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Author : David W. Steadman
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 609 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2006-10-15
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780226771427
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Author : Julian P. Hume
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 560 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2017-08-24
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9781472937469
Extinct Birds was the first comprehensive review of the hundreds of the bird species and subspecies that have become extinct over the last 1,000 years of habitat degradation, over-hunting and rat introduction. It has become the standard text on this subject, covering both familiar icons of extinction as well as more obscure birds, some known from just one specimen or from travellers' tales. This second edition is expanded to include dozens of new species, as more are constantly added to the list, either through extinction or through new subfossil discoveries. Extinct Birds is the result of decades of research into literature and museum drawers, as well as caves and subfossil deposits, which often reveal birds long-gone that disappeared without ever being recorded by scientists while they lived. From Greak Auks, Carolina Parakeets and Dodos to the amazing yet almost completely vanished bird radiations of Hawaii and New Zealand via rafts of extinction in the Pacific and elsewhere, this book is both a sumptuous reference and astounding testament to humanity's devastating impact on wildlife.
Author : Geoffrey Richard Clark,Atholl Anderson
Publisher : ANU E Press
Page : 444 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2009-12-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9781921666070
I enjoyed reading this volume. It is rare to see such a comprehensive report on hard data published these days, especially one so insightfully contextualised by the editors' introductory and concluding chapters. These scholars and the others involved in the work really know their stuff, and it shows. The editors connect the preoccupations of Pacific archaeologists with those of their colleagues working in other island regions and on "big questions" of colonisation, migration, interaction and patterns and processes of cultural change in hitherto-uninhabited environments. These sorts of outward-looking, big-picture contextual studies are invaluable, but all too often are missing from locally- and regionally-oriented writing, very much to its detriment. In sum, the work strongly advances our understanding of the early prehistory of Fiji through its well-integrated combination of original research and the reinterpretation of existing knowledge in the context of wider theoretical and historical concerns. In doing so The Early Prehistory of Fiji makes a truly substantial contribution to Pacific and archaeological scholarship. Professor Ian Lilley, The University of Queensland
Author : Geoffrey Richard Clark,Sue O'Connor,Bryan Foss Leach
Publisher : ANU E Press
Page : 522 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2008-06-01
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781921313905
"Many of the papers in this volume present new and innovative research into the processes of maritime colonisation, processes that affect archaeological contexts from islands to continents. Others shift focus from process to the archaeology of maritime places from the Bering to the Torres Straits, providing highly detailed discussions of how living by and with the sea is woven into all elements of human life from subsistence to trade and to ritual. Of equal importance are more abstract discussions of islands as natural places refashioned by human occupation, either through the introduction of new organisms or new systems of production and consumption. These transformation stories gain further texture (and variety) through close examinations of some of the more significant consequences of colonisation and migration, particularly the creation of new cultural identities. A final set of papers explores the ways in which the techniques of archaelogical sciences have provided insights into the fauna of the islands and the human history of such places."--Provided by publisher.
Author : Patrick Vinton Kirch
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 408 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2017-11-07
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780520968899
The Pacific Ocean covers one-third of the earth’s surface and encompasses many thousands of islands that are home to numerous human societies and cultures. Among these indigenous Oceanic cultures are the intrepid Polynesian double-hulled canoe navigators, the atoll dwellers of Micronesia, the statue carvers of remote Easter Island, and the famed traders of Melanesia. Decades of archaeological excavations—combined with allied research in historical linguistics, biological anthropology, and comparative ethnography—have revealed much new information about the long-term history of these societies and cultures. On the Road of the Winds synthesizes the grand sweep of human history in the Pacific Islands, beginning with the movement of early people out from Asia more than 40,000 years ago and tracing the development of myriad indigenous cultures up to the time of European contact in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. This updated edition, enhanced with many new illustrations and an extensive bibliography, synthesizes the latest archaeological, linguistic, and biological discoveries that reveal the vastness of ancient history in the Pacific Islands.
Author : Ryan Tucker Jones,Matt K. Matsuda
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 948 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2022-12-31
Category : History
ISBN : 9781108334068
Volume I of The Cambridge History of the Pacific Ocean provides a wide-ranging survey of Pacific history to 1800. It focuses on varied concepts of the Pacific environment and its impact on human history, as well as tracing the early exploration and colonization of the Pacific, the evolution of Indigenous maritime cultures after colonization, and the disruptive arrival of Europeans. Bringing together a diversity of subjects and viewpoints, this volume introduces a broad variety of topics, engaging fully with emerging environmental and political conflicts over Pacific Ocean spaces. These essays emphasize the impact of the deep history of interactions on and across the Pacific to the present day.
