Here is one of the most provocative, wide-ranging, and delightful books ever written about our environment. Paul Colinvaux takes a penetrating look at the science of ecology, bringing to his subject both profound knowledge and an enthusiasm that will encourage a greater understanding of the environment and of the efforts of those who seek to preserve it.

Why Big Fierce Animals Are Rare

Science & Math

Colinvaux, Paul

Biological Sciences

Penguin Putnam~trade

Amazon Expeditions: My Quest for the Ice-Age Equator

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

Yale University Press

A gripping tale of exploration, the pursuit of ice-age records, scientific invention and controversy, and revelations about the great Amazon forest In this vivid memoir of a life in science, ecologist Paul Colinvaux takes his readers from the Alaskan tundra to steamy Amazon jungles, from the Galapagos Islands (before tourists had arrived) to the high Andes and the Darien Gap in Panama. He recounts an adventurous tale of exploration in the days before GPS and satellite mapping, and a tale no less exhilarating of his battle to disprove a hypothesis endorsed by most of the scientific community.
Colinvaux’s grand endeavor, begun in the 1960s, was to find fossil evidence of the ice-age climate and vegetation of the entire American equator, from Pacific to Atlantic. The accomplishment of the task by the author and his colleagues involved finding unknown ancient lakes, lugging drilling equipment through uncharted Amazon jungle, operating hand drills from rubber boats in water 40 meters deep, and inventing a pollen analysis for a land with 80,000 species of plants. Colinvaux’s years of arduous travel and research ultimately disproved a hotly defended hypothesis explaining bird distribution peculiarities in the Amazon forest. The story of how he arrived at a new understanding of the Amazon is at once an adventurous saga, an account of science as it is conducted in the field, and a cautionary tale about the temptation to treat a favored hypothesis with a reverence that subverts unbiased research.

A comprehensive survey of modern ecology, covering such essential topics as ecosystem processes, species strategies, social systems, community building, ecosystem stability, population ecology, individual adaption, and species diversity. Also includes extensive treatments of physical and chemical systems--from geochemistry to soil science and climate. Ecosystems are defined by climate, energy flux, substrate, and periodicity in environment. This book shows how these physical facts of life influence the choices made by natural selection and how they determine much of ecosystem function.

Ecology

wiley

Written by a practicing paleoecologist and award-winning author, this guide explores life on earth from a paleoecological perspective. Reflecting the modern theoretical work of Robert May and his colleagues, this comprehensive survey covers ecosystem processes, species strategies, social systems, community building, ecosystem stability, population ecology, individual adaptation and species diversity. Includes extensive treatments of physical and chemical systems--from geochemistry to soil science and climate. Uses pictorial cartoons to emphasize key points and includes a minimum of mathematics.

Ecology, 2nd Edition

John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

First published in 1979, Why Big Fierce Animals Are Rare has established itself as a seminal work in ecology. Now with a new foreword by ecologist and writer Cristina Eisenberg, this penetrating study of ecosystems and animal populations is more relevant than ever. What accounts for the many different species of insect? Why does the robin population stay relatively steady year after year, despite the fact that their nests contain several chicks at once? Paul Colinvaux traces the ecologist's quest to answer these questions and more in this accessibly written book. He brings to the subject both profound knowledge and an enthusiasm that will encourage a greater understanding of the environment and of the efforts of those who seek to preserve it.

Why Big Fierce Animals Are Rare: An Ecologist's Perspective (Princeton Science Library)

Princeton University Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Colinvaux, Paul. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Colinvaux, Paul

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Colinvaux, Paul. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Why Big Fierce Animals Are Rare

Amazon Expeditions: My Quest for the Ice-Age Equator

Amazon Expeditions: My Quest for the Ice-Age Equator

Ecology

Ecology, 2nd Edition

Ecology

Why Big Fierce Animals Are Rare: An Ecologist's Perspective (Princeton Science Library)