Whether you're looking to save the planet or learn more about your local environment, 30-Second Ecology introduces you to the diversity, behaviours and challenges within our ecosystem.Part of the 30-Second series, this introductory guide to ecology is split into 7 chapters that cover:Evolution & EcologyBehavioural EcologyPopulation Ecology

Whether you're looking to save the planet or learn more about your local environment, 30-Second Ecology introduces you to the diversity, behaviours and challenges within our ecosystem.Part of the 30-Second series, this introductory guide to ecology is split into 7 chapters that cover:Evolution & EcologyBehavioural EcologyPopulation Ecology

Human activity has irreversibly changed the natural environment. But the news isn't all bad.It's accepted wisdom today that human beings have permanently damaged the natural world, causing extinction, deforestation, pollution, and of course climate change. But in Inheritors of the Earth, biologist Chris Thomas shows that this obscures a more hopeful truth -- we're also helping nature grow and change. Human cities and mass agriculture have created new place...

“An arresting vision of this relentless natural world” (New York Times) by a leading ecologist, who urges us to heed nature’s iron lawsOur species has amassed unprecedented knowledge of nature, which we have tried to use to seize control of life and bend the planet to our will. In  A Natural History of the Future, biologist Rob Dunn argues that such efforts are futile. We may see ourselves as life’s overlords, but we are instead at its mercy. In t...

The epic story of the beginning of life on Earth from the much loved and respected naturalist, writer and broadcaster, Sir David Attenborough.Spanning billions of years, Attenborough's time-travelling narrative brings the reader face to face with the first animals that ever existed. By using the latest technology, we are finally able to see for ourselves how these early animals would have looked like and how they would have lived. Attenborough also shows us how some of the evolutio...

A beloved natural historian and biologist explores how climate change is driving evolution.**“Hanson is an affable guide and storyteller., with a knack for analogy, a sense of humor and the natural curiosity of a scientist.” ―**New York TimesIn Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid, biologist Thor Hanson tells the remarkable story of how plants and animals are responding to climate change: adjusting, evolving, and sometimes ...

For most of us, the story of mammal evolution starts after the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs, but over the last 20 years scientists have uncovered new fossils and used new technologies that have upended this story.In Beasts Before Us, palaeontologist Elsa Panciroli charts the emergence of the mammal lineage, Synapsida, beginning at their murky split from the reptiles in the Carboniferous period, over three hundred million years ago. They made t...

'A hugely useful and fascinating resume of rewilding - what it means, where it came from, why it's important and where it's going. Jepson and Blythe have done a masterly job, explaining the science behind rewilding in an accessible, honest and compelling way. It deserves to be widely read and become a book of great influence.' Isabella Tree, author of Wilding'Compelling ... [a] succinct and objective account' Financial Times...

How much do we really know about the species that make up the natural world?All over the world, biodiversity is gravely threatened – by overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution and climate change. Yet life on Earth has previously experienced five episodes of mass extinction, and nature has repeatedly proved itself to be a resilient, regenerative force.In this fascinating book, ecologist Dr. Ken Thompson surveys the Earth's biodiversity, its origins and s...

Mankind has recently come to the shocking realization that our ancestors survived hundreds of abrupt and severe changes to Earth's climate. In this unique travelogue, William H. Calvin takes us around the globe and back in time, showing us how such cycles of cool, crash, and burn provided the impetus for enormous increases in the intelligence and complexity of human beings and warning us of human activities that could trigger similarly massive shifts in the planet's climate."Calvin ...

There are few stories more remarkable than the evolution of life on earth. This Very Short Introduction presents a succinct guide to the key episodes in that story - from the very origins of life four million years ago to the extraordinary diversity of species around the globe today. Beginning with an explanation of the controversies surrounding the birth of life itself, each following chapter tells of a major breakthrough that made new forms of life possible: including sex and mu...

Since the dawn of human civilization, forests have provided us with food, resources, and energy. The history of human development is also one of forest loss and transformation, and yet even in our increasingly urbanized societies we remain surprisingly dependent on forests for a wide range of goods and services. Moreover, forests still retain a remarkable hold on our environmental values. In an era of continuing tropical deforestation and temperate forest resurgence, and in the midst of un...