biogeography

Explores the factors affecting the dispersal of plants and animals from their original homes to distant places, specifically to islands.

Noting that island ecosystems have always suffered high rates of extinction and that human activity increasingly carves the landscape into island-like fragments, David Quammen examines the conditions in many island ecosystems around the world.

Examines the cultural and bio-social consequences of Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492, discussing the resulting international exchange of disease, the transformation of world food supplies, and the change in world population growth.

Text and maps present different continents and the animals that live there, explaining how the movement of continents over centuries has created and affected the diversity of today's animal life.

Examines the cultural and bio-social consequences of Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492, discussing the resulting international exchange of disease, the transformation of world food supplies, and the change in world population growth.

Describes ten of the earth's habitats and the life supported by them, including desert, ocean, and prairie.

Draws on case studies and scientific theories to explore the different ways changes in the distributions of the species on Earth have been studied throughout history.

Explains the problems posed by living organisms that invade or spread to new places.