End of the Megafauna: The Fate of the World's Hugest, Fiercest, and Strangest Animals

End of the Megafauna: The Fate of the World's Hugest, Fiercest, and Strangest Animals
Author: Ross D E MacPhee
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 386
Release: 2018-11-13
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0393249301

The fascinating lives and puzzling demise of some of the largest animals on earth. Until a few thousand years ago, creatures that could have been from a sci-fi thriller—including gorilla-sized lemurs, 500-pound birds, and crocodiles that weighed a ton or more—roamed the earth. These great beasts, or “megafauna,” lived on every habitable continent and on many islands. With a handful of exceptions, all are now gone. What caused the disappearance of these prehistoric behemoths? No one event can be pinpointed as a specific cause, but several factors may have played a role. Paleomammalogist Ross D. E. MacPhee explores them all, examining the leading extinction theories, weighing the evidence, and presenting his own conclusions. He shows how theories of human overhunting and catastrophic climate change fail to account for critical features of these extinctions, and how new thinking is needed to elucidate these mysterious losses. Along the way, we learn how time is determined in earth history; how DNA is used to explain the genomics and phylogenetic history of megafauna—and how synthetic biology and genetic engineering may be able to reintroduce these giants of the past. Until then, gorgeous four-color illustrations by Peter Schouten re-create these megabeasts here in vivid detail.

In the Light of Evolution

In the Light of Evolution
Author: National Academy of Sciences
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 432
Release: 2008-12-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309164338

The current extinction crisis is of human making, and any favorable resolution of that biodiversity crisis-among the most dire in the 4-billion-year history of Earth-will have to be initiated by mankind. Little time remains for the public, corporations, and governments to awaken to the magnitude of what is at stake. This book aims to assist that critical educational mission, synthesizing recent scientific information and ideas about threats to biodiversity in the past, present, and projected future. This is the second volume from the In the Light of Evolution series, based on a series of Arthur M. Sackler colloquia, and designed to promote the evolutionary sciences. Each installment explores evolutionary perspectives on a particular biological topic that is scientifically intriguing but also has special relevance to contemporary societal issues or challenges. Individually and collectively, the ILE series aims to interpret phenomena in various areas of biology through the lens of evolution, address some of the most intellectually engaging as well as pragmatically important societal issues of our times, and foster a greater appreciation of evolutionary biology as a consolidating foundation for the life sciences.

Rewilding

Rewilding
Author: Nathalie Pettorelli
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 465
Release: 2019-01-31
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1108686362

Through a global and interdisciplinary lens, this book discusses, analyzes and summarizes the novel conservation approach of rewilding. The volume introduces key rewilding definitions and initiatives, highlighting their similarities and differences. It reviews matches and mismatches between the current state of ecological knowledge and the stated aims of rewilding projects, and discusses the role of human action in rewilding initiatives. Collating current scholarship, the book also considers the merits and dangers of rewilding approaches, as well as the economic and socio-political realities of using rewilding as a conservation tool. Its interdisciplinary nature will appeal to a broad range of readers, from primary ecologists and conservation biologists to land managers, policy makers and conservation practitioners in NGOs and government departments. Written for a scientifically literate readership of academics, researchers, students, and managers, the book also acts as a key resource for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses.

Author: Wm Jack Hranicky
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Total Pages: 498
Release: 2010-06
Genre:
ISBN: 145201714X

Material Culture from Prehistoric Virginia: Volume 1 is one volume of a two-volume set. This two-volume set is available in black and white and in color. Volume 1 contains artifact listings from A through L. Volume 2 contains the remainder of the alphabetical listings. These publications contain over 10,000 prehistoric artifacts mainly from Virginia, but the publication covers the eastern U. S. The set starts with Pre-Clovis and goes through Woodland times with some Indian ethnography and rockart. Each volume is indexed, contains references, has charts and graphs, drawings, photographs, artifact dates, and artifact descriptions. These volumes contain artifacts that have never appeared in the archaeological literature. From beginners to experienced archaeologists, they offer a complete library for the American Indian culture and experience. If the prehistoric Indian made it, an example is probably shown.

