Bird migration is the world's only true unifying natural phenomenon, stitching the continents together in a way that even the great weather systems fail to do. Scott Weidensaul follows awesome kettles of hawks over the Mexican coastal plains, bar-tailed godwits that hitchhike on gale winds 7,000 miles nonstop across the Pacific from Alaska to New Zealand, and myriad songbirds whose numbers have dwindled so dramatically in recent decades. Migration paths form an elaborate global web that shows serious signs of fraying, and Weidensaul delves into the tragedies of habitat degradation and deforestation with an urgency that brings to life the vast problems these miraculous migrants now face.

    Living creatures-swimming, creeping, floating or crawling--have invaded every possible undersea habitat. They have multiplied and diversified into every imaginable shape and form, from 20-foot giant squids to tiny creatures living between sand grains. Ninety percent of these animals are invertebrates--animals without backbones. Many are beautiful, a few are bizarre, and all are fascinating. This book leads the reader deeper into the undersea realm with photographs of over 500 species of lobsters, shrimps, crabs, shells, octopus, corals, anemones, urchins, stars, sponges, slugs and a host of other lesser-known creatures. Virtually all the animals encountered by snorkelers, divers and beachgoers in Hawaii are here. Hoover provides scientific, common and Hawaiian names for each animal and a wealth of information on its natural history, ecology, cultural importance and even suitability for aquariums.

    The book records extraordinary discoveries about the lives of tigers, with the role of the father in the wild recorded for the first time. The enhanced second edition comes with a new preface by the author and latest information on the forest occupancy of tigers, co-predators, prey, and population estimates of tigers in India. Written in a lucid, story-telling style, and with twenty-four outstanding colour plates, this book will enthrall all animal lovers and those interested in the conservation of wildlife.

    One of the most remarkable is that two genetically distinct forms of killer whales reside in these waters. The two groups of whales do not associate and each leads a completely different lifestyle. Residents specialize in a diet of salmon and other fish, while transients are hunters of seals, sea lions, porpoises, and even large whales. Enigmatic and elusive, these mammal-hunting whales travel in small groups, often moving unpredictably.Transients contains the latest information on the natural history of transient killer whales, including their feeding habits, social lives, and distribution patterns. It also includes photographs of and notes on over 200 individual whales. Numerous sidebars contain interesting observations on encounters with transients as well as information on how and where to best watch them.

    This book focuses attention primarily on the physical aspects of the binding and its construction principles. It is an expanded version of a series of lectures delivered by the author while Visiting Professor at the University of Amsterdam in 1987, supplemented with the results of ten years of intensive research in major libraries on the Continent, the United Kingdom and the USA. It surveys the evolution of binding structures from the introduction of the codex two thousand years ago to the close of the Middle Ages. Part I reviews the scanty physical evidence from the Mediterranean heritage, the early Coptic, Islamic and Ethiopian binding structures and their interrelation with those of the Byzantine realm. Part II is devoted to a detailed analysis of Western binding techniques, distinguishing the carolingian, romanesque and gothic wooden-board bindings as the main typological entities; their structure and function is compared with those of contemporary limp bindings. The book is illustrated with over 200 drawings and photographs and contains a comprehensive bibliography.

    He foresaw:Global warming and its devastating consequencesIncreasing violence and lawlessness as the direct result of destructive methods which block Nature's energies and balance.The destruction of the world's forests and ecosystems.This, and the fact that he developed free energy machines through harnessing the magical processes of Nature, has made Viktor Schauberger truly a man of our times.Nature as Teacherdetails Schauberger's thinking about environmental catastrophe. It includes correspondence with contemporaries and, in particular, his feelings of frustration at the blindness of those in mainstream science who seemed to him to be more concerned with their own welfare and pride than with the fate of humanity.This volume gives tremendous insight into what is happening on the Earth today and presents practical solutions on how we may yet save our precious world."

    The image of a herd grazing on Bureau of Land Management or U.S. Forest Service lands is so traditional that many view this use as central to the history and culture of the West. Yet the grazing program costs far more to administer than it generates in revenues, and grazing affects all other uses of public lands, causing potentially irreversible damage to native wildlife and vegetation.The Western Range Revisited proposes a landscape-level strategy for conserving native biological diversity on federal rangelands, a strategy based chiefly on removing livestock from large tracts of arid BLM lands in ten western states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming.Drawing from range ecology, conservation biology, law, and economics, Debra L. Donahue examines the history of federal grazing policy and the current debate on federal multiple-use, sustained-yield policies and changing priorities for our public lands. Donahue, a lawyer and wildlife biologist, uses existing laws and regulations, historical documents, economic statistics, and current scientific thinking to make a strong case for a land-management strategy that has been, until now, "unthinkable."A groundbreaking interdisciplinary work, The Western Range Revisited demonstrates that conserving biodiversity by eliminating or reducing livestock grazing makes economic sense, is ecologically expedient, and can be achieved under current law.

