Product Description
In this book, twelve specialists present current views on the biogeographical history of the region between Asia and Australia.The contemporary Malay archipelago arose from the collision of Gondwanaland and Laurasia in the mid-Tertiary period, but new evidence about the northward drift of land fragments and the presence of many organisms suggest earlier north-south contact.Recently discovered fragments could have provided island stepping-stones and may explain otherwise enigmatic plant and animal distributions. The contributors to this monograph, all experts in their fields, discuss the implications of these findings, and explore unresolved problems of biogeographical reconstruction.These collected works mark a significant step in our understanding of the formation of the region and will be an invaluable resource for biologists and biogeologists. ... Read more

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Examines the evolution of life on a constantly changing planet and the results of that process. Explores new insights from plate tectonics; from deep ocean life investigations; from island biogeography; from growing knowledge about past geography, climates and ecology; and from development in evolutionary theory will interest `outdoor' biologists of all kinds, ecologists, students of evolution, oceanographers, paleontologists, and geographers. With numerous maps and diagrams and a bibliography of over 300 references. ... Read more

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Biogeography has been one of the great growth areas in geography in recent years, with much new research work and many new developments taking place. This book presents an authoritative, up-to-date, international review of all the major biogeographical themes. The chapters define each theme and its place within biogeography and consider the methods of study adopted. Each chapter then assesses recent trends and the latest state of the art, and concludes by examining where future developments are likely. Many case-studies and examples are provided, from throughout the world, including North America. ... Read more

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Biogeography is the study of the geographic distribution of taxa and their attributes in space and time. Investigating biogeographic patterns and processes requires considerable amounts of data collected over large spatial and/or temporal scales. Evolutionary biogeography integrates distributional, phylogenetic, molecular and paleontological data in order to discover biogeographic patterns and assess the historical changes that have shaped them, following a step-wise approach. This book aims to understand the biogeography of the Drosophilidae in Africa and in other regions. This book also examines the development of preventive and educational components of conservation biogeography. The relevance of biogeographical evolutionary analyses for conservation science is discussed as well. In addition, the general methods that can be applied to prioritise areas for protection at regional global scales are also briefly commented on and exemplified with Mexico as a case study. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Coral Evolution
J. E. N. Veron, also the author of the reference volumes "Corals of the World" brings together all the knowledge of coral ecology, biogeography and evolution and integrates it in this intellectually enjoyable book.

In the first part of the book Veron gives a comprehensive review of many aspects of (reef builiding, hexa-)coral biology. He discusses the important topic of highly varied coral ecomorphs, different structures of coral colonies depending on the ecological conditions. There is ample treatment of the mechanisms of dispersal of corals over the wide distances of the Indo-Pacific ocean, and the factors that determine it: Ocean currents as well as successively harsher physical conditions in the far North and South. An overview of reproduction in corals is given, with emphasis on the diversity corals display in this aspect of their lives. The coral fossil record also receives a very interesting treatment. All of these topics are illustrated with intuitive diagrams and a number of very illustrative maps of coral distributions around the globe.

In the second part, Veron gives us his take on coral evolution. He stresses that due to the ease, with which corals can be so widely dispersed and hybridize, together with the many ecomorphs corals can form, the concept of a species softens up. Rather than the taking the course of evolution as in many other groups of animals, where a number of factors make speciation (the irreversible separation of two populations) more likely to occur, reticulate evolution prevails in corals. In this type of evolution, species diverge, but then hybridize again. These hybrids occur all the time, and prevail when the environmental conditions allow it. Thus, a new hybrid species can originate and subsequently start to spread at a many locations simultaneously. This type of evolution has previously been described mainly in plants. It is not surprising that coral evolution is similar, as they are, due to the presence of their photosynthetic zooxanthellae symbionts, "animals that behave like plants".

This book was clearly written by someone who has both ample field experience in coral biology and has also thought thoroughly about evolutionary theory. This combination of field observations and large-scale theory makes this book very worth reading. My only criticisms are that the author sometimes does not make his arguments in the form of continuous text, but lists them point by point. That hurts the readability of the book. He also makes an effort to present not only his own view on a subject, but discusses historically interesting or opposing views. While this is highly laudable from a scholarly point of view, it can be slightly confusing for a reader who is a novice to the field.

An Evoltionary History of the Corals
Veron opens the book describing why corals are so difficult to study in an evolutionary and biogeographic context: the same species will have completely different physical features depending on the physical conditionsunder which the coral is growing, so extreme that the different morphsoften do not resemble one another.

