider relationships. This book is a critical resource for curious naturalists who want to understand this ubiquitous and ecologically critical component of our biosphere.
The brown recluse is a fascinating spider very well adapted to dwelling in houses and other buildings. Because of this very quality and the ghastly reputation associated with the medical consequences of its bite, it has become infamous throughout North America. Although recluse spiders can cause serious skin injuries and, in very rare cases, death, the danger posed by this spider is often exaggerated as a result of arachnophobia and the misdiagnosis of non-spider-related conditions as brown recluse bites. These misdiagnoses often occur in areas of North America where the spider does not exist, making legitimate bites improbable. One of the greatest factors that keeps the myths alive is misidentification of common (and harmless) spiders as brown recluses. With this book, Richard S. Vetter hopes to educate readers regarding the biology of the spider and medical aspects of its bites, to reduce the incidence of misdiagnoses, and to quell misplaced anxiety. In The Brown Recluse Spider, Vetter covers topics such as taxonomy, identification, misidentification, life history characteristics and biology, medical aspects of envenomations, medical conditions misdiagnosed as brown recluse bites, other spider species of medical consideration (several of which have been wrongly implicated as threats to human health), and the psychology behind the entrenched reasons why people believe so deeply in the presence of the spider in the face of strong, contradictory information. Vetter also makes recommendations for control of the spider for households in areas where the spiders are found and describes other species of recluse spiders in North America. Although The Brown Recluse Spider was written for a general audience, it is also a valuable source of information for arachnologists and medical personnel.
A comprehensively updated edition of an identification guide that was named a Guardian Best Nature Book of the Year Now in a comprehensively revised and updated new edition, Britain’s Spiders is a guide to all 38 of the British families, focussing on spiders that can be identified in the field. Illustrated with a remarkable collection of photographs, it is designed to be accessible to a wide audience, including those new to spider identification. This book pushes the boundaries of field identification for this challenging group, combining information on features that can be seen with the naked eye or a hand lens with additional evidence from webs, egg sacs, behaviour, phenology, habitats and distributions. Individual accounts cover 404 species—all of Britain’s “macro” spiders and the larger money spiders, with the limitations to field identification clearly explained. This new edition includes nine species new to Britain, many recent name changes, updated distribution maps and species information, new guides to help identify spider families and distinctive species, and the latest species checklist. A guide to spider families, based on features recognizable in the field, focussing on body shape and other characteristics, as well as separate guides to webs and egg-sacs Detailed accounts and more than 700 stunning photographs highlight key identification features for each genus and species, and include information on status, behaviour and habitats Up-to-date distribution maps, and charts showing adult seasonality Introductory chapters on the biology of spiders, and where, when and how to find them, including equipment needed in the field A complete list of the spiders recorded in Britain, indicating the ease of identification as well as rarity and conservation status Information on how to record spiders and make your records count, and guidance on how to take your interest further New to this edition: coverage of nine species new to Britain, updated species information and distribution maps, identification guides to spider families and distinctive species, and the latest species checklist
Australians have a love–hate relationship with spiders. Some spiders, such as the Redback and the Sydney Funnelweb, inspire fear. Yet Peacock Spiders, with their colourful fan-spreading courtship dances, have won rapturous appreciation worldwide. A Field Guide to Spiders of Australia uses photographs of living animals to help people identify many of the spiders they encounter. Featuring over 1300 colour photographs, it is the most comprehensive account of Australian spiders ever published. With more than two-thirds of Australian spiders yet to be scientifically described, this book sets the scene for future explorations of our extraordinary Australian fauna. This field guide will be enjoyed by naturalists and anyone with an interest in learning more about Australia's incredible arachnids.
This shocking, surprisingly entertaining romp into the intellectual nether regions of today's underthirty set reveals the disturbing and, ultimately, incontrovertible truth: cyberculture is turning us into a society of know-nothings. The Dumbest Generation is a dire report on the intellectual life of young adults and a timely warning of its impact on American democracy and culture. For decades, concern has been brewing about the dumbed-down popular culture available to young people and the impact it has on their futures. But at the dawn of the digital age, many thought they saw an answer: the internet, email, blogs, and interactive and hyper-realistic video games promised to yield a generation of sharper, more aware, and intellectually sophisticated children. The terms “information superhighway” and “knowledge economy” entered the lexicon, and we assumed that teens would use their knowledge and understanding of technology to set themselves apart as the vanguards of this new digital era. That was the promise. But the enlightenment didn’t happen. The technology that was supposed to make young adults more aware, diversify their tastes, and improve their verbal skills has had the opposite effect. According to recent reports from the National Endowment for the Arts, most young people in the United States do not read literature, visit museums, or vote. They cannot explain basic scientific methods, recount basic American history, name their local political representatives, or locate Iraq or Israel on a map. The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future is a startling examination of the intellectual life of young adults and a timely warning of its impact on American culture and democracy. Over the last few decades, how we view adolescence itself has changed, growing from a pitstop on the road to adulthood to its own space in society, wholly separate from adult life. This change in adolescent culture has gone hand in hand with an insidious infantilization of our culture at large; as adolescents continue to disengage from the adult world, they have built their own, acquiring more spending money, steering classrooms and culture towards their own needs and interests, and now using the technology once promoted as the greatest hope for their futures to indulge in diversions, from MySpace to multiplayer video games, 24/7. Can a nation continue to enjoy political and economic predominance if its citizens refuse to grow up? Drawing upon exhaustive research, personal anecdotes, and historical and social analysis, The Dumbest Generation presents a portrait of the young American mind at this critical juncture, and lays out a compelling vision of how we might address its deficiencies. The Dumbest Generation pulls no punches as it reveals the true cost of the digital age—and our last chance to fix it.