    Karesh is a globetrotting vet who makes house calls in exotic places. The founding director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Field Veterinary Program, Karesh shares some of his fascinating, and dangerous, encounters in the wild.

    

    It is a land of absolutes, of passion and indifference, lush textures and inscrutable tensions. Here violence can push beauty to the edge of a razor blade. . . . Thus Ellen Meloy describes a corner of desert hard by the San Juan River in southeastern Utah, a place long forsaken as implausible and impassable, of little use or value—a place that she calls home. Despite twenty years of carefully nurtured intimacy with this red-rock landscape, Meloy finds herself, one sunbaked morning, staring down at a dead lizard floating in her coffee and feeling suddenly unmoored. What follows is a quest that is both physical and spiritual, a search for home.

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    It includes the origins of the interest in conservation within the European context, and the development of the concepts from Antiquity and the Renaissance to the present day. Jokilehto illustrates how this development has influenced international collaboration in the protection and conservation of cultural heritage, and how it has formed the principal concepts and approach to conservation and restoration in today's multi-cultural society.This book is based on archival research of original documents and the study of key restoration examples in countries that have influenced the international conservation movement. Accessible and of great interest to students and the general public it includes conservation trends in Europe, the USA, India, Iran and Japan.

    Its ultimate goal is to establish an effective network of nature reserves throughout North America -- core conservation areas linked by corridors, and buffered, where appropriate, by lands that may also serve economic objectives.Continental Conservation represents the work of thirty leading experts-including Michael Soule, John Terborgh, Reed Noss, Paul Paquet, Dan Simberloff, Rodolfo Dirzo, J. Michael Scott, Andrew Dobson, and others -- brought together by The Wildlands Project to examine the science underlying the design and management of these regional-scale networks. It provides conservationists and biologists with the latest scientific principles for protecting living nature at spatial scales that encompass entire regions and continents.Following an opening chapter that sets the stage by introducing major themes and the scientific and policy background, the contributors: consider scale in the identification, selection, and design of biological reserves examine the role of top carnivores in regulating terrestrial ecosystems suggest the need for a paradigm shift in the field of ecological restoration consider the scientific details of implementing regional conservation in core areas, corridors, and in buffer zones discuss the need for megareserves and how to design themThe book ends by challenging the reader, whether scientist or advocate, to commit more time to the effort of saving nature. The authors argue that the very survival of nature is at stake, and scientists can no longer afford to stand behind a wall of austereobjectivity.Continental Conservation is an important guidebook that can serve a vital role in helping fashion a radically honest, scientifically rigorous land-use agenda. It will be required reading for scientists and professionals at all levels involved with ecosystem and land management.

    These are among the special places of Toronto. Each is a unique ecosystem within the busy urban region. Even though Torontonians think of the city as almost entirely built up, savannah or wetlands are only a subway ride away. Special Places explores the changing ecosystems of the Toronto area over this century, looking at the environmental conditions that influence the whole region and at the surprising range of plants and animals you can still find in many of its natural spaces.Special Places explores the changing ecosystems of the Toronto area over this century, looking at the environmental conditions that influence the whole region and at the surprising range of plants and animals you can still find in many of its natural spaces.In Special Places, a group of science professionals show how actions in one location produce ripples in every direction. Changes in forest cover, for example, affect not only the organisms that live in the forest but also those that use it from time to time, such as migrating birds and those that live in watersheds fed by water husbanded by forest cover. Changes in bird populations cause changes in the populations of insects on which they feed; changes in insect populations affect the plants on which they feed; and so on.As a new millennium arrives, it is time to take stock of our effect on the world around us and to consider the consequences. Special Places assesses how we can minimize the impact of human activity on the environment and even remedy some of the harm we have already done. One way is to bridge the gap between scientists and decision makers by making the natural sciences more accessible to everyone.Special Places was written at the initiative of the Royal Canadian Institute, which is the oldest active scientific society in Canada and is dedicated to bringing the natural sciences to the public. Richly illustrated and written for a general audience, this book celebrates the glory and fragility of these interlocking ecosystems and helps us appreciate the uniqueness of the "special places."