With this caution in mind, Veron thentakes the problem of coral evolution head-on.The book is filled withthorough but easy to understand figures which indicate past changes in sealevel, different current patters, phylogenetic trees, etc; all the factorswhich contribute to evolution and speciation.These factors are allresponsible for the biogeography of the different corals, which furthercontributes to allopatric speciation.

Lastly, Veron argues that coralsare an excellent model to study evolution within a species context.Heargues that in an evolutionary context, there are really no such thing as"species" (in the traditional sense).He supports this argumentwith convincing evidence from the Scleractinia.

This is a fabulous bookfor anyone (of all levels of experience) with an interest in corals, marinebiology, biogeography or evolution. ... Read more

Product Description
Biogeography has renewed its concepts and methods following important recent advances in phylogenetics, macroecology, and geographic information systems. In parallel, the evolutionary ecology of host-parasite interactions has attracted the interests of numerous studies dealing with life-history traits evolution, community ecology, and evolutionary epidemiology.

The Biogeography of Host-Parasite Interactions is the first book to integrate these two fields, using examples from a variety of host-parasite associations in various regions, and across both ecological and evolutionary timescales. Besides a strong theoretical component, there is a bias towards applications, specifically in the fields of biogeography, palaeontology, phylogeography, landscape epidemiology, invasion biology, conservation biology, human evolution, and health ecology. A particular emphasis concerns emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases linked to global changes. ... Read more

Product Description
Maize has been described as a primary catalyst to complex sociocultural development in the Americas. State of the art research on maize chronology, molecular biology, and stable carbon isotope research on ancient human diets have provided additional lines of evidence on the changing role of maize through time and space and its spread throughout the Americas. The multidisciplinary evidence from the social and biological sciences presented in this volume have generated a much more complex picture of the economic, political, and religious significance of maize. The volume also includes ethnographic research on the uses and roles of maize in indigenous cultures and a linguistic section that includes chapters on indigenous folk taxonomies and the role and meaning of maize to the development of civilization.

Histories of Maize is the most comprehensive reference source on the botanical, genetic, archaeological, and anthropological aspects of ancient maize published to date. This book will appeal to a varied audience, and have no titles competiting with it because of its breadth and scope. The volume offers a single source of high quality summary information unavailable elsewhere.

* Introduces the breadth of multidisciplinary research in the anthropological, archaeological, earth, and biological sciences
* Reveals the cultural, religious, and economic significance of maize and goes beyond its role as a primary catalyst to complex sociocultural developments in Mesoamerica, North America and Andean South America
* Provides new information about the importance of maize to pre-Hispanic diets
* Enables readers to follow subjects and related topics through its organization
* Enhances accessibility by means of a consistent article format and extensive index
* Includes chapters on folk taxonomies of maize and linguistic information on it spread and significance to ancient religion, and economic, political and agricultural uses
*Introduces state of the art methodologies and approaches to the identification of maize lineages and their spread and cultural significance in the Americas ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

thorough coverage
This book is a valuable resource for anyone studying maize, human nutrition, anthropology and archaeology of the new world.It does get quite technical, but it's not all isotopes and chemistry.Everything you ever wanted to know about the domestcation, spread and use of maize!

The Origin, Diffusion, and Cultural History of Corn
This is a monster of a book: large format; 678 pages; innumerable illustrations, tables, and graphs, some in color; 48 essays by 48 authors and they're all about corn -- more correctly called maize.

Scientists wrote the book for scientists.Much of it I found inpenetrable as authors described concepts such as "maizoid polystichy, phylotaxy, isotropic anthropology, and glottochronology."However, despite the fog of language, the book is invaluable as a history of maize, from its mysterious beginnings in Mexico to its spread throughout the Americas, and its cultural impact.

Hugh Iltis wrote one of the best -- and longest -- essays in the book, a difficult, egocentric, engaging, and opinionated tour de force about the long scientific search for the origins of maize.A much more accessible article by Jane Mt. Pleasant describes the Indian way of growing corn.Another article has the fetching title of "The History of Maize in the Land where Civilization came into Being," i.e Peru -- a statement that should make Mesopotamiologists grind their teeth.Other articles describe the evolution of maize, its cultivation all over the Americas, and linguistic evidence and folklore of maize --in short, everything you would possibly want to know about the pre-historic history of maize in the Americas.

If you have a passion for genetics, archaeology, agriculture, and an appreciation of a well-roasted ear of corn combined with a modicum of scientific comprehension, then this book is the definitive source of up-to-date information and speculation about maize.

