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Books > Earth & environment > Geography > Biogeography
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Here be Dragons - How the Study of Animal and Plant Distributions Revolutionized Our Views of Life and Earth (Paperback)
Loot Price: R277
Discovery Miles 2 770
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Here be Dragons - How the Study of Animal and Plant Distributions Revolutionized Our Views of Life and Earth (Paperback)
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Loot Price R277
Discovery Miles 2 770
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Why do we find polar bears only in the Arctic and penguins only in
the Antarctic? Why do oceanic islands often have many types of
birds but no large native mammals? As Charles Darwin and Alfred
Russel Wallace travelled across distant lands studying the wildlife
they both noticed that the distribution of plants and animals
formed striking patterns - patterns that held strong clues to the
past of the planet. The study of the spatial distribution of living
things is known as biogeography. It is a field that could be said
to have begun with Darwin and Wallace. In this lively book, Denis
McCarthy tells the story of biogeography, from the 19th century to
its growth into a major field of interdisciplinary research in the
present day. It is a story that encompasses two great, insightful
theories that were to provide the explanations to the strange
patterns of life across the world - evolution, and plate tectonics.
We find animals and plants where we do because, over time, the
continents have moved, separating and coalescing in a long, slow
dance; because sea levels have risen, cutting off one bit of land
from another, and fallen, creating land bridges; because new and
barren volcanic islands have risen up from the sea; and because
animals and plants vary greatly in their ability to travel, and
separation has caused the formation of new species. The story of
biogeography is the story of how life has responded and has in turn
altered the ever changing Earth. It is a narrative that includes
many fascinating tales - of pygmy mammoths and elephant birds; of
changing landscapes; of radical ideas by bold young scientists
first dismissed and later, with vastly growing evidence, widely
accepted. The story is not yet done: there are still questions to
be answered and biogeography is a lively area of research and
debate. But our view of the planet has been changed profoundly by
biogeography and its related fields: the emerging understanding is
of a deeply interconnected system in which life and physical forces
interact dynamically in space and time.
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