Author : Theodore H. Fleming,Paul A. Racey
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 568 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2010-03-15
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780226253312
The second largest order of mammals, Chiroptera comprises more than one thousand species of bats. Because of their mobility, bats are often the only native mammals on isolated oceanic islands, where more than half of all bat species live. These island bats represent an evolutionarily distinctive and ecologically significant part of the earth’s biological diversity. Island Bats is the first book to focus solely on the evolution, ecology, and conservation of bats living in the world’s island ecosystems. Among other topics, the contributors to this volume examine how the earth’s history has affected the evolution of island bats, investigate how bat populations are affected by volcanic eruptions and hurricanes, and explore the threat of extinction from human disturbance. Geographically diverse, the volume includes studies of the islands of the Caribbean, the Western Indian Ocean, Micronesia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and New Zealand. With its wealth of information from long-term studies, Island Bats provides timely and valuable information about how this fauna has evolved and how it can be conserved.
Author : Jan J. Boersema
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 313 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2015-04-13
Category : History
ISBN : 9781107027701
Jan J. Boersema reconstructs the ecological and cultural history of Easter Island and critiques the hitherto accepted theory of its collapse.
Author : Simon Haberle,Janelle Stevenson,Matthew Prebble
Publisher : ANU E Press
Page : 525 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2010-11-01
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781921666810
Like a star chart this volume orientates the reader to the key issues and debates in Pacific and Australasian biogeography, palaeoecology and human ecology. A feature of this collection is the diversity of approaches ranging from interpretation of the biogeographic significance of plant and animal distributional patterns, pollen analysis from peats and lake sediments to discern Quaternary climate change, explanation of the patterns of faunal extinction events, the interplay of fire on landscape evolution, and models of the environmental consequences of human settlement patterns. The diversity of approaches, geographic scope and academic rigor are a fitting tribute to the enormous contributions of Geoff Hope. As made apparent in this volume, Hope pioneered multidisciplinary understanding of the history and impacts of human cultures in the Australia- Pacific region, arguably the globe's premier model systems for understanding the consequences of humans colonization on ecological systems. The distinguished scholars who have contributed to this volume also demonstrate Hope's enduring contribution as an inspirational research leader, collaborator and mentor. Terra Australis leave no doubt that history matters, not only for land management, but more importantly, in alerting settler and indigenous societies alike to their past ecological impacts and future environmental trajectories.
Author : Robert J. Whittaker,José María Fernández-Palacios,Thomas J. Matthews
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 497 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2023
Category : Biogeography
ISBN : 9780198868569
Island biogeography is the study of the distribution and dynamics of species in island environments. Due to their isolation from more widespread continental species, islands are ideal places for unique species to evolve, but they are also places of concentrated extinction. Consequently, theyare widely studied by ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and conservationists.This accessible textbook builds on the success and reputation of its predecessors, documenting the recent advances in this exciting field and explaining how islands have contributed to both theory development and testing. In addition, the book describes the main processes of island formation,subsequent dynamics, and eventual demise, explaining the relevance of island environmental history to island biogeography. The authors demonstrate the significance of islands as hotspots of biodiversity and of prehistoric and historic anthropogenic extinction. Since island species continue tofeature disproportionally in the lists of threatened species today, the book examines both the chief threats to their persistence and some of the mitigation measures that can be put in play, with conservation strategies specifically tailored to islands.
Author : Terry L. Jones,Alice A. Storey,Elizabeth A. Matisoo-Smith,José Miguel Ramírez-Aliaga
Publisher : Rowman Altamira
Page : 382 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2011-01-16
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780759120068
The possibility that Polynesian seafarers made landfall and interacted with the native people of the New World before Columbus has been the topic of academic discussion for well over a century, although American archaeologists have considered the idea verboten since the 1970s. Fresh discoveries made with the aid of new technologies along with re-evaluation of longstanding but often-ignored evidence provide a stronger case than ever before for multiple prehistoric Polynesian landfalls. This book reviews the debate, evaluates theoretical trends that have discouraged consideration of trans-oceanic contacts, summarizes the historic evidence and supplements it with recent archaeological, linguistic, botanical, and physical anthropological findings. Written by leading experts in their fields, this is a must-have volume for archaeologists, historians, anthropologists and anyone else interested in the remarkable long-distance voyages made by Polynesians. The combined evidence is used to argue that that Polynesians almost certainly made landfall in southern South America on the coast of Chile, in northern South America in the vicinity of the Gulf of Guayaquil, and on the coast of southern California in North America.