Smallchief ... Read more

Product Description

"In the last twenty years or so there has been an upsurge in the study of Palaeozoic fishes for solving geological problems, both in areas of biostratigraphy and biogeography. This has resulted in an explosion of data, much of it so new that it will take years for all the recent discoveries to be published. This book has resulted to fill the need to provide up-to-date summaries of global work in progress showing the application of both macroscopic and microscopic remains of Palaeozoic vertebrates to geological correlations, and to refinement of global palaeogeographic reconstructions."--from the Preface.

This book offers the first detailed treatment of palaeozoic vertebrates for use in correlations and in biogeographic studies. With thirteen chapters of systematic analysis of biostratigraphic and biogeographic data, it includes invaluable summaries of current research as well as new and significant contributions to the fields of geology and evolutionary biology. With charts and figures that show many of the important fossils discussed in the text, as well as stratigraphic, location, and taxonomic indexes, the book will interest palaeontologists, stratigraphers, and other earth scientists concerned with the early history of life on earth.

Product Description
Once the dominant vegetation type of the entire continent, the Australian rainforests have shrunk over many millions of years to their present limited size.The forests and their history, however, continue to hold valuable lessons for biogeographers and environmentalists. This book gives a general account of the Australian rainforests, detailing their composition and location as well as how their present distribution has evolved.Throughout, the book provides a a broad, biogeographical framework that enables new information to be considered from a global perspective. The book concludes with a historical account of human interaction with the rainforest from late Pleistocene times to the 1980s.Biogeographers, botanists, and ecologists at all levels will find this to be a rich source of information and an inspiration for continuing efforts to conserve existing rainforests around the world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An excellent book
A very informative, interesting and well written book about Australian rainforests from monsoonal forests of northern Australia to cool temperate rainforests of Tasmania. Covers definition, classification, overview of various types and regions, ecology, origins, fauna, human influence and conservation. The peculiar Australian definition of rainforest is revisited repeatedly, and comparisons of Australian rainforests in a world context are particularly interesting. ... Read more

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In Darwin's time, island biogeography was the science that opened Victorian minds to the wonder of evolution. Today with all the world's wild landscape being chopped into island-like fragments, it's the science of jeopardy and extinction. This book combines science, historical narrative and travel. ... Read more

Product Description
This updated and expanded A New Island Biogeography of the Sea of Cortez, first published nearly 20 years ago, integrates new and broader studies encompassing more taxa and more complete island coverage. The present synthesis provides a basis for further research and exploration in upcoming years of the biologically fascinating Sea of Cortes region. The Gulf region is increasingly being exploited, for its natural resources by way of marine fisheries, and for its stunning natural beauty by way of a burgeoning tourism industry. Further, the region's human population is increasing apace. It is appropriate, therefore, that this volume discusses these evolving circumstances, and the efforts of the Mexican government to regulate and manage them. The new Biogeography includes a section on the conservation issues in the Sea of Cortes, past accomplishments and conservation needs as yet outstanding. This book should be of strong interest to conservation biologists, ecologists, and evolutionary biologists more generally. ... Read more

Product Description
Eastern African rain forests are remarkable in their high level of endemism. Miocene uplift of the central African plateau separated these montane and coastal forests from the main Guineo-Congolian forest of west and central Africa. Since then, stable Indian Ocean temperatures maintained a region of high rainfall throughout Pleistocene droughts that devastated forest elsewhere on the continent. Relics of the former Pan-African rain forest survived here, the study of which provides a unique insight into tropical evolutionary processes. This book brings together research on the animals, plants and geography of this intriguing residual forest, and highlights the need for effective management practices to conserve its exceptional biodiversity in the face of increasing pressure for land for cultivation. ... Read more

Product Description
Cladistic biogeography uses the distribution patterns of species to study their historical and evolutionary relationships. Revised extensively to reflect new research, this book is a concise exposition of the history, methods, and current applications in this field. The first editon, published in 1986, received excellent reviews and was widely used as a textbook. This new editon should prove equally popular. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Cladistic Biogeography / Why the Controversy?
In "Cladistic Biogeography," Christopher J. Humphries and Lynne R. Parenti offer a detailed but easily digestible analysis of thesignificance that geographic distributions of species have with respect tothe history of those species and the geography that they inhabit.Despitethe seeming harmlessness of the subject, the book touches upon verycontroversial notions.Anyone even skimming it may feel overcome by anavalanche of evidence that modern geological theories need some revising inorder to account for a plethora of biogeographical facts.

The mainthesis of cladistic biogeography is perhaps best described with an example. Imagine that several different species (involving plants, fish, insects,and animals) are restricted to two particular areas in South America thatare separated by the Andes mountains.According to cladistic biogeography(or at least according to Parenti's and Humphries' view of it), the mostreasonable conclusion is that these trans-Andes species are older than theAndes--and that the formation of the Andes separated them.This seems amore rational explanation for the pattern than the idea that each speciesevolved on one side of the Andes chain--and then each species managed tocross the Andes via various hypothetical, species-dependent methods ofdispersal.

