A spider lassoes its prey. A beetle persuades a bee to care for its young. This beautifully illustrated book by veteran naturalist Sir David Attenborough offers a rare glimpse into the secret life of invertebrates, the world's tiniest--and most fascinating--creatures.Small by virtue of their lack of backbones, this group of living things plays a surprisingly large role in the evolutionary cycle. These diverse creatures (more than one million species are believed to exist) roamed the earth before us and will still be here when we have gone. They are the pollinators, cleaners, and recyclers of life on earth. Without them, we would not last long.Attenborough has studied and enjoyed these diminutive beings since he was a schoolboy in the Leicestershire countryside of England. Life in the Undergrowth, part of his innovative series on natural history topics, looks at invertebrates the world over: their arrival on land and mastery of every habitat, and their fantastic variety of hunting, mating, and highly organized social behaviors.Adults are prejudiced against insects--handicapped by their ignorance and fears and limited by their size and vision. Children, who are closer to insects in size, notice and enjoy the tiny creatures.In this companion book to the Animal Planet television program, Attenborough shares his childlike curiosity for invertebrates, taking us down wormholes and into insect homes for an up-close-and-personal look at their habitats. As the biblical book of Proverbs implores: Go to the ant, thou sluggard: consider her ways and be wise. David Attenborough does go. It is worth going with him.

    The Grand Question of Lifes Origins 2. The Historical Setting of Origins Research 3. What Is Life? 4. Is There Life on Mars? 5. Earths Oldest Fossils 6. Fossil Isotopes 7. Molecular Biosignatures 8. Emergence 9. The Miller-Urey Experiment 10. Life from the Bottom of the Sea 11. The Deep, Hot Biosphere 12. Experiments at High Pressure 13. More Experiments Under Pressure 14. Deep Space Dust, Molten Rock, and Zeolite 15. Macromolecules and the Tree of Life 16. Lipids and Membrane Self-Organization 17. Life on Clay, Clay as Life 18. Lifes Curious Handedness 19. Self-Replicating Molecular Systems 20. Günter Wächtershäusers Grand Hypothesis 21. The RNA World 22. The Pre-RNA World 23. Natural Selection and Competition 24. Three Scenarios for the Origin of Life

    The science that traces the history of life on Earth is called historical biogeography and it is the theme of this book. Biogeography is a wide-ranging study, involving geology, genetics and biology. There are no departments of it and no professors, but to understand 'what lives where and why' it is necessary to probe the cutting edge of fields as disparate as continental drift and the inner secrets of the magic DNA molecule. Although we are blessed in New Zealand with many descriptive books about our birds, plants, landscapes and conservation issues, there is currently no up-to-date book that explains the origin of our life. George Gibbs' very accessible story summarises exciting new research which leads to an understanding of where our fauna and flora came from and how they evolved to become some of the strangest in the world. It also reveals the landmark events in our deep history which have moulded the life of today and presents a balanced view of the arguments which accompany this type of speculative science. Ghosts of Gondwana is a highly readable and engaging book. Heavily illustrated with photographs and diagrams, this is popular science writing at its best. As the only contemporary book on this subject, it will undoubtedly become essential reading for anyone interested in New Zealand's natural history.

    Integral to the presentation, geochemical modelling using PHREEQC code is demonstrated, with step-by-step instructions for calculating and simulating field and laboratory data. Numerous figures and tables illustrate the theory, while worked examples including calculations and theoretical explanations assist the reader in gaining a deeper understanding of the concepts involved. A crucial read for students of hydrogeology, geochemistry and civil engineering, professionals in the water sciences will also find inspiration in the practical examples and modeling templates.