Alone on the endless red-sand desert in the Australian outback, tracking Varanus giganteus, the perentie lizard that grows to be more than six feet long...for desert rat Eric Pianka, such adventures have led to a satisfying, if unusual, way of life, as well as a distinguished career as a field biologist.

In The Lizard Man Speaks, Pianka recounts more than thirty years of adventures in reptile studies. He tells of "lizarding" in the North American deserts, the Kalahari Desert of southern Africa, and the Great Victoria Desert in Western Australia. His vivid imagery draws the reader into a world where lions lurk in the darkness beyond a gecko hunter's lights, where being stranded by car trouble miles from the last outpost is a constant danger, and where the wilderness still deserves to be called wild.

Along the way, Pianka provides much general information about lizard ecology, the fire succession cycle, and the interaction of humans with the landscape. And he reveals the springs of his own determined spirit and love of solitude, describing a near-fatal boyhood accident and its shaping and character-building effect on the life that followed.

In a collection rich in implications for all fields of ecology, leading lizard ecologists demonstrate the utility of the phylogenetic approach in understanding the evolution of morphology, physiology, behavior, and life histories. Lizards, which are valued for their amenability to field experiments, have been the subject of reciprocal transplant experiments and of manipulations of resource availability, habitat structure, population density, and entire sections of food webs. Such experiments are rapidly rebuilding ecological theories as they apply to all organisms. As a demonstration of state-of-the-art historical and experimental research and as a call for philosophical engagement, this volume will join its predecessors--Lizard Ecology: A Symposium (Missouri, 1967) and Lizard Ecology: Studies of a Model Organism (Harvard, 1983)--in directing ecological research for years to come. Lizard Ecology contains essays on reproductive ecology (Arthur E. Dunham, Lin Schwarzkopf, Peter H. Niewiarowski, Karen Overall, and Barry Sinervo), behavioral ecology (A. Stanley Rand, William E. Cooper, Jr., Emulia P. Martins, Craig Guyer, and C. Michael Bull), evolutionary ecology (Raymond B. Huey, Jean Clobert et al., Donald B. Miles, and Theodore Garland, Jr.), and population and community ecology (Ted Case, Robin M. Andrews and S. Joseph Wright, Craig D. James, and Jonathan B. Losos). Originally published in 1994. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Eric Pianka offers a synthesis of his life's work on the comparative ecology of lizard assemblages in the Great Basin. Mojave and Sonoran deserts of western North America, the Kalahari semi-desert of southern Africa, and the Great Victoria desert of Western Australia. Originally published in 1986. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Eric Pianka offers a synthesis of his life's work on the comparative ecology of lizard assemblages in the Great Basin. Mojave and Sonoran deserts of western North America, the Kalahari semi-desert of southern Africa, and the Great Victoria desert of Western Australia. Originally published in 1986. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

In a collection rich in implications for all fields of ecology, leading lizard ecologists demonstrate the utility of the phylogenetic approach in understanding the evolution of morphology, physiology, behavior, and life histories. Lizards, which are valued for their amenability to field experiments, have been the subject of reciprocal transplant experiments and of manipulations of resource availability, habitat structure, population density, and entire sections of food webs. Such experiments are rapidly rebuilding ecological theories as they apply to all organisms. As a demonstration of state-of-the-art historical and experimental research and as a call for philosophical engagement, this volume will join its predecessors--"Lizard Ecology: A Symposium" (Missouri, 1967) and "Lizard Ecology: Studies of a Model Organism" (Harvard, 1983)--in directing ecological research for years to come.

"Lizard Ecology" contains essays on reproductive ecology (Arthur E. Dunham, Lin Schwarzkopf, Peter H. Niewiarowski, Karen Overall, and Barry Sinervo), behavioral ecology (A. Stanley Rand, William E. Cooper, Jr., Emulia P. Martins, Craig Guyer, and C. Michael Bull), evolutionary ecology (Raymond B. Huey, Jean Clobert et al., Donald B. Miles, and Theodore Garland, Jr.), and population and community ecology (Ted Case, Robin M. Andrews and S. Joseph Wright, Craig D. James, and Jonathan B. Losos).

Originally published in 1994.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905."