In general, the fundamental theory of cladisticbiogeography can be stated as follows:If many different species arerestricted to the same geologically separated areas (divided, for example,by oceans or mountains) then a single, general cause (e.g., a geologicalevent) is a more preferable explanation for this pattern than a series ofunfalsifiable theories of dispersal across the geological divide, with eachdispersal theory designed for each organism.Despite the seemingobviousness of this argument, many geologists, ecologists, and otherscientists are extremely critical of such biogeographical analyses becauseit often conflicts with current geological theories.

Perhaps, thisexplains the somewhat reaching criticism of Amazon-customer critic, MatthewL. Forister, who not only panned the book, "CladisticBiogeography" but the entire science itself.(Forister also wrote anegative review of "Panbiogeography : Tracking the History ofLife--Oxford Biogeography Series No 11"by Grehan, Heads, and Craw.) In his review of the Parenti and Humphries book, Forister dismissescladistic biogeography because of its insufficiency when applied to thegeographic distribution of his cousins throughout the United States. According to Forister, this would lead cladistic biogeographers to concludethat the extended Forister family "were split by the uplift of theRockies and further rifted by the opening of the Grand Canyon." Obviously, Parenti and Humphries do not extend their arguments to familiesof humans who have access to modern transportation.And so Forister'scriticism overlooks the elemental fact that the plants, worms, frogs,snakes, trees, fresh-water fish and other organisms that are the realsubject of "Cladistic Biogeography" have a difficult time bookingflights across mountains and are notoriously bad drivers.

As Parentiand Humphries point out, this is not the first time that biogeographicalevidence conflicted with contemporary geological theory.In the early partof the 20th century, much of the evidence that Alfred Wegener used tosupport the theory of continental drift was biogeographical. Trans-Atlantic biogeographical patterns (as well as certain geologicalfactors) suggested to Wegener that South America was at one time attachedto Africa, while North America was connected to Europe.Geologists andothers maintained that continents were always fixed and explained thesepatterns via various dispersal hypotheses for all of the species found onboth sides of the Atlantic.These dispersal hypotheses involvedcross-ocean land bridges, long-distance island hopping schemes, hitchingrides on flotsam, etc.Wegener's hypothesis has now become theconventional view.So, in this instance at least, the seminal principle ofcladistic biogeography was validated while all the seemingly fantasticmethods of dispersal across the Atlantic have been rejected.

Interestingly, a more significant biogeographical pattern can be foundacross the Pacific.Cladistic biogeography suggests that some sort ofgeneral geological explanation for the distributions, like a pastAsian/American and Australian/South-American juxtaposition, is required. Today this view is largely ignored by people who are notbiogeographers--and, once again, popular explanations of the trans-Pacificpatterns encompass a group of independent dispersal hypotheses that includecross-ocean land bridges, long-distance island hopping schemes, thehitching of rides on flotsam, etc.

"Cladistic Biogeography"is a great step forward in trying to make sense of all the biogeographicdata available to us today.It is an effort toward the development ofrational, general principles for analyzing the geographic distribution ofspecies, which hopefully will help geologists, ecologists, and biologistsavoid the same mistakes that their counterparts made in the not-too-distantpast regarding the very same subject.

--Dennis McCarthy

The Peculiar Science of Cladistic Biogeography
Scattered throughout the western United States, I have a handful of cousins: one in Oregon, two in Wyoming, and two in Arizona (along with an aunt and uncle in the latter state).Including myself as a resident ofCalifornia, this is a distribution of Foristers, and from it could be madean area cladogram, which would look like a four-branched tree, with onestate perched at the top of each branch.I happen to know that theForisters have been in Wyoming the longest, for only slightly less time inArizona, and only recently in California and Oregon.Therefore, I wouldarrange the area cladogram with Wyoming in an ancestral position, thenArizona, and finally Oregon and California bunched together as sistergroups.Countless area cladograms could be made by inquiring into thefamily histories of other people-if at all possible, we might alsoconstruct some cladograms for the family dog and the starling thatfrequents the windowsill, just to be broad-minded.

