Download or read book Holocene Extinctions written by Samuel T. Turvey and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2009-05-28 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The extent to which human activity has influenced species extinctions during the recent prehistoric past remains controversial due to other factors such as climatic fluctuations and a general lack of data. However, the Holocene (the geological interval spanning the last 11,500 years from the end of the last glaciation) has witnessed massive levels of extinctions that have continued into the modern historical era, but in a context of only relatively minor climatic fluctuations. This makes a detailed consideration of these extinctions a useful system for investigating the impacts of human activity over time. Holocene Extinctions describes and analyses the range of global extinction events which have occurred during this key time period, as well as their relationship to both earlier and ongoing species losses. By integrating information from fields as diverse as zoology, ecology, palaeontology, archaeology and geography, and by incorporating data from a broad range of taxonomic groups and ecosystems, this novel text provides a fascinating insight into human impacts on global extinction rates, both past and present. This truly interdisciplinary book is suitable for both graduate students and researchers in these varied fields. It will also be of value and use to policy-makers and conservation professionals since it provides valuable guidance on how to apply lessons from the past to prevent future biodiversity loss and inform modern conservation planning.
Download or read book The Sixth Extinction written by Elizabeth Kolbert and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2014-02-11 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR A major book about the future of the world, blending intellectual and natural history and field reporting into a powerful account of the mass extinction unfolding before our eyes Over the last half a billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. This time around, the cataclysm is us. In The Sixth Extinction, two-time winner of the National Magazine Award and New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert draws on the work of scores of researchers in half a dozen disciplines, accompanying many of them into the field: geologists who study deep ocean cores, botanists who follow the tree line as it climbs up the Andes, marine biologists who dive off the Great Barrier Reef. She introduces us to a dozen species, some already gone, others facing extinction, including the Panamian golden frog, staghorn coral, the great auk, and the Sumatran rhino. Through these stories, Kolbert provides a moving account of the disappearances occurring all around us and traces the evolution of extinction as concept, from its first articulation by Georges Cuvier in revolutionary Paris up through the present day. The sixth extinction is likely to be mankind's most lasting legacy; as Kolbert observes, it compels us to rethink the fundamental question of what it means to be human.
Download or read book The Sixth Extinction written by Elizabeth Kolbert and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2014-02-11 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Draws on the work of geologists, botanists, marine biologists and other researchers to discuss the five devastating mass extinctions on Earth and predicts the coming of a sixth.
Download or read book The Sixth Extinction young readers adaptation written by Elizabeth Kolbert and published by Henry Holt and Company (BYR). This book was released on 2024-02-06 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this young readers adaptation of the New York Times-bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning The Sixth Extinction, Elizabeth Kolbert tells us why and how human beings have altered life on the planet in a way no species has before. Over the last half-billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. Adapting from her New York Times-bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning adult nonfiction, Elizabeth Kolbert explores how humans are altering life on Earth.
Download or read book American Megafaunal Extinctions at the End of the Pleistocene written by Gary Haynes and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-12-23 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The volume contains summaries of facts, theories, and unsolved problems pertaining to the unexplained extinction of dozens of genera of mostly large terrestrial mammals, which occurred ca. 13,000 calendar years ago in North America and about 1,000 years later in South America. Another equally mysterious wave of extinctions affected large Caribbean islands around 5,000 years ago. The coupling of these extinctions with the earliest appearance of human beings has led to the suggestion that foraging humans are to blame, although major climatic shifts were also taking place in the Americas during some of the extinctions. The last published volume with similar (but not identical) themes -- Extinctions in Near Time -- appeared in 1999; since then a great deal of innovative, exciting new research has been done but has not yet been compiled and summarized. Different chapters in this volume provide in-depth resumés of the chronology of the extinctions in North and South America, the possible insights into animal ecology provided by studies of stable isotopes and anatomical/physiological characteristics such as growth increments in mammoth and mastodont tusks, the clues from taphonomic research about large-mammal biology, the applications of dating methods to the extinctions debate, and archeological controversies concerning human hunting of large mammals.
Download or read book End of the Megafauna The Fate of the World s Hugest Fiercest and Strangest Animals written by Ross D E MacPhee and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2018-11-13 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fascinating lives and puzzling demise of some of the largest animals on earth. Until a few thousand years ago, creatures that could have been from a sci-fi thriller—including gorilla-sized lemurs, 500-pound birds, and crocodiles that weighed a ton or more—roamed the earth. These great beasts, or “megafauna,” lived on every habitable continent and on many islands. With a handful of exceptions, all are now gone. What caused the disappearance of these prehistoric behemoths? No one event can be pinpointed as a specific cause, but several factors may have played a role. Paleomammalogist Ross D. E. MacPhee explores them all, examining the leading extinction theories, weighing the evidence, and presenting his own conclusions. He shows how theories of human overhunting and catastrophic climate change fail to account for critical features of these extinctions, and how new thinking is needed to elucidate these mysterious losses. Along the way, we learn how time is determined in earth history; how DNA is used to explain the genomics and phylogenetic history of megafauna—and how synthetic biology and genetic engineering may be able to reintroduce these giants of the past. Until then, gorgeous four-color illustrations by Peter Schouten re-create these megabeasts here in vivid detail.