American Megafaunal Extinctions at the End of the Pleistocene

American Megafaunal Extinctions at the End of the Pleistocene
Author: Gary Haynes
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2010-11-30
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9789048179893

The volume contains summaries of facts, theories, and unsolved problems pertaining to the unexplained extinction of dozens of genera of mostly large terrestrial mammals, which occurred ca. 13,000 calendar years ago in North America and about 1,000 years later in South America. Another equally mysterious wave of extinctions affected large Caribbean islands around 5,000 years ago. The coupling of these extinctions with the earliest appearance of human beings has led to the suggestion that foraging humans are to blame, although major climatic shifts were also taking place in the Americas during some of the extinctions. The last published volume with similar (but not identical) themes -- Extinctions in Near Time -- appeared in 1999; since then a great deal of innovative, exciting new research has been done but has not yet been compiled and summarized. Different chapters in this volume provide in-depth resumés of the chronology of the extinctions in North and South America, the possible insights into animal ecology provided by studies of stable isotopes and anatomical/physiological characteristics such as growth increments in mammoth and mastodont tusks, the clues from taphonomic research about large-mammal biology, the applications of dating methods to the extinctions debate, and archeological controversies concerning human hunting of large mammals.

Wild Equids

Wild Equids
Author: Jason I. Ransom
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2016-06
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1421419092

Readers will find new insight into the lives of the world's horses, zebras, and asses, understand the basis of our relationships with these animals, and develop a greater understanding of where equids come from and why they are worth conserving.Included in this book are detailed, state-of-the-science syntheses on Social structure, behavior, and cognition Habitat and diet Ecological niches Population dynamics Roles of humans in horse distribution through time Human dimensions and the meaning of wild Management of free-roaming horses Captive breeding of wild equids Conservation of wild equids Conservation of migrations Reintroductions Genetics and paleogenetics

International Marine Mammal Law

International Marine Mammal Law
Author: Nikolas Sellheim
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2020-01-28
Genre: Law
ISBN: 3030352684

International Marine Mammal Law is a comprehensive, introductory volume on the legal regimes governing the conservation and utilisation of marine mammals. Written as a textbook, it provides basic overviews of international conservation law, which enable the reader to understand the greater implications of governance of a specific group of species. Paired with biological information on some marine mammal species, the international regimes for whales, seals and polar bears are explored — either as part of global regimes of international environmental governance or as regimes that were specifically designed for them. The book concludes with outlooks on the future of international marine mammal law, particularly in light of Japan’s withdrawal from the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling in July 2019.

Climate Catastrophe! Science or Science Fiction?

Climate Catastrophe! Science or Science Fiction?
Author: Andy May
Publisher: Andy May Petrophysicist LLC
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2022-09-04
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1642554448

This book is dedicated to science. Scientists are skeptical, we ask: “Is that idea correct? How can I test it?” Then we resolve to gather and analyze data until we show it isn’t or it might be. If we cannot disprove the idea, it survives. No true scientist “believes in science” because he knows science is a process, a process we use to uncover the truth. One cannot have faith in science, but one can believe in the scientific process or method.

Data Curation and Information Systems Design from Australasia

Data Curation and Information Systems Design from Australasia
Author: Julie Nichols
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2024-01-31
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1804556149

The need for decolonizing mismanagement practices in galleries, libraries, archives, and museums, of First Nations peoples’ materials and knowledge has been widely recognised. Authors from Indigenous and non-Indigenous backgrounds powerfully challenge entrenched assumptions of knowledge capture and dissemination of the western academy.

Once and Future Giants

Once and Future Giants
Author: Sharon Levy
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2011-03-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0199831548

Until about 13,000 years ago, North America was home to a menagerie of massive mammals. Mammoths, camels, and lions walked the ground that has become Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles and foraged on the marsh land now buried beneath Chicago's streets. Then, just as the first humans reached the Americas, these Ice Age giants vanished forever. In Once and Future Giants, science writer Sharon Levy digs through the evidence surrounding Pleistocene large animal ("megafauna") extinction events worldwide, showing that understanding this history--and our part in it--is crucial for protecting the elephants, polar bears, and other great creatures at risk today. These surviving relatives of the Ice Age beasts now face the threat of another great die-off, as our species usurps the planet's last wild places while driving a warming trend more extreme than any in mammalian history. Deftly navigating competing theories and emerging evidence, Once and Future Giants examines the extent of human influence on megafauna extinctions past and present, and explores innovative conservation efforts around the globe. The key to modern-day conservation, Levy suggests, may lie fossilized right under our feet.