The NHBS Conservation Hub – news, reviews and resources
Due for publication in October (delayed from September – but it’ll be worth the wait!), here is a sample chapter from the Royal Entomological Society Book of British Insects, kindly supplied by publishers Wiley-Blackwell.
Chapter 8 – Order Odonata: the dragonflies and damselflies.
Pre-order The RES Book of British Insects today for £34.99 (reduced from £39.95).
Offer ends 31/12/2011.
This Autumn sees the publication of four new books from Redfern Natural History, publishers of fantastic titles about unique flora from around the world. Author and publisher Stewart McPherson is the adventurous British geographer who is the force behind Redfern. Many of the books are written by McPherson – and his tireless and diligent approach to the fieldwork involved has led to the discovery of many new species, and the re-discovery of others which have not been seen for nearly 100 years.
Sarraceniaceae of North America and Sarraceniaceae of South America will be published in October are AVAILABLE NOW with A Monograph of the Genus Genlisea and The New Nepenthes to follow later in the year.
Continuing our selection of the very best titles available through NHBS:
Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins and Michael Grayson
What?
Reveals the lives hidden behind the names of the world’s reptiles.
Why?
Firstly this is a beautifully produced, satisfyingly stylish book! Now the superficial is out of the way, what’s inside?
Like Bo and co’s previous efforts along these lines – Whose Bird? and the Eponym Dictionary of Mammals – the Dictonary of Reptiles explores the lives of the historical figures ‘immortalised’ in the names of the world’s fauna. Some feature more heavily than others – Darwin, for instance, appearing in the names of nine reptiles (find out more in this post featuring an extract from the book), while other folk such as Dr. Ian Earle Ayrton Kirby (1921-2006), unearther of pre-Colombian artifacts and erstwhile Curator of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Museum – have the honour of a single beastly namesake – in this instance, Kirby’s Least Gecko, or Sphaerodactylus kirbyi.
This should be an addictive book for anyone interested in the finer details of natural history, the perfect gift for the herpetologist in your life who has everything (else), and will be of particular interest to bibliographic researchers since the titles and publication dates of any known literature written or edited by the subjects is given.
Who?
Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson are the co-authors of The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals, also published by Johns Hopkins.
Continuing our selection of the very best titles available through NHBS:
Edited by Christa P. H. Mulder, Wendy B Anderson, David R Towns and Peter J Bellingham
What?
A large-scale global analysis of the ecology of seabird islands from contributors with experience of fifteen island systems.
Why?
Synthesizing research covering island systems generally across the globe, as opposed to specific groups, the editors have been able to arrange the chapters according to theme, allowing an overview of the factors seabird island systems have in common.
The book looks at the unique effects seabirds have on island ecosystems, the threats from various predators – such as the predatory rats of certain New Zealand island groups – and considers the possibilities and impediments regarding predator eradication, and the implications of efforts towards the restoration of seabirds to islands from which they have been forced out.
Seabird Islands is a timely publication not only for the field of academic ecology, but for conservation professionals concerned with ecosystem management, touching as it does upon the role of stakeholders – NGOs, volunteers, island residents – community participation, and ecotourism.
Who?
Christa Mulder is Associate Professor of Ecology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Wendy Anderson is Professor of Biology and Environmental Science at Drury University in Springfield, Missouri. David Towns is a Senior Scientist with the Department of Conservation based in Auckland, New Zealand. Peter Bellingham is a research scientist at Landcare Research in Lincoln, near Christchurch, New Zealand.
Two key studies of seabird ecology and behaviour have arrived in stock this week:
Seabird Islands: Ecology, Invasion and RestorationThis book, written collaboratively by and for ecologists and resource managers, provides the first large-scale cross-system compilation, comparison, and synthesis of the ecology of seabird island systems. Offering a new conceptual framework into which to fit the impacts of seabirds on island ecology, this is an essential resource for academics and resource managers alike.
The KittiwakeJohn C Coulson
The Kittiwake has been the subject of behavioural research since the late 1950s – one of the longest running studies in the world. In this new Poyser monograph, John Coulson summarises these decades of research, revealing amazing insights into the life of these gulls, with wider implications for the behavioural ecology of all colonial birds. There are sections on life at sea, nest-site selection, breeding biology, feeding ecology, colony dynamics, moult, survivorship and conservation.
Other new books on similar subjects include:
The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles
Following the success of 2003’s Whose Bird? Men and Women Commemorated in the Common Names of Birds, and 2009’s Eponym Dictionary of Mammals, authors of the first two books Bo Boelens (AKA the fatbirder) and Michael Watkins, and joint third author of ‘Mammals’ Michael Grayson, have returned with this unmissable herpetological hoard.