Download or read book In the Light of Evolution written by National Academy of Sciences and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2017-01-01 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biodiversity-the genetic variety of life-is an exuberant product of the evolutionary past, a vast human-supportive resource (aesthetic, intellectual, and material) of the present, and a rich legacy to cherish and preserve for the future. Two urgent challenges, and opportunities, for 21st-century science are to gain deeper insights into the evolutionary processes that foster biotic diversity, and to translate that understanding into workable solutions for the regional and global crises that biodiversity currently faces. A grasp of evolutionary principles and processes is important in other societal arenas as well, such as education, medicine, sociology, and other applied fields including agriculture, pharmacology, and biotechnology. The ramifications of evolutionary thought also extend into learned realms traditionally reserved for philosophy and religion. The central goal of the In the Light of Evolution (ILE) series is to promote the evolutionary sciences through state-of-the-art colloquia-in the series of Arthur M. Sackler colloquia sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences-and their published proceedings. Each installment explores evolutionary perspectives on a particular biological topic that is scientifically intriguing but also has special relevance to contemporary societal issues or challenges. This tenth and final edition of the In the Light of Evolution series focuses on recent developments in phylogeographic research and their relevance to past accomplishments and future research directions.
Download or read book Extinctions in Near Time written by Ross D.E. MacPhee and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-09 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Near time" -an interval that spans the last 100,000 years or so of earth history-qualifies as a remarkable period for many reasons. From an anthropocentric point of view, the out standing feature of near time is the fact that the evolution, cultural diversification, and glob al spread of Homo sapiens have all occurred within it. From a wider biological perspective, however, the hallmark of near time is better conceived of as being one of enduring, repeat ed loss. The point is important. Despite the sense of uniqueness implicit in phrases like "the biodiversity crisis," meant to convey the notion that the present bout of extinctions is by far the worst endured in recent times, substantial losses have occurred throughout near time. In the majority of cases, these losses occurred when, and only when, people began to ex pand across areas that had never before experienced their presence. Although the explana tion for these correlations in time and space may seem obvious, it is one thing to rhetori cally observe that there is a connection between humans and recent extinctions, and quite another to demonstrate it scientifically. How should this be done? Traditionally, the study of past extinctions has fallen largely to researchers steeped in such disciplines as paleontology, systematics, and paleoecology. The evaluation of future losses, by contrast, has lain almost exclusively within the domain of conservation biolo gists. Now, more than ever, there is opportunity for overlap and sharing of information.
Download or read book Quaternary Extinctions written by Paul S. Martin and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2022-01-04 with total page 903 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "What caused the extinction of so many animals at or near the end of the Pleistocene? Was it overkill by human hunters, the result of a major climatic change or was it just a part of some massive evolutionary turnover? Questions such as these have plagued scientists for over one hundred years and are still being heatedly debated today. Quaternary Extinctions presents the latest and most comprehensive examination of these questions." —Geological Magazine "May be regarded as a kind of standard encyclopedia for Pleistocene vertebrate paleontology for years to come." —American Scientist "Should be read by paleobiologists, biologists, wildlife managers, ecologists, archeologists, and anyone concerned about the ongoing extinction of plants and animals." —Science "Uncommonly readable and varied for watchers of paleontology and the rise of humankind." —Scientific American "Represents a quantum leap in our knowledge of Pleistocene and Holocene palaeobiology. . . . Many volumes on our bookshelves are destined to gather dust rather than attention. But not this one." —Nature "Two strong impressions prevail when first looking into this epic compendium. One is the judicious balance of views that range over the whole continuum between monocausal, cultural, or environmental explanations. The second is that both the data base and theoretical sophistication of the protagonists in the debate have improved by a quantum leap since 1967." —American Anthropologist
Download or read book Biodiversity Traditional Knowledge Intellectual Property Rights written by S. Ram Reddy and published by Scientific Publishers. This book was released on 2016-06-01 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The present book “Biodiversity, Traditional Knowledge and Intellectual Property Rights“ elaborates principles of biodiversity right from definitions and concepts to strategies for conservation of biodiversity. It also explains the roles and functions of international organizations like CBD in biodiversity conservation. The unique feature of this book is it connects biodiversity, traditional knowledge and intellectual property rights. Different aspects of biodiversity related traditional knowledge and international initiatives undertaken to protect the rights of traditional knowledge holders are discussed.
Download or read book The 6th Extinction written by Elizabeth Kolbert and published by Perfection Learning. This book was released on 2015-01-06 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE ONE OF THE "NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW"'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR A "NEW YORK TIMES" BESTSELLER A NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST A major book about the future of the world, blending intellectual and natural history and field reporting into a powerful account of the mass extinction unfolding before our eyes Over the last half-billion years, there have been Five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. This time around, the cataclysm is us. In prose that is at once frank, entertaining, and deeply informed, "New Yorker" writer Elizabeth Kolbert tells us why and how human beings have altered life on the planet in a way no species has before. Interweaving research in half a dozen disciplines, descriptions of the fascinating species that have already been lost, and the history of extinction as a concept, Kolbert provides a moving and comprehensive account of the disappearances occurring before our very eyes. She shows that the sixth extinction is likely to be mankind's most lasting legacy, compelling us to rethink the fundamental question of what it means to be human.