Then (and this is theraison d'être of the book in question), a collection of these areacladograms could be compared, and a kind of compromise cladogram would bederived which represented the common features of all the family histories. To do this right, some math and computer programs could be used, asdescribed by the authors of Cladistic Biogeography; for now, however, letus focus on the consequences of our cladograming, and not be distracted bythe glamor of the process.So what can we say about our compromise tree? For a moment suppose the best of all worlds: a clear pattern arises, withvarious people, dogs, and starlings showing ancestral groups in Wyoming andArizona, and sister groups in various other western states.With a littlecommon sense, we might say that our Homo sapiensreflect a history ofwestward movement and that the dogs and house sparrows moved from Wyomingto the other states with the humans (we probably had to throw out a coupleof native American cladograms that would have confused the obvious"signal").But wait!Parenti and Humphries tell us thatdispersal is not an explanation for biogeographical patterns.Since anyspecies can disperse according to its own unknowable caprice, we had betterassume that the distributions of all organisms are crafted by the sameprocesses.In our case, humans and dogs and starlings might have beenwidespread across the west in large populations that were split by theuplift of the Rockies and further rifted by the opening of the GrandCanyon.

The case is not closed, however.According to CladisticBiogeography, geology can only "illuminate" the patterns derivedfrom area cladograms, but can never test them. Without confirmation fromother sciences, we can only gain confidence in out pattern by throwing inmore and more cladograms from diverse groups-the more agreement we find,the more assuredly we may speak of the history of the "biotas" ofWyoming, Arizona, and the other western states.Within this seeminglyscientific iteration lies the fatal flaw of cladistic biogeography aspresented by Parenti and Humphries.I described an oversimplification ofthe process of arriving at a compromise cladogram.In the analyses done inCladistic Biogeography, all possible combinations of areas are consideredfor each organism, a process which can produce hundreds of trees.However,if one of the organisms in question, through a peculiarity of its history,presents only one possible cladogram, that organism will dictate the entireanalysis.The possible trees for each organism are then searched forpatterns that do not disagree with that one peculiar cladogram.How do weknow that one organism it not a fluke, some kind of historical freakunrelated to all other members of the"biota"?We do not knowany such thing.In fact, Parenti and Humphries forbid us from knowing anyspecific natural history, for, they say, such biological questions as ageof arrival or dispersal ability are precisely what area cladograms aredesigned to test!

In the author's defense, it is possible that theirmethod could generate one area cladogram that could then be confirmed bypatterns from many other organisms.For example, they work their magic ona collection of distributions from the Atlantic and Mediterranean, andconclude that the Mediterranean biota is more closely related to farnorthern biotas than to mid-latitude Atlantic or Caribbean groups oforganisms.However, I remain unconvinced that another method of patterngeneration (perhaps even a random method) might not have produced an areacladogram that could have been similarly confirmed by dozens of differentexamples from the same waters.Simply put, the biodiversity is immense,and even the devil can quote scripture for his own ends. ... Read more

Product Description
Bringing an ecological and biogeographic perspective to recent fossil finds, this book provides a new synthesis of ideas on hominid evolution and will be a valuable resource for a variety of researchers. ... Read more

Product Description
The Salton Sea, California's largest inland lake, supports a spectacular bird population that is among the most concentrated and most diverse in the world. Sadly, this crucial stopover along the Pacific Flyway for migratory and wintering shorebirds, landbirds, and waterfowl is dangerously close to collapse from several environmental threats. This book is the first thoroughly detailed book to describe the birds of Salton Sea, more than 450 species and subspecies in all. A major contribution to our knowledge about the birds of western North America, it will also be an important tool in the struggle to save this highly endangered area.

Synthesizing data from many sources, including observations from their long-term work in the area, the authors' species accounts discuss each bird's abundance, seasonal status, movement patterns, biogeographic affinities, habitat associations, and more. This valuable reference also includes general information on the region's fascinating history and biogeography, making it an unparalleled resource for the birding community, for wildlife managers, and for conservation biologists concerned with one of the most threatened ecosystems in western North America. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Superb reference
This is an excellent reference for anyone interested in the birds of the Salton Sea area.Very well written and researched, there is a ton of information to be found here.One reviewer lamented the lack of good illustrations, but the illustrations are not the reason you'll want to buy this book--it's not intended to be a field guide.It's a work on status and distribution, and on that score it's superb.

Informative, but not a stand-alone volume
There is much information here specific to the amazing variety of birds to be seen at the bizarre world of the Salton Sea in Southern California.It is a very detailed volume, listing actual occurrence dates of some of the rarer species, along with specific locations, and times of year to be spotted.The main problem though, is the lack of plates.There are just 71 total plates, all black and white photographs- very poor ones at that. In other words, you need to bring along another guidebook if you are not completely familiar with all 400 plus species that may be found there!

The book does have a nice general background of the area and how it was formed, along with a great section chronicling the biogeography of the land.A few pages are dedicated to the controversies surrounding the ecological management of the area, which has burdened local politics for nearly a century. ... Read more