[Stock ID:31075] Ecosystem response modelling in the Murray-Darling Basin.
Saintilan, Neil and Ian Overton.
Collingwood: CSIRO Publishing, 2010.
Octavo, paperback, 427 pp. graphs, maps.
AU$100.00
Provides an overview of the status of science in support of water management in Australia's largest and most economically important river catchment, and brings together the leading ecologists working in the rivers and wetlands of the Basin. The declining ecological condition of the internationally significant wetlands of the Murray-