Farming and the Fate of Wild Nature addresses an urgent and complex issue facing communities and cultures throughout the world: the need for heightened land stewardship and conservation in an era of diminishing natural resources. Agricultural lands in rural areas are being purchased for development. Water scarcities are pitting urban and development expansion against agriculture and conservation needs. The farming population is ageing and retiring,...

The ecologist and author of Do We Need Pandas? "presents a stimulating challenge to our perceptions of nature" and non-native species (George Monbiot). You may be surprised to learn that camels evolved and lived for tens of millions of years in North America-and also that the leek, national symbol of Wales, was a Roman import to Britain, as were chickens, rabbits and pheasants. These classic examples highlight the issues of "native" and "invasive"...

This very readable overview of natural history explores the dynamics that have made our planet so rich in biodiversity over time and supported the rise and dominance of our own species. Tracing the arc of evolutionary history, biologist William C. Burger shows that cooperation and symbiosis have played a critical role in the ever-increasing complexity of life on earth. Life may have started from the evolution of cooperating organic molecules, which...

Historical biogeography-the study of the history of species through both time and place-first convinced Charles Darwin of evolution. This field was so important to Darwin's initial theories and line of thinking that he said as much in the very first paragraph of On the Origin of Species (1859) and later in his autobiography. His methods included collecting mammalian fossils in South America clearly related to living forms, tracing the geographical...

Over 400 photos of representative feathers from 379 species.

"In the past year, we have witnessed unprecedented breakthroughs in the seemingly unrelated fields of synthetic biology and exoplanetary astronomy. Just recently, arsenic-based bacteria was discovered in a California lake-both puzzling and electrifying the scientific world. In The Life of Super-Earths, expert astronomer Dimitar Sasselov aims to highlight these groundbreaking findings and explain how what we learn in the laboratory informs our investigation...

This book is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Mark Maslin, Professor of Geography at University College London. The conversation explores Prof. Maslin's research on the Anthropocene which according to his definition began when human impacts on the planet irrevocably started to change the course of the Earth's biological and geographical trajectory, leading to climate change, loss of biodiversity, deforestation, and...

Where did the human species originate, why are tropical peoples much more diverse than those at polar latitudes, and why can only Japanese peoples digest seaweed? In Humankind, U. C. Davis professor Alexander Harcourt answers these questions and more, as he explains how the expansion of the human species around the globe and our interaction with our environment explains much about why humans differ from one region of the world to another, not only...

Appreciating The Human Body- How science continues uncovering awe-inspiring details in anatomyWhile the media often depicts limited types of bodies, this book celebrates how wonderfully made each person is. When we understand how our bodies are formed, we gain reverence for God's attention to detail.Appreciate the human body God gave you! Get your copy of Wonderfully Made to embark on this faith-affirming journey through the biology of life.Learn...

The 2nd edition of this beautifully illustrated guide to the spiders of North America, north of Mexico, provides completely updated keys and information about this important part of North American fauna. This is an indispensable reference for anyone interested in spider diversity or identification. This updated edition provides more than 1,400 illustrations and keys to the genera in 71 spider families. Over 600 genera are included. Taxonomic changes...