The Avian Migrant

The Avian Migrant PDF Author: John H. Rappole
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231518633
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 459

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Book Description
The purpose of migration, regardless of the distance involved, is to exploit two or more environments suitable for survival or reproduction over time, usually on a seasonal basis. Yet individual organisms can practice the phenomenon differently, and birds deploy unique patterns of movement over particular segments of time. Incorporating the latest research on bird migration, this concise, critical assessment offers contemporary readers a firm grasp of what defines an avian migrant, how the organism came to be, what is known about its behavior, and how we can resolve its enduring mysteries. John H. Rappole's sophisticated survey of field data clarifies key ecological, biological, physiological, navigational, and evolutionary concerns. He begins with the very first migrants, who traded a home environment of greater stability for one of greater seasonality, and uses the structure of the annual cycle to examine the difference between migratory birds and their resident counterparts. He ultimately connects these differences to evolutionary milestones that have shaped a migrant lifestyle through natural selection. Rather than catalogue and describe various aspects of bird migration, Rappole considers how the avian migrant fits within a larger ecological frame, enabling a richer understanding of the phenomenon and its critical role in sustaining a hospitable and productive environment. Rappole concludes with a focus on population biology and conservation across time periods, considering the link between bird migration and the spread of disease among birds and humans, and the effects of global warming on migrant breeding ranges, reaction norms, and macroecology.

The Improbable Primate

The Improbable Primate PDF Author: Clive Finlayson
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191503770
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
Taking an ecological approach to our evolution, Clive Finlayson considers the origins of modern humans within the context of a drying climate and changing landscapes. Finlayson argues that environmental change, particularly availability of water, played a critical role in shaping the direction of human evolution, contributing to our spread and success. He argues that our ancestors carved a niche for themselves by leaving the forest and forcing their way into a long-established community of carnivores in a tropical savannah as climate changes opened up the landscape. They took their chance at high noon, when most other predators were asleep. Adapting to this new lifestyle by shedding their hair and developing an active sweating system to keep cool, being close to fresh water was vital. As the climate dried, our ancestors, already bipedal, became taller and slimmer, more adept at travelling farther in search of water. The challenges of seeking water in a drying landscape moulded the minds and bodies of early humans, and directed their migrations and eventual settlements. In this fresh and provocative view of a seven-million-year evolutionary journey, Finlayson demonstrates the radical implications for the interpretation of fossils and technologies and shows that understanding humans within an ecological context provides insights into the emergence and spread of Homo sapiens sapiens worldwide.

Avian survivors

Avian survivors PDF Author: Clive Finlayson
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408137321
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
Using a fresh approach that classifies birds according to their bioclimatic characteristics, Clive Finlayson views the history and distribution of Palearctic birds from a radical new angle. History and chance events play a central role in a story that has its origins before the asteroid impact that finished off the dinosaurs. In this book, Finlayson shows that the avifauna of the Palearctic long predates the glaciations of the last two million years, and had established itself gradually during the turbulent times of the Miocene and Pliocene, the lifting of Tibet and the drying of the continents having a major influence on these birds. Those that made it to the start of the glaciations were equipped to deal with whatever the climate could throw at them. They were the avian survivors, and they are still here with us today. Packed with figures and with a rich colour section, Avian Survivors tells the definitive story of the birds of the Palearctic, across space and time.

Nests

Nests PDF Author:
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 1452126658
Category : Photography
Languages : en
Pages : 124

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Book Description
Sharon Beals' gorgeous photographs of nests offer a new window onto the life and beauty of birds. Drawn from the collections of the California Academy of Sciences, the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at UC Berkeley, and the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, these birds' nests from around the world offer astonishing insight into the intricate detail wrought by nature's most fastidious architects. Lovely images of nests and eggs are set against rich black backgrounds, and are accompanied by fascinating and informative portraits—conveyed through words and illustrations—of the birds that built them. A beautiful volume, Nests is the perfect gift for birders, bird lovers, and anyone captivated by the fleeting and fascinating splendor of the natural world.