The book is arranged by historical figure, under which are listed the reptiles named after that person, followed by a potted biography.
Here are three entries from the Dictionary:
Darwin
Darwin’s Ringed Lizard Amphisbaena darwini Duméril & Bibron, 1839
Darwin’s Iguana Diplolaemus darwinii Bell, 1843
Darwin’s Tree Iguana Liolaemus darwinii Bell, 1843
Darwin’s Gecko Gymnodactylus darwini Gray, 1845
Darwin’s Marked Gecko Homonota darwinii Boulenger, 1885
Darwin’s Sea Snake Hydrelaps darwiniensis Boulenger, 1896
Darwin’s Leaf-toed Gecko Phyllodactylus darwini Taylor, 1942
Darwin’s Ground Skink Glaphyromorphus darwiniensis Storr, 1967
Darwin’s Wall Gecko Tarentola darwini Joger, 1984
Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882) was the prime advocate, together with Wallace, of Natural Selection as the way in which speciation occurs. To quote from his most famous work On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859), “I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term Natural Selection.” Darwin was the naturalist on ‘HMS Beagle’ on her scientific expedition round the world (1831-1836). In South America he found fossils of extinct animals that were similar to extant species. On the Galapagos Islands he noticed many variations among plants and animals of the same general type as those in South America. On his return to London he conducted research on his notes and specimens. Out of this study grew several related theories; evolution did occur; evolutionary change was gradual, taking thousands or even millions of years; the primary mechanism for evolution was a process called Natural Selection; and the millions of species alive today arose from a single original life form through a branching process called ‘speciation’. Four mammals, three amphibians and several birds (including those famous finches) are named after him.
Ridley
Olive Ridley Turtle Lepidochelys olivacea Eschscholtz, 1829
Pernambuco Teiid Stenolepis ridleyi Boulenger, 1887
Ridley’s Worm Lizard Amphisbaena ridleyi Boulenger, 1890
Henry Nicholas Ridley (1855-1956) was a British botanist and collector on the island of Fernando de Noronha (1887), when he first reported the sightings of Olive Ridley Turtles in Brazil. However, it seems unlikely that the ‘Ridley’ in the turtle’s name refers to him. There are several theories including one that states that it was a ‘riddle’ where they came from and ‘riddle’ became pronounced ‘riddlie’ and so ‘ridley’. Ridley was known as ‘Mad Ridley’ or ‘Rubber Ridley’, as he was keen to get the rubber tree transplanted to British territory. He was Superintendent, Tropical Gardens, Singapore (1888-1912), where early experiments in growing the tree outside Brazil took place. He wrote The habits of Malay reptiles (1889). Two mammals and a bird are named after him.
Russell, P
Russell’s Viper Daboia russelii Shaw, 1797
Russell’s Sand Boa Eryx conicus Schneider, 1801
[Alt. Rough-scaled Sand Boa; Syn. Gongylophis conicus]
Russell’s Kukri Snake Oligodon taeniolatus Jerdon, 1853
[Alt. Streaked Kukri Snake]
Dr Patrick Russell (1726-1805) was a British surgeon and naturalist. He first went to India (1781) to look after his brother who was employed by the Honourable East India Company in Vizagapatnam. He became fascinated by the plants in the region and was appointed to be the Company’s Botanist and Naturalist, Madras Presidency (1785). He spent 6 years in Madras (Chennai) and sent a large collection of snakes to the British Museum (1791). One of his major concerns was snakebite and he tried to find a way for people to identify poisonous snakes, without first getting bitten and seeing what happened! The sand boa has his name attached to it because it appears to mimic Russell’s Viper: something he commented on in his A continuation of an account of Indian Serpents (1801).
The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles is published by Johns Hopkins University Press, and is due to be published on the 24th September 2011
Continuing our selection of the very best titles available through NHBS:
by Andrew Allott
What?From the minutiae of Plant Galls (Volume 117), the next in the New Naturalist series takes us into large-scale regional natural history.
Why?
Andrew Allott takes us on a journey through the Welsh Marches; Cheshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire and Monmouthshire, the border counties of England and Wales. He traces the various strands that weave together the natural history and deep past of the area with the impact of human civilisation and the growth of agriculture and industry. The well-defined chapter topics bring the area to life to create a whole picture of the region:
From the Author’s Foreword and Acknowledgements:
“The author’s aim has been to explore themes, rather than to catalogue isolated or inconsequential facts. Each chapter takes one theme and considers its relevance across much or all of the Marches.”
