Insects and history (The World naturalist)

John Leonard Cloudsley-Thompson

Littlehampton Book Services Ltd.

An illustrated introduction to the study of the relations of living organisms to their environment. The contents include coverage of the Gaia hypothesis, Chaos theory, terrestrial and aquatic biomes, populations, communities, plants, predators, parasites and disease, foodwebs, biomass and biodiversity. Contemporary debates are included on overpopulation, pollution and biodegradation. The book is suitable for first year students and general readers.

Ecology (Teach Yourself Educational)

Science & Math

Biological Sciences

Hodder Arnold

This book is intended as a textbook for 3rd year undergraduate students, as well as postgraduate students. It comprises a review of the current opinion regarding the evolution and adaptation of terrestrial arthropods, beginning with the paleontological, embryological, morphological and physiological evidence. The implication of size is then considered in relation to life on land. A discussion of insect phylogeny and the origin of flight is followed by an account of evolutionary trends in reproduction. Further chapters cover adaptations to extreme environments, dispersal and migration, defensive mechanisms and, finally, present arguments for the success of the terrestrial arthropods in general.

Evolution and Adaptation of Terrestrial Arthropods

Springer, Verlag

Terrestrial Environments

John Wiley&Sons

<p>The exigencies of life in the desert environment have resulted in the se lection of a diversity of adaptations, both morphological and physiologi cal, in the flora and fauna. At the same time, many plants and most small animals are able not merely to exist but even to thrive under desert conditions - mainly by avoiding thermal extremes and by the refine ment of pre-existing abilities to economise in water. In the same way, the biotic interactions of the flora and fauna of the desert do not involve many new principles. Nevertheless, conditions in arid regions frequently do invoke refinements of the complex interrelations between predators and their prey, parasites and their hosts, as well as between herbivores and the plants upon which they feed. In this book, I shall discuss not only such interactions and their feedback effects, but also community processes and population dynamics in the desert. The physical conditions of the desert that principally affect predators and their prey are its openness and the paucity of cover. This is re stricted to scattered plants, occasional rocks, holes, and crevices in the ground. Furthermore, nightfall does not confer relative invisibility, as it does in many other ecobiomes, because of the clarity of the atmosphere. The bright starlight of the desert renders nearby objects visible even to the human eye, while an incandescent moon bathes the empty landscape with a flood of silver light. Consequently, adaptive coloration is func tional at all hours of the day and night.</p>

Biotic Interactions in Arid Lands (Adaptations of Desert Organisms)

Springer

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Books by John Leonard Cloudsley-Thompson