Download or read book written by Jonathan Cowie and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 581 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The second edition of this acclaimed text has been fully updated and substantially expanded to include the considerable developments (since publication of the first edition) in our understanding of the science of climate change, its impacts on biological and human systems, and developments in climate policy. Written in an accessible style, it provides a broad review of past, present and likely future climate change from the viewpoints of biology, ecology, human ecology and Earth system science. It will again prove to be invaluable to a wide range of readers, from students in the life sciences who need a brief overview of the basics of climate science, to atmospheric science, geography, geoscience and environmental science students who need to understand the biological and human ecological implications of climate change. It is also a valuable reference text for those involved in environmental monitoring, conservation and policy-making.
Download or read book The Sixth Extinction written by Elizabeth Kolbert and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-03-11 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WARNING: This is not the actual book The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert. Do not buy this Summary, Review & Analysis if you are looking for a full copy of this great book.This summary of The Sixth Extinction drills deep down into the book, which travels to exotic locations around the world to illustrate case studies of an endangered planet (think of it as a "1000 places to see before the world dies"). In chapter synopses, speculate on different scenarios that could lead to an earth-altering cataclysm. Visit a frozen zoo, where the cells of a 1,000 species have been served a liquid nitrogen cocktail. Find hope as you learn how "the most important ecological experiment ever done" is currently underway in the Amazon rainforest. In addition to an author biography, this summary of The Sixth Extinction includes a "putting it together" section: a helping hand for understanding Kolbert's big ideas.It's hard to believe that the sum total of all human civilization will one day be compressed into a rock layer the width of a piece of paper, but in The Sixth Extinction, Elizabeth Kolbert gives the reader an expansive overview of how Mother Earth is getting ready to clean house – again. This time, it's not just the mastodon bones being thrown out with the trash. An exploration of how humans are heading for mass extinction largely due to their own follies, The Sixth Extinction compresses anecdotes, evidence, and scientific characters into a sometimes-humorous tome of an otherwise serious topic.
Download or read book Acting for Endangered Species written by Shannon Petersen and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An accessible political and legal history of the Endangered Species Act.
Download or read book In the Light of Evolution written by National Academy of Sciences and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2008-12-22 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The current extinction crisis is of human making, and any favorable resolution of that biodiversity crisis-among the most dire in the 4-billion-year history of Earth-will have to be initiated by mankind. Little time remains for the public, corporations, and governments to awaken to the magnitude of what is at stake. This book aims to assist that critical educational mission, synthesizing recent scientific information and ideas about threats to biodiversity in the past, present, and projected future. This is the second volume from the In the Light of Evolution series, based on a series of Arthur M. Sackler colloquia, and designed to promote the evolutionary sciences. Each installment explores evolutionary perspectives on a particular biological topic that is scientifically intriguing but also has special relevance to contemporary societal issues or challenges. Individually and collectively, the ILE series aims to interpret phenomena in various areas of biology through the lens of evolution, address some of the most intellectually engaging as well as pragmatically important societal issues of our times, and foster a greater appreciation of evolutionary biology as a consolidating foundation for the life sciences.
Download or read book A Catastrophe of Comets written by Dennis W. Cox and published by . This book was released on 2009-03-04 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A stunning breakthrough essay, simply written, with dozens of photographs which describes the locations of hundreds of previously undocumented comet impacts and /or explosions. And which provides sound, conclusive, evidence for the causes of the Holocene megafaunal extinctions,The Younger Dryas cooling events, And the demise of the Clovis culture. As well as conclusive evidence, with map co-ordinates, of some of the most destructive, yet never described or studied before, re-occuring natural disasters in the history of the world..
Download or read book World History Encyclopedia 21 volumes written by Alfred J. Andrea Ph.D. and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2011-03-23 with total page 8025 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An unprecedented undertaking by academics reflecting an extraordinary vision of world history, this landmark multivolume encyclopedia focuses on specific themes of human development across cultures era by era, providing the most in-depth, expansive presentation available of the development of humanity from a global perspective. Well-known and widely respected historians worked together to create and guide the project in order to offer the most up-to-date visions available. A monumental undertaking. A stunning academic achievement. ABC-CLIO's World History Encyclopedia is the first comprehensive work to take a large-scale thematic look at the human species worldwide. Comprised of 21 volumes covering 9 eras, an introductory volume, and an index, it charts the extraordinary journey of humankind, revealing crucial connections among civilizations in different regions through the ages. Within each era, the encyclopedia highlights pivotal interactions and exchanges among cultures within eight broad thematic categories: population and environment, society and culture, migration and travel, politics and statecraft, economics and trade, conflict and cooperation, thought and religion, science and technology. Aligned to national history standards and packed with images, primary resources, current citations, and extensive teaching and learning support, the World History Encyclopedia gives students, educators, researchers, and interested general readers a means of navigating the broad sweep of history unlike any ever published.
