The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of ExtinctionsThirty years ago, two young biologists named Robert MacArthur and Edward O. Wilson triggered a far-reaching scientific revolution. In a book titled The Theory of Island Biogeography, they presented a new view of a little-understood matter: the geographical patterns in which animal and plant species occur. Why do marsupials exist in Australia and South America, but not in Africa? Why do tigers exist in Asia, but not in New Guinea? Influenced by MacArthur and Wilson's book, an entire generation of ecologists has recognized that island biogeography - the study of the distribution of species on islands and islandlike patches of landscape - yields important insights into the origin and extinction of species everywhere. The new mode of thought focuses particularly on a single question: Why have island ecosystems always suffered such high rates of extinction? In our own age, with all the world's landscapes, from Tasmania to the Amazon to Yellowstone, now being carved into islandlike fragments by human activity, the implications of island biogeography are more urgent than ever. Until now, this scientific revolution has remained unknown to the general public. But over the past eight years, David Quammen has followed its threads on a globe-circling journey of discovery. In Madagascar, he has considered the meaning of tenrecs, a group of strange, prickly mammals native to that island. On the island of Guam, he has confronted a pestilential explosion of snakes and spiders. In these and other places, he has prowled through wild terrain with extraordinary scientists who study unusual beasts. The result is The Song of the Dodo, a book filled with landscape, wonder, and ideas. Besides being a grand outdoor adventure, it is, above all, a wake-up call to the age of extinctions. |
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The Song Of The Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions David Quammen Limited preview - 2012 |
The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions David Quammen Limited preview - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
Aborigines adaptive radiation Alfred Wallace alleles Amazon Analamazaotra animals archipelago Australia Bali Bedo beetles biologists biology birds boat Charles Darwin conservation creatures Diamond diversity dodo ecological ecologist ecosystem eggs endemic equilibrium theory evolution evolutionary extinction fauna finches flightless forest Galápagos genetic giant Gilpin Guam Guinea habitat human Ibid iguanas inbreeding indri insects insular island biogeography Jared Diamond Jones kestrel komodo land landscape later live lizard Lovejoy Lyell MacArthur and Wilson Madagascar mainland male mammals Mauritius Mauritius kestrel Mayr miles monkeys Montes Claros muriqui named native natural number of species ocean pair paper park patch pattern pigeon plant predators rainforest ratites reptiles reserve River Robert MacArthur says scientific scientists seems Simberloff snake sort Soulé speciation species-area specimens Strier subspecies survived Tasmania Tasmanian Tasmanian Aborigines tenrecs there's thylacine tion tortoises tree tropical Truganini Wallace Wallace's wild wildlife Wright wrote young