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Author: Patricia Vickers-Rich
Publisher: Raupo
Published: 1993-01-01
Total Pages: 276
ISBN-13: 9780730103158
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis volume traces the history of the vertebrate faunas of Gondwana. The authors begin with the origins of life before the Gondwanan landmass coalesced.
Author: Patricia Vickers-Rich
Publisher:
Published: 1999
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9780253336439
DOWNLOAD EBOOKLooks at the wildlife of the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana.
Author: Barry Walker
Publisher: Bradt Travel Guides
Published: 2007
Total Pages: 148
ISBN-13: 9781841621678
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis new guide is the ideal companion for trekkers or sightseers, providing concise coverage of the plants and animals they are most likely to encounter. A colorful and very readable guide, catering to the ardent wildlife enthusiast and the curious armchair traveler alike.
Author: Roger Laurence Kitching
Publisher:
Published: 2010
Total Pages: 351
ISBN-13: 9780980311358
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe rainforests of Australia cover only 4% of Australia's land mass but contain 50% of Australia's plant and animals life. This superb synthesis of these Heritage listed forests covers all aspects of conservation, plant and animal biology, and cultural significance. The World Heritage Gondwana Rainforests of Australia represent the major remaining areas of rainforest in south-east Queensland and north-east New South Wales. The property as described on the World Heritage List formally comprises parts of 27 national parks, 7 nature reserves and several other Crown reserves, located between Brisbane (in Queensland) and Newcastle (in New South Wales).
Author: Channa N. B. Bambaradeniya
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Published: 2009
Total Pages: 296
ISBN-13: 9780520257856
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis vividly illustrated atlas is the essential wildlife reference, providing a spectacular visual survey of animals and their habitats across the globe.
Author: George Gibbs
Publisher:
Published: 2016-10
Total Pages: 416
ISBN-13: 9780947503086
DOWNLOAD EBOOKHave you ever wondered why New Zealand's plants and animals are so different from those in other countries? Why kakapo is the only parrot in the world that cannot fly, or why the kiwi lives here and nowhere else? New Zealand is an extraordinary place, unique on earth, and the remarkable story of how and why life evolved here is the subject of Ghosts of Gondwana. The challenge of explaining New Zealand's natural origins is picked up in this fully revised edition of the popular award-winning book. It presents the latest scientific research in highly readable form, highlighting studies that reveal the deep historical background of our landscapes, fauna and flora - from ancient frogs and moa to delicate insects and the magnificent southern beech forests. It introduces the latest discoveries and resolves past issues like the 'Oligocene drowning' hypothesis. Exciting fossil discoveries are revealed and new scientific technologies and approaches to the discipline of historical biogeography are discussed - approaches that range from undersea geology to molecular clocks - and it inevitably draws attention to the debates and conflicts that distinguish different schools of opinion in this holistic branch of theoretical science. This revision incorporates the results of 10 years of intensive scientific research and includes four entirely new chapters to: focus on 'yesterday's maps' to draw attention to the ephemeral islands in our history that have possibly acted as stepping stones for terrestrial animals and plants but today have sunk into the sea; incorporate the author's own special interest in an ancient group of 'jaw-moths', unknown and unnoticed by most people but with a strong message that New Zealand is part of the world when it comes to explaining where our fauna have come from; present recent research findings on our huge flightless birds, the ratites; and include New Zealand's terrestrial molluscs into the story. Ghosts of Gondwana identifies New Zealand as one of the most challenging places on earth to explain, but it's readable, engaging style and revised illustrations render this often-controversial discipline of science into a format that is accessible to any reader with an interest in natural history and the unique environment of New Zealand.
Author: John A. Long
Publisher: JHU Press
Published: 2002
Total Pages: 258
ISBN-13: 9780801872235
DOWNLOAD EBOOKDiagrams showing skeletal features and tooth structure and a glossary of technical terms are included.
Author: Louise Egerton
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 2009-09-01
Total Pages: 610
ISBN-13: 1741760496
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThere is nothing to beat the extraordinary wildlife of Australia. Its colourful parrots, its venomous snakes, its abundance of hopping marsupials and the strange, egg-laying Platypus - these are just a few of the players in a story that began hundreds of millions of year ago. Many members of Australia's wildlife live nowhere else on Earth. They are unique, the result of evolution on a continent that has been geographically isolated from the rest of the world for 38 million years. Wildlife of Australia is an account of how these animals have developed in response to changing climates and habitats. It describes their day-to-day habits, where they live, how they find partners and care for their young, and how they protect themselves and find food and shelter. Superbly illustrated with over 550 colour photographs by renowned wildlife photographer Jiri Lochman, the book also contains a list of scientific names, good zoos and wildlife parks, useful websites and books, and a comprehensive glossary. Wildlife of Australia reveals the fascinating worlds of the animals that live all around us on this ancient land but remain largely unnoticed.
Author: Alan de Queiroz
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 2014-01-07
Total Pages: 370
ISBN-13: 0465069762
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThroughout the world, closely related species are found on landmasses separated by wide stretches of ocean. What explains these far-flung distributions? Why are such species found where they are across the Earth? Since the discovery of plate tectonics, scientists have conjectured that plants and animals were scattered over the globe by riding pieces of ancient supercontinents as they broke up. In the past decade, however, that theory has foundered, as the genomic revolution has made reams of new data available. And the data has revealed an extraordinary, stranger-than-fiction story that has sparked a scientific upheaval. In The Monkey's Voyage, biologist Alan de Queiroz describes the radical new view of how fragmented distributions came into being: frogs and mammals rode on rafts and icebergs, tiny spiders drifted on storm winds, and plant seeds were carried in the plumage of sea-going birds to create the map of life we see today. In other words, these organisms were not simply constrained by continental fate; they were the makers of their own geographic destiny. And as de Queiroz shows, the effects of oceanic dispersal have been crucial in generating the diversity of life on Earth, from monkeys and guinea pigs in South America to beech trees and kiwi birds in New Zealand. By toppling the idea that the slow process of continental drift is the main force behind the odd distributions of organisms, this theory highlights the dynamic and unpredictable nature of the history of life. In the tradition of John McPhee's Basin and Range, The Monkey's Voyage is a beautifully told narrative that strikingly reveals the importance of contingency in history and the nature of scientific discovery.
