Books about Biogeography from Amazon.com

David Quammen's book, The Song of the Dodo, is a brilliant, stirring work, breathtaking in its scope, far-reaching in its message -- a crucial book in precarious times, which radically alters the way in which we understand the natural world and our place in that world. It's also a book full of entertainment and wonders.

In The Song of the Dodo, we follow Quammen's keen intellect through the ideas, theories, and experiments of prominent naturalists of the last two centuries. We trail after him as he travels the world, tracking the subject of island biogeography, which encompasses nothing less than the study of the origin and extinction of all species. Why is this island idea so important? Because islands are where species most commonly go extinct -- and because, as Quammen points out, we live in an age when all of Earth's landscapes are being chopped into island-like fragments by human activity.

Through his eyes, we glimpse the nature of evolution and extinction, and in so doing come to understand the monumental diversity of our planet, and the importance of preserving its wild landscapes, animals, and plants. We also meet some fascinating human characters. By the book's end we are wiser, and more deeply concerned, but Quammen leaves us with a message of excitement and hope..
Price: $8.50 [Notify me when price goes down.]

As he examines everything from species survival on islands to vegetarian piranhas, Quammen's funny and offbeat essays offer a unique glimpse of the natural world and, at the same time, clarify the larger biological issues and their effect on humankind..
Price: $4.79 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This is the first comprehensive English-language field guide to the wildlife of Chile and its territories--Chilean Antarctica, Easter Island, Juan Fernández, and San Félix y San Ambrosio From bats to butterflies, lizards to llamas, and ferns to flamingos, A Wildlife Guide to Chile covers the country's common plants and animals The color plates depict species in their natural environments with unmatched vividness and realism. The combination of detailed illustrations and engaging, succinct, and authoritative text make field identification quick, easy, and accurate. Maps, charts, and diagrams provide information about landforms, submarine topography, marine environment, climate, vegetation zones, and the best places to view wildlife. This is an essential guide to Chile's remarkable biodiversity.

• The only comprehensive English-language guide to Chile's common flora and fauna
• The first guide to cover Chile and its territories--Chilean Antarctica, Easter Island, Juan Fernández, and San Félix y San Ambrosio
• 120 full-color plates allow quick identification of more than 800 species
• Accompanying text describes species size, shape, color, habitat, and range
• Descriptions list size, distribution, and English, Spanish, and scientific names
• Information on the best spots to view wildlife, including major national parks
• Compact and lightweight--a perfect field guide

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Price: $12.42 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Published to coincide with the International Polar Year, Vanishing World is an unprecedented visual record of life in the Arctic. Five years in the making, this book is both a celebration of the wildlife that inhabits this harsh and unforgiving climate and a cautionary tale of global warming. Rising temperatures have put areas such as the Artic at risk and the livelihoods of the animals that live there are increasingly threatened.

Set against a dramatic landscape of ice floes and ragged mountains, readers will see the polar bears, foxes, seals, walruses, and reindeers who now struggle to live in this vulnerable climate. Images of a polar bear mother as she takes her newborns out for their first hunt, a seal pup only hours old, the spectacle of the polar night, and the majesty of the glaciers and pack ice are a reminder of what is at risk.

Mireille de la Lez’s stunning photographs are accompanied by text that explains the precarious nature of life in this dramatic climate. No one who sees the images of this vanishing world will be unmoved..
Price: $11.60 [Notify me when price goes down.]

People of European descent form the bulk of the population in most of the temperate zones of the world - North America, Australia and New Zealand The military successes of European imperialism are easy to explain; in many cases they were a matter of firearms against spears. But, as Alfred Crosby maintains in this highly original and fascinating book, the Europeans' displacement and replacement of the native peoples in the temperate zones was more a matter of biology than of military conquest. European organisms had certain decisive advantages over their New World and Australian counterparts. The spread of European disease, flora, and fauna went hand in hand with the growth of populations. Consequently, these imperialists became proprietors of the world's most important agricultural lands. Now in a new edition with a new preface, Crosby revisits his now-classic work and again evaluates the global historical importance of European ecological expansion..
Price: $9.98 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A nontechnical illustrated guidebook to the ecology of freshwater wetlands in Eastern and Central North America..
Price: $10.44 [Notify me when price goes down.]

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Price: $27.74 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Ecological approach to natural history provides complete descriptions of 80 common wetland plants..
Price: $9.98 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This best-selling majors-level book, by Charles Krebs, approaches ecology as a series of problems, which are best understood by evaluating empirical evidence through data analysis and application of quantitative reasoning. No otherbook presents analytical, quantitative, and statistical ecological information in an equally accessible style for students. Reflecting the way ecologists actually practice, the new edition emphasizes the role of experiments in testing ecological ideas and discusses many contemporary and controversial problems related to distribution and abundance. Introduction to the Science of Ecology, Evolution and Ecology, Behavioral Ecology, Analyzing Geographic Distributions,Factors That Limit Distributions I:  Biotic, Factors That Limit Distributions II:  Abiotic, Distribution and Abundance, Population Parameters and Demographic Techniques, Population Growth, Species Interactions I:  Competition, Species Interactions II:  Predation, Species Interactions III:  Herbivory and Mutualism, Species Interactions IV: Disease and Parasitism, Regulation of Population Size, Applied Problems I:  Harvesting Populations, Applied Problems II:  Pest Control, Applied Problems III:  Conservation Biology, Community Structure, Community Dynamics I:  Biodiversity, Community Dynamics II:  Predation and Competition,  Community Dynamics III:  Nonequilibrium Communities, Ecosystem Metabolism I:  Primary Production, Ecosystem Metabolism II:  Secondary Production, Ecosystem Metabolism III:  Nutrient Cycles, Ecosystem Dynamics under Changing Climates,

Ecosystem Health: Human Impacts. Intended for those interested in learning the basics of ecology

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Price: $94.75 [Notify me when price goes down.]