Author : Michael Novacek
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Page : 632 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2008-11-11
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781466821606
A paleontologist awakens us to the "extinction event" that human activity is bringing about today The natural world as humans have always known it evolved close to 100 million years ago, with the appearance of flowering plants and pollinating insects during the age of the dinosaurs. Its tremendous history is now in danger of profound, catastrophic disruption. In Terra, a brilliant synthesis of evolutionary biology, paleontology, and modern environmental science, Michael Novacek shows how all three can help us understand and prevent what he (and others) call today's "mass extinction event." Humanity's use of land, our consumption, the pollution we create, and our contributions to global warming are causing this crisis. True, the fossil record of hundreds of millions of years reveals that wild and bounteous nature has always evolved not quietly but thunderously, as species arise, flourish, die off, and are replaced by new species. We learn from paleontology and archaeology that for 50,000 years, human hunting, mining, and agriculture have changed many localities, sometimes irrevocably. But today, Novacek insists, our behavior endangers the entire global ecosystem. And if we disregard—through ignorance, antipathy, or apathy—the theory of evolution that developed with our modern understanding of the Earth's past, we not only impede enlightenment but threaten any practical strategy for our own survival. The evolutionary future of the entire living planet depends on our understanding this.
Author : Navjot S. Sodhi,Cagan H. Sekercioglu,Jos Barlow,Scott K. Robinson
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 456 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2011-02-23
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781444342598
Conservation of Tropical Birds has been written by four conservation biologists whose expertise spans all the tropical regions of the world. It is the first book to cover all the major issues in tropical bird conservation. Current problems faced by tropical bird conservationists are summarised and potential solutions outlined based on the results of case studies. Birds are key indicators of ecosystem health, and such a well-studied group of organisms, that they provide an excellent lens through which to examine global conservation problems caused by phenomena such as climate change, declines in ecosystem services, habitat loss, fires, overexploitation, and invasive species. Therefore, the book also provides an engaging synopsis of the general issues in conservation and the problems faced by other wildlife. This book serves as an important resource and companion to all people interested in observing and conserving birds in the tropics and elsewhere.
Author : Trevor Price
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 369 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2022-08-26
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9780197564196
An increasing amount of usable space on our planet is crowded by humans. Whether we are using the space for permanent homes, vacation homes, travel accommodations, farming, public recreation, transportation, or office buildings, our chronic overuse of Earth's resources is pushing our ecosystem into uncharted territories. This has spurred many species extinctions, and we can expect the losses to continue to grow. Ecology of a Changed World outlines the importance of species conservation relative to human existence. The book breaks down ecological principles and explains six threats to biodiversity in terms anyone studying ecology, evolutionary biology, environmental science, or environmental justice will understand. Ecologist Trevor Price begins the book by breaking down population growth, food webs, species interaction, and other ecological principles. He draws on examples from agriculture, disease, fisheries, and societal growth throughout each chapter, offering insight into the relationships between demographic transitions, monetary exchanges, and ecosystems. Price focuses on six threats to biodiversity--climate change, overharvesting, pollution, habitat loss, invasive species, and disease--and offers the history, current status, and economic as well as environmental impacts of each of these. He ends the book with a rigorous review of the importance of species diversity, outlining the ways losses to our ecosystem will be a detriment to public health and global wealth. Taking readers through competition, predation, and parasitism, Ecology of a Changed World helpfully traces what has occurred on our planet throughout history, why these things happened, and how we can use this information to determine and shape our future.
Author : Warren M. Hern
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 337 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2022-09-30
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781000640106
Home Ecophagus by Warren M. Hern is a wide-ranging look at the major problems for the survival of not just the human species, but all other species on Earth due to human activities over the past tens of thousands years. The title of the book indicates Hern’s new name for the human species: "The man who devours the ecosystem." Over the course of its evolution, Hern observes, humans have evolved cultures and adaptations that have now become malignant and that the human species, at the global level, has all the major characteristics of a malignant neoplasm – converting all plant, animal, organic, and inorganic material into human biomass or its adaptive adjuncts and support systems. Hern contends that this process is incompatible with continued survival of the human species and most other species on the planet, offering a diagnosis and prognosis of the current environmental impasse.
