The NHBS Conservation Hub – news, reviews and resources
Wired Magazine has a series of stunning close-up images of insect eyes from previous year’s entries of Nikon’s Small World Photomicrography Competition.
My favourite image has to be the Klaus Bolte’s Tetse Fly (Glossina genus). Nikon also offer a daily ‘Identify the Image‘ challenge (I only got 3/5 today…).
Check out this interesting interview with Nicholas Stern in The Guardian newspaper, discussing his new book A Blueprint for a Safer Planet: How to Manage Climate Change and Create a New Era of Progress and Prosperity. As Stern states:
“We’re the first generation that has had the power to destroy the planet. Ignoring that risk can only be described as reckless.”
Stern has become a global authority on climate change since the publication of his report The Economics of Climate Change. This report, commissioned by the UK Government, suggests that if we don’t invest 1% of global GDP in tackling climate change per annum, the eventual cost to society will be 20% of global GDP.
Order a copy of A Blueprint for a Safer Planet today
Browse our full range of books on Climate Change
Radio 4’s Today Programme featured the new birding travelogue Birdwatchingwatching this morning. You can listen to the piece again online here.
This weekend is the 30th Big Garden Birdwatch – the world’s biggest bird survey. This annual event provides invaluable information on species abundance accross the country and is easy for anyone to take part in. All you need to do is record the species you see in your garden for one hour.
Find out more on the RSPB’s website.
To find out more about monitoring bird populations you might be interested in the BTO’s new book about the history of ringing: Bird Ringing: A Concise Guide. For more in-depth information on techniques, see Bird Monitoring Methods and Bird Census Techniques.
8 natural areas have just been awarded UNESCO World Heritage Status. These are the most up to date books on these area’s flora & fauna.
Lagoons of New Caledonia: Reef Diversity and Associated Ecosystems (France)
Reef and Shore Fishes of the South Pacific: New Caledonia to Tahiti and the Pitcairn Islands
Les Gorgones des Recifs Coralliens de Nouvelle-Caledonie – Coral Reef Gorgonians of New Caledonia
Lonely Planet Travel Guides: Vanuatu & New Caledonia
Surtsey (Iceland)
Surtsey: Ecosystem Formed
Plants and Animals of Iceland
Saryarka – Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan (Kazakhstan)
The Birds of Kazakhstan
Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (Mexico)
Nomads of the Wind: The Migration of the Monarch Butterfly and Other Wonders of the Butterfly World
The Monarch Butterfly: Biology and Conservation
Collins Field Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Central America
Mount Sanqingshan National Park (China)
Wild China DVD
A Guide to the Mammals of China
Wildlife Conservation in China: Preserving the Habitat of China’s Wild West
Socotra Archipelago (Yemen)
Socotra: A Natural History of the Islands and their People
Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona (Switzerland)
No books that we can find. Any suggestions?
Joggins Fossil Cliffs (Canada)
Nothing specifically on this, although Fossil Ecosystems of North America: A Guide to the Sites and their Extraordinary Biotas is a thorough introduction to fossil hotspots.
The International Institute for Species Exploration have issued their list of the Top 10 new species described in 2007. We offer a warm welcome to these species as they leave the masses of what is not known and join the slightly more ordered ranks of the known:
The International Institute for Species Exploration have also released the State of Observed Species Report (SOS) for 2006 listing 16,969 new species. 53% of these are not surprisingly insects, though the list includes 185 new mammal and 37 new bird species. The SOS report is issued annually on 23rd of May to conincide with the birthday of Linnaeus – it can be downloaded here.
Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiveristy offers, in the words of Al Gore: “The most complete and powerful argument I have seen for the importance of preserving biodiversity“. Includes a foreword by EO Wilson and a prologue by Kofi Annan.
Karsten et al, reporting in this month’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Subscription required for full access), describe the extrodinary life history of a chameleon species Furcifer labordi which spends more time incubating in the egg than living outside it. F. labordi’s incubation period is 8-9 months, they reach sexual maturity within 2 months of hatching then live for a further 2-3 months.
Because they are annually hatching as one age cohort, they all die off within a short space of time prior to replacement in the next life cycle by their incubating offspring. This life history strategy is unkown in over 28,000 other tetrapod (four limbed) vertebrate species but might explain the incidence of rapid deaths of chameleons in captivity.
Dian Fossey’s first article in National Geographic has been republished online. Originally in the January 1970 issue of National Geographic, her front-line account of gorillas in Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda is as fresh and compelling now as it must have been to the readers who got their copies of National Geographic back in 1970. Dian’s impassioned call for action is unfortunately as relevant today as it was 38 years ago:
“Money alone will not solve the problem. Conservation groups and political authority must join in concerted programs if this three-nation area and its wildlife are to be saved from human trespassers.
Such help is overdue. I only hope that Rafiki, Uncle Bert, Icarus, and my other forest friends can survive until it comes.”
The July 2008 National Geographic brings a heart-wrenching update on the fate of Gorilla’s in Virunga National Park, DRC. I’ve been an on-off subscriber to National Geographic for 10-15 years – it’s the quality of articles like this that keep drawing me back.
Research staff at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa have been studying a rarely seen Colossal Squid caught by fishermen off the Antarctic coast last February. They found that it has eyes measuring 27cm in diameter – the largest eye found to date!
There are regular updates on the Te Papa Blog and videos of the ongoing examination.
I wonder if NHBS is the only bookshop in the world with a Cephalopods Category on our website?
Carl Linnaeus was born 300 years ago!
To celebrate the life and work of the ‘father of taxonomy’ we have put together a selection of key taxonomic titles including an English translation of Linnaeus’ Philosophia Botanica and several titles about Linnaeus himself. We have included Order out of Chaos, a co-publication between the Linnean Society of London and London’s Natural History Museum, brings together for the first time information on the typification of all of Linnaeus’ plant names.
Also known as Carl von Linne´ following his ennoblement in 1761, Linnaeus’ lasting legacy is the binomial classification system used to this day. The Tree of Life is a beautifully produced taxonomic overview of the natural world demonstrating the universal utility of the Linnean system. if you need to catch up on ‘recent’ advances since Linnaeus’ day, Milestones in Systematics covers developments in systematics over the last 100 years. We have a wide range of titles on taxonomy and systematics, many related titles can be found in our botanical categories.
Christopher Helm, ornithologist and publisher, passed away on the 20th of January 2007. His legacy lives on in the highly acclaimed range of field guides and other natural history titles published under the ‘Helm’ imprint and well known to birders around the world. The latest Helm title, published just after the sad news of Christopher Helm’s death, is the Birds of Northern South America. Read full obituaries in the Times and Independent newspapers.