The plentiful illustrations, photographs and diagrams complement the natural history making this a full and satisfying survey of the area.
Who?
Andrew Allott studied Botany at Oxford University and then became a schoolmaster, teaching initially in Canterbury and then at Shrewsbury School in Shropshire, where he is now Head of Biology. Although an incomer to the Marches, Andrew Allott has developed a deep love of the landscape, geology, flora and fauna of the area. He has also developed great respect for the many talented amateur naturalists and the professional scientists whose work is doing so much to explain the natural history of the Marches and to promote its conservation.
Continuing our selection of the very best titles available through NHBS:
by Michael Chinery
A photographic guide to the natural history and field identification of the “strange lumps and bumps that we call galls…” (Introduction, p5).
Why?
Plant galls are a great subject of research for the amateur naturalist. Bridging the sciences of botany
and entomology, they are a fascinating example of the symbiotic interdependence of nature, and the diversity of their size and appearance – from exquisitely attractive orb-like features and spiked swellings, to leaf blisters and discolourations – gives the interested naturalist a satisfying range of study.
The reader is taken on a guided tour of the galls arranged according to their host plants for ease of identification, and there are over 200 detailed colour photographs of the commonest galls to be found among Britain’s 1,000 species. The interaction between insect and plant which results in the gall is briefly described in each case, and the book contains a general introduction to the subject.
Michael Chinery is best known for his field guides to insects and other creepy-crawlies, especially those that occur in our gardens, and for his numerous books encouraging young people to explore and enjoy the countryside and its wildlife. Insects and wild flowers fascinated him from a very early age and this led inevitably to an interest in plant galls, with their intimate mix of plant and animal life. He joined the British Plant Gall Society soon after its formation in 1985, and has been editing the Society’s journal, Cecidology, since 1990.
by Anthony Sheridan
“This book contains unique information and analyses 80 leading zoological gardens in 21 European countries. This is a must-have book for all those interested in zoos – enthusiasts, sceptics, visitors, sponsors, zoo owners, politicians, wildlife conservationists and all those working in and for zoos. The book deals with a wide variety of zoo-related aspects, some of which rarely dealt with in other publications, such as the role of the zoo director, landscape design, education, ex situ and in situ conservation, marketing strategies, future plans and zoo associations. Each of the 80 zoos covered is portrayed in detail on three pages each. The book includes tables containing the evaluation of the presentaion of a number of iconic species in each of the zoos as well as ranking lists concerning visitor factors, education and conservation, and commercial and organisation.
All the profits from the sale of this book are being donated to Stiftung Artenschutz, a German in situ conservation charity supported by more than 20 of the German and Austrian zoos covered in the book. This donation will support a specific conservation project for gibbons in Vietnam. It contains almost 400 pages with numerous full-colour photographs, maps and tables. ”
Markus Gusset,
What Zoos Can Do is distributed by NHBS
Continuing our selection of the very best titles available through NHBS:
by John D. Altringham
2nd edition of John Altringham’s 1996 OUP publication, Bats: Biology and Behaviour
Why?
This rigorous and authoritative textbook is updated to reflect the current state of research on
all aspects of bat biology, ecology and and conservation. Popular interest in bats is at an all-time high with many amateurs becoming involved monitoring their local bat populations and the construction industry legally bound to take their conservation needs into account, reflecting the vulnerability of this diverse and unique group.
Bats: From Evolution to Conservation is a global study covering evolutionary biology, ecology, flight, migration, physiology and much more – and whilst presented as a text for students and researchers, its accessible and enthusiastic style means it also holds appeal for amateur naturalists and anyone interested in bat conservation.
Review of the previous edition:
“This is an excellent book from one end to the other and I highly recommend it to students and colleagues. It is a book that meets its stated goal … to use bats to illustrate processes and concepts in biology. When it comes to ecology and behaviour, he has more than succeeded … Bravo!” Journal of Animal Ecology
John D. Altringham is Professor of Animal Ecology and Conservation at the University of Leeds, UK, where he has been since 1989. He completed his BSc at the University of York, and his PhD at St. Andrews University, where he returned as a research fellow from 1983-1989. During his career he has travelled widely, studying animals as varied as tuna fish and tarantulas before focusing on bat ecology and conservation. He has published over 100 scientific papers, numerous book chapters, and two previous books: Bats: Biology and Behaviour (OUP, 1996), and British Bats (Harper Collins, 2003). He is also a regular advisor and contributor to BBC Natural History Unit productions for TV and radio, and is a member of a number of conservation advisory groups, including the Nature Conservation Panel of the National Trust. John lives on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales with his wife, Kate, and two children, Alex and Anne.