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Like the Sydney Opera House or Uluru, the kangaroo is a unique symbol of Australia. This is the remarkable story of our most famous marsupial, from its ancient origins and prehistoric significance to current-day management and conservation. Marsupial specialists Stephen Jackson and Karl Vernes examine our sustained fascination with kangaroos-spanning 40,000 years-that allows these engaging marsupials to be instantly recognised by people the world over. The amazing diversity of this group of animals is revealed, ranging from tiny forest dwellers and tree kangaroos to large majestic animals living on the open plains of central Australia and the giant kangaroos that once roamed the Pleistocene landscape. The authors also investigate the natural history of kangaroos - their unique reproduction methods, intriguing behaviour, varied diet and trademark hopping abilit - all of which make them such fascinating animals.
This volume celebrates the contributions of Dr. Eugene Gaffney to the study of turtles, through a diverse and complementary collection of papers that showcases the latest research on one of the most intriguing groups of reptiles. A mix of focused and review papers deals with numerous aspects of the evolutionary history of turtles, including embryonic development, origins, early diversification, phylogenetic relationships, and biogeography. Moreover it includes reports on important but poorly understood fossil turtle assemblages, provides historical perspectives on turtle research, and documents disease and variation in turtles. With its broad scope, which includes descriptions of material an...
Scandinavia and its Arctic territories of Svalbard and Greenland represent geographical regions with a long history of Mesozoic palaeontology. However the last few decades have witnessed a surge of new discoveries, especially from the famous Triassic and Late Jurassic Lagerstätten of East Greenland and Spitsbergen in the Svalbard Archipelago, together with the Late Cretaceous strata of southern Sweden and UNESCO World Heritage locality at Stevns Klint in Denmark; the latter recording one of the most complete terminal Mesozoic rock successions known globally. Collectively, these deposits encompass the spectrum of Mesozoic biotic evolution from the explosive radiation of marine faunas after the Permian-Triassic extinction and seminal specialization of amniotes for life in the sea, to the Late Triassic–Jurassic domination of the land by dinosaurs and Cretaceous development of modern terrestrial floras and marine ecosystems. This volume authored by leading experts in the field encapsulates key aspects of the latest research, and will provide a benchmark reference for future investigations into the Scandinavian Mesozoic world.
Does evolution make faith superfluous? Part One of this book looks across the whole spectrum of biology—from molecules to ecosystems to human societies—and at the fossil history of life on earth, concluding that evolution is the only explanatory concept that makes sense of it all. Doesn’t this demolish the core Christian claim that God created the entire universe? Part Two explores whether God might instead embrace that universe with love and compassion, without micromanaging or interfering. Jesus bears witness to such a God in his kingdom teaching, calling Christians to follow his example of humility, serving others, and valuing what the world considers unimportant. This suggests paths of repentance and restraint that are urgently needed in a world facing rapid climate change and likely mass extinction.
Many conservationists argue that invasive species form one of the most important threats to ecosystems the world over, often spreading quickly through their new environments and jeopardising the conservation of native species. As such, it is important that reliable predictions can be made regarding the effects of new species on particular habitats. This book provides a critical appraisal of ecosystem theory using case studies of biological invasions in Australasia. Each chapter is built around a set of eleven central hypotheses from community ecology, which were mainly developed in North American or European contexts. The authors examine the hypotheses in the light of evidence from their particular species, testing their power in explaining the success or failure of invasion and accepting or rejecting each hypothesis as appropriate. The conclusions have far-reaching consequences for the utility of community ecology, suggesting a rejection of its predictive powers and a positive reappraisal of natural history.
This book celebrates the contributions of Dr. Frederick S. Szalay to the field of Mammalian Evolutionary Morphology. Professor Szalay is a strong advocate for biologically and evolutionarily meaningful character analysis. He has published about 200 articles, six monographs, and six books on this subject. This book features subjects such as the evolution and adaptation of mammals and provides up-to-date articles on the evolutionary morphology of a wide range of mammalian groups.
“A valuable volume detailing an underexplored region of the world of dinosaurs . . . essential reading for any dino-devotee.” —ForeWord Dinosaurs of Darkness opens a doorway to a fascinating former world, between 100 million and 120 million years ago, when Australia was far south of its present location and joined to Antarctica. Dinosaurs lived in this polar region. How were the polar dinosaurs discovered? What do we now know about them? Thomas H. Rich and Patricia Vickers-Rich, who have played crucial roles in their discovery, describe how they and others collected the fossils indispensable to our knowledge of this realm and how painstaking laboratory work and analyses continue to unl...
A fascinating analysis of the main patterns of distribution and evolution of the Australasian biota.
Birds and dinosaurs have dominated human interest for decades. In this well-supported revolutionary view of the field, critical questions are explored with credible evidence and biological thought. Are birds derived directly from advanced dinosaurs, or are they closely related dinosaur cousins? Did flight originate via the natural "gravity-assisted" trees-down model, or from the improbable “gravity-resisted” ground-up model? Were the earliest birds ground-predators or trunk-climbing gliders? Were dinosaurs hot-blooded with insulating protofeathers, or highly active, cold-blooded reptiles? These are among the questions addressed in this path-breaking book. Current consensus suggests that ...
They change color depending on their mood. They possess uniquely adapted hands and feet distinct from other tetrapods. They feature independently movable eyes. This comprehensive volume delves into these fascinating details and thorough research about one of the most charismatic families of reptilesÑChameleonidae. Written for professional herpetologists, scholars, researchers, and students, this book takes readers on a voyage across time to discover everything that is known about chameleon biology: anatomy, physiology, adaptations, ecology, behavior, biogeography, phylogeny, classification, and conservation. A description of the natural history of chameleons is given, along with the fossil record and typical characteristics of each genus. The state of chameleons in the modern world is also depicted, complete with new information on the most serious threats to these remarkable reptiles.