The Vortex

The Vortex PDF Author: Frank Uekötter
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
ISBN: 0822989808
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 752

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Book Description
Environmental challenges are defining the twenty-first century. To fully understand ongoing debates about our current crises—climate change, loss of biological diversity, pollution, extinction, resource woes—means revisiting their origins, in all their complexity. With this ambitious, highly original contribution to the environmental history of global modernity, Frank Uekötter considers the many ways humans have had an impact on their physical environment throughout history. Ours is not a one-way trajectory to sudden collapse, he argues, but rather death by a thousand cuts. The many paths we’ve forged to arrive in our current predicament, from agriculture to industry to infrastructure, must be considered collectively if we are to stay afloat in what Uekötter describes as a vortex: a powerful metaphor for the flow of history, capturing the momentum and the many crosscurrents that swept people and environments along. His book invites us to look at environmental challenges from multiple perspectives, including all the twists and turns that have helped to create the mess we find ourselves in. Uekötter has written a world history for an age where things are falling apart: where we know what lies ahead and are equipped with the right tools—technological and otherwise—and plenty of experience to deal with environmental challenges, but somehow fail to get our affairs in order.

Beast Companions

Beast Companions PDF Author: John Foster
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253069416
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Despite their fame and reputation, dinosaurs represent only half the story of the Mesozoic Era. In Beast Companions: The Unsung Animals of the Dinosaurs' World, paleontologist John Foster explores the often-overlooked animals that coexisted with them. These ancient species, often equally remarkable as their dinosaur neighbors, can provide valuable insights into the biotic history of our planet. In some cases, these animals reveal just as much, if not more, about the extinct ecosystems of the time as the dinosaurs themselves. By drawing on a wealth of current and past discoveries, Foster embarks on a sweeping journey across 164 million years to visit the beast companions of the dinosaurs. Along the way, he examines fish, insects, the first frogs and salamanders, turtles, snakes and lizards, marine reptiles, crocodiles, pterosaurs, birds, mammals, and other animals of the Mesozoic Era. Beast Companions is a groundbreaking exploration of the story of these contemporaries of the dinosaurs that set the modern world in motion more than 200 million years ago

A Feathered River Across the Sky

A Feathered River Across the Sky PDF Author: Joel Greenberg
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1620405350
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
The epic story of why passenger pigeons became extinct and what that says about our current relationship with the natural world. When Europeans arrived in North America, 25 to 40 percent of the continent's birds were passenger pigeons, traveling in flocks so massive as to block out the sun for hours or even days. The downbeats of their wings would chill the air beneath and create a thundering roar that would drown out all other sound. John James Audubon, impressed by their speed and agility, said a lone passenger pigeon streaking through the forest “passes like a thought.” How prophetic-for although a billion pigeons crossed the skies 80 miles from Toronto in May of 1860, little more than fifty years later passenger pigeons were extinct. The last of the species, Martha, died in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo on September 1, 1914. As naturalist Joel Greenberg relates in gripping detail, the pigeons' propensity to nest, roost, and fly together in vast numbers made them vulnerable to unremitting market and recreational hunting. The spread of railroads and telegraph lines created national demand that allowed the birds to be pursued relentlessly. Passenger pigeons inspired awe in the likes of Audubon, Henry David Thoreau, James Fenimore Cooper, and others, but no serious effort was made to protect the species until it was too late. Greenberg's beautifully written story of the passenger pigeon paints a vivid picture of the passenger pigeon's place in literature, art, and the hearts and minds of those who witnessed this epic bird, while providing a cautionary tale of what happens when species and natural resources are not harvested sustainably.

Diseases of Poultry

Diseases of Poultry PDF Author: Martine Boulianne
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119371155
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 1488

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Book Description
Dieses Fachbuch ist das Referenzwerk, wenn es um Geflügelkrankheiten geht. Die 14. Auflagen wurde vollständig überarbeitet und aktualisiert und bietet nun einem umfassenden Überblick über den aktuellen Stand der Wissenschaft. - Aktualisierte Auflage dieses maßgeblichen Referenzwerks zu Geflügelkrankheiten. - Bietet noch mehr klinisch relevante Informationen zum Management spezifischer Krankheiten. Die Beiträge stammen von erfahrenen Veterinärmedizinern. - Behandelt Themen wie Eindämmung von Krankheiten bei der biologischen und antibiotikafreien Geflügelzucht. - Die Kapitel sind noch prägnanter und damit ideal zum schnellen Nachschlagen. - Erläutert die Fortschritte in dem Fachgebiet, von neuen Diagnosewerkzeugen über Veränderungen als Folge der zunehmenden Globalisierung bis hin zum erneuten Auftreten von Zoonoseerregern.

