Color and Shape Books for All Ages calls attention to more than 450 titles focused on the concepts of color and shape. The purposes of the color and shape books range from simply learning the names of colors or identifying simple shapes, to recognizing intricate geometric shapes, or even understanding how color affects responses, moods, and attitudes.
Lowly Worm is one of Richard Scarry's best loved characters, and the star of this lively collection of stories, in which he takes an unexpected ride on a hot-air balloon; helps Huckle find just the right gift for Mother Cat; rides the roller coaster at the fair and builds a castle at the beach. With everything from bike crashes to a big birthday surprise, these stories show exactly why Lowly is one special worm, loved the world over. Every page has something to delight over and discuss.
“Vivian French tells a gardening adventure and offers underground facts, including helpful hints on how to become a ‘wormologist.’ “ — USA Today Who would want to be friends with a wiggly, slimy worm? You can’t even tell which end is which! But there’s more to these lowly creatures than meets the eye. Kids are invited to find out where worms live, see how they move, and understand why gardeners consider them friends with the help of this humorous and informative look at an unappreciated — and fascinating — creature. Back matter includes further information about worms and an index.
This book is a concise and well-illustrated treatment of the conventional knowledge and modern utilities of earthworms. The first two chapters deal with earthworm morphology, food relationship, behavior, functional role, interaction with soil biota, and the influence of environmental factors. Earthworms found in the tropics and sub-tropics are also discussed in this section. The third chapter provides a good account of utilizing species of worms to produce high value manure through vermitechnology and its application in agriculture. The nutritional and medicinal values of earthworms are illustrated in the fourth chapter, while the fifth c provides information on how earthworms are used successfully as indicators of ecological perturbations, soil quality and for remediation of contaminated soils. The book will immensely benefit students, faculty and researchers in biological, agricultural and environmental sciences. It is also a source of information for anyone interested in knowing more about earthworms.
This volume provides in-depth reviews of model systems that exemplify the arms race in host-pathogen interactions. Somatic adaptations are responsible for the individualization of biological responses to the environment, and the continual struggle between host immune systems and invading pathogens has given rise to corresponding processes that produce molecular variation. Whether in mollusks or human beings, various host somatic mechanisms have evolved independently, providing responses to counter rapidly-changing pathogens. The pathways they utilize can include non-heritable changes involving RNA and post-translational modifications, or changes that produce somatic DNA recombination and mutation. For infectious organisms such as protozoans and flatworms, antigenic variation is central to their survival strategy. Evolving the ability to evade the host immune system not only increases their chances of survival but is also necessary for successful re-infection within the host population.