Category: Collection

Continuing our selection of the very best titles available through NHBS:

The Freshwater Algal Flora of the British Isles: An Identification Guide to Freshwater and Terrestrial Algae

Edited by DM John, AJ Brook and BA Whitton

What?

New edition of the pre-eminent algae identification guide for freshwater and terrestrial algae of the British Isles, excluding diatoms.

Why?

Since the first edition of the Flora, published in 2001, there have been changes in classification and taxonomy of many of the algae, and around 200 extra species have been defined; new information is available about ecology, molecular biology and distribution patterns. This edition addresses these developments and revisions and is therefore an up-to-date account of 2,400 algal species of the British Isles.

Detailed description are accompanied by line drawings, colour plates  and user-friendly keys for accurate identification of genus and species.

The CD of the previous edition has been replaced by a DVD featuring a photo catalogue over 1,400 images, illustrated articles and video clips, and the book is introduced by a series of essays on various topics related to algal flora research.

Who?

David M. John is Adjubct Professor at the Martin Ryan Institute. National University of Ireland, Galway, and Scientific Associate at the Natural History Museum in London.

Brian A. Whitton is Emeritus Professor of Biological and Biomedical Sciences at Durham University

Alan J. Brook is Emeritus Professor of Biology at the University of Buckingham

Continuing our selection of the very best titles available through NHBS:

Wildlife In Printmaking

Edited by Carry Akroyd

What?

Volume 30 in the Langford Press Wildlife Art Series.

Why?

This characterful volume features the work of 22 artists who are working within this fascinating and versatile medium to represent the natural world. With its variety of style and subject matter, Wildlife In Printmaking amounts to a rich and engrossing compendium of the best of the genre from the last few decades. The direct, yet abstract, quality of the medium of print is conveyed lucidly through the design and presentation of the book, and the artist segments – which balance autobiographical introductions, examples of their work, and accompanying descriptions of the creative process – are interspersed with three subject ‘stories’: Winter, Water and Insects & Flowers.

Familiar names include Robert Gillmor, whose artwork features on the covers of recent volumes in the New Naturalists series, and Andrew Haslen, who we interviewed here on the Hoopoe last year on publication of his book The Winter Hare.

Who?

Carry Akroyd has initiated many projects and exhibitions that have brought together groups of artists, and editing this book has been an extension of that curatorial experience. Carry has been making prints for 40 years, and her book Natures Powers and Spells: Landscape Change, John Clare and Me is also published in the Wildlife Art Series.

The Norfolk Bird Atlas: Summer and Winter Distributions 1999-2007

 

“This handsome volume is the successor to Kelly’s The Norfolk Bird Atlas (1986). The famous county has 1459 tetrads, and this new work is a triumph of organization, including as it does the contributions of over 400 observers, the number and quality of whom few counties could hope to equal. Illustrations are lavish, although the lovely photographs, mostly by David Tipling, sometimes overwhelm the maps and drawings. Indeed, the last, which can be useful for providing landscape background, can seem redundant.

The authors have aimed for a much more detailed treatment than any previous county Atlas. They follow the current county boundaries and have even excluded sections of border tetrads which are outside Norfolk. Any reader involved in the current national Atlas will immediately notice four features: November and July are excluded, the summer and winter periods being sub-divided at 15 May and 15 January; no time limit is set to tetrad visits, which average 3-4 hours; the summer counting units are ‘breeding pairs’ (which may be single adults or families!), their totals being shown by the size of the coloured dots on the maps; and no distinction is generally drawn between confirmed and probable breeding, both of which are defined as ‘likely’ and are represented by shading. For most species there are also maps showing changes since Kelly’s period. The authors are frank about possible dangers in their radical changes to what have become traditional systems, but they are surely right in their advocacy of such methods for local Atlases, which must aim for the fullest possible coverage rather than for mere sampling.

There are two important additions to the main Atlas text: P. W. Lambley’s section on habitats; and Marchant’s ‘Overview of Norfolk’s Birds’.”

D.K.B.

IBIS The International Journal of Avian Science

Continuing our selection of the very best titles available through NHBS:

Primates of West Africa: A Field Guide and Natural History

John F. Oates

What?

New volume in the Tropical Field Guide Series from Conservation International.

 

Why?

Full of information about the primates of the highly bio-diverse West Africa region – from the coast of Senegal to Lake Chad and Cameroon’s Sanaga River, The Primates of West Africa focuses on the Guinean Forest, one of the world’s Biodiversity Hotspots.

This compact guide is portable for field use, and introduces the region – topography, climate, vegetation, native peoples and history – as well as its primate inhabitants. Initial essays cover primate classification, evolutionary history, and the history of field research and conservation in the area, while the species accounts extend the traditional field guide format of identifying features and location to include concise but thorough information on natural history and conservation status, making this volume invaluable for the primate researcher and field worker, as well as the eco-tourist or wildlife enthusiast.

Includes full-colour plates by Stephen D. Nash, colour photographs and distribution maps for every species and subspecies.

Who?

John Oates is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Hunter College, City University of New York, where he was a member of the teaching faculty from 1978 to 2008. He has a PhD in zoology from the University of London based on studies of the ecology and behavior of black-and-white colobus monkeys in Uganda, and has had research affiliations with Rockefeller University (New York), Cambridge University, the University of Benin (Nigeria), Njala University College (Sierra Leone) and Oxford Brookes University (England). More…

 

Continuing our selection of the very best titles available through NHBS:

Lichens: An Illustrated Guide to British and Irish Species

Frank S. Dobson

What?

New sixth edition of this essential illustrated field guide to British and Irish Lichen.

Why?

This compact, portable field guide has been updated to conform to the nomenclature of Smith C.W. et al. (2009) and more recent changes, and includes a number of species not included in that flora.

Particular features that will appeal to both field researcher and amateur lichenologist are the large number of photographs, mostly full-colour; the plentiful line-drawings, species descriptions, habitat notes and distribution maps; suggestions to to assist in separating similar species; and the retention from the previous editions of the popular generic ‘lateral key’ – which has been enlarged.

Ecologists will find reference to the effects of air pollution, broadening the guide’s appeal into conservation science, and for all readers there is a thorough informative introduction to lichens and lichenology.

Who?

Frank S. Dobson has written and illustrated many books and articles on lichenology, natural history and photography. He has lectured and run many courses on lichenology for the Field Studies Council and other similar organisations. He is an honorary member of the British Lichen Society, has acted as Treasurer, serving on the BLS Council for a number of years and was elected President for the years 1992-94. He is now retired but was professionally involved in photography for most of his working life and was on the photographic consultative committees of both Twickenham College and the London College of Printing.

 

The Handbook of the Birds of the World series, the first volume of which was published in 1992, has been a phenomenal undertaking, being the first project to illustrate, and provide essential information regarding, all the bird species of the world. This year sees the publication of the final volume.

Not that this is the end. Publisher Lynx Edicions have three new products planned to keep this project alive, the first of which will be a special volume about new species with a global index for the series. Keep an eye on the NHBS website for more information. Customers with standing orders for the series will receive an explanation of their options regarding these future HBW projects in their notification emails/letters for Volume 16.

HBW Vol. 16: Tanagers to New World Blackbirds is available from NHBS at a special offer price of £148 (reduced from £185) until 15th October 2011.

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:

The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles

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:

Seabird Islands: Ecology, Invasion and Restoration

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.