The Dinosaurs and their Mysterious Demise

The Dinosaurs and their Mysterious Demise PDF Author: Andrew Norman
Publisher: White Owl
ISBN: 1399041169
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
Explores the captivating history of dinosaurs, their reign, extinction, and presents a new theory on how certain species survived their cataclysmic end. The dinosaurs are a source of endless fascination, and each new generation is inspired and enchanted by images of these wondrous and awe-inspiring creatures that dominated the Earth eons of time ago. The smallest was the size of a chicken; the largest on record, the titanosaur Argentinosaurus huinculensis, weighed about 95 tons—fifteen times as much as an African bull elephant (today’s largest terrestrial creature). Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for no less than 181 million years: about 600 times longer than Homo sapiens have existed on the planet (Homo sapiens is defined as the primate species to which modern humans belong: the first modern humans having evolved in Africa about 300,000 years ago). Today, the consensus is that the dinosaurs became extinct when a meteorite impacted with the Earth 66 million years ago, covering it with a thick layer of soot and throwing up enormous quantities of dust which caused the sky to darken, and photosynthesis on which all terrestrial animals ultimately depend for their survival to cease. The unanswered question, however, is how did mammals, reptiles, and birds (which are the only species of dinosaur to survive) escape this holocaust? An entirely new theory is put forward for the first time to explain this mysterious and intriguing phenomenon.

Stop Alzheimer's Now!

Stop Alzheimer's Now! PDF Author: Bruce Fife
Publisher: Piccadilly Books, Ltd.
ISBN: 0941599981
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Over 35 million people have dementia today. Each year 4.6 million new cases occur world-wide -- one new case every 7 seconds. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia. Parkinson's disease, another progressive brain disorder, affects about 4 million people world-wide. Millions more suffer with other neurodegenerative disorders. The number of people affected by these destructive diseases continues to increase every year. Dementia and other forms of neurodegeneration are not a part of the normal ageing process. The brain is fully capable of functioning normally for a lifetime, regardless of how long a person lives. While ageing is a risk factor for neurodegeneration, it is not the cause! Dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders are disease processes that can be prevented and successfully treated. This book outlines a program using ketone therapy and diet that is backed by decades of medical and clinical research and has proven successful in restoring mental function and improving both brain and overall health. You will learn how to prevent and even reverse symptoms associated with Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis (MS), Huntington's disease, epilepsy, diabetes, stroke, and various forms of dementia. The information in this book is useful not only for those who are suffering from neurodegenerative disease but for anyone who wants to be spared from ever encountering one or more of these devastating afflictions. These diseases don't just happen overnight. They take years, often decades, to develop. In the case of Alzheimer's disease, approximately 70 percent the brain cells responsible for memory are destroyed before symptoms become noticeable. You can stop Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases before they take over your life. The best time to start is now.

Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases , An Issue of Infectious Disease Clinics of North America

Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases , An Issue of Infectious Disease Clinics of North America PDF Author: Alimuddin Zumla
Publisher: Elsevier Health Sciences
ISBN: 0323708463
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
In consultation with Consulting Editor, Dr. Helen Boucher, Drs. Zumla and Hui have assembled an excellent clinical overview of the current priorities in treating emerging and re-emerging infections. A number of landmark events have occurred in the area of epidemic infections. The frequency and diversity of serious and drug/antibiotic-resistant infections are increasing. New and re-emerging infectious disease outbreaks continue to cause much human suffering and loss of life worldwide. Current priority infectious diseases concerns that threaten global health security are covered in this issue: Cholera; Typhoid and antibiotic-resistant strains; multi—drug-resistant Tuberculosis; Invasive Meningococcal disease; Invasive Pneumococcal disease; antibiotic-resistant bacterial, viral, and protozoal infections; diphtheria; pandemic influenza; MERS; SARS; Measles; viral haemorrhagic fevers; wild-type Polio virus; Zika; antibiotic-resistant sexually transmitted diseases; drug-resistant Malaria; ARV-resistant HIV; and fungal infections. This issue’s clinical review articles, written by authoritative and renowned experts in the area would, have broad appeal, from general internists to respiratory specialists. It should also prove interesting to infectious diseases specialists, health practitioners in the tropics, pulmonologists, internal medicine fellows, family physicians, and health-care policy makers in the west and developing countries. Medical students, postgraduates, and research fellows (both undergraduates and postgraduates) will also find this issue useful and to be a updated reference in the field of respiratory medicine, tropical medicine, and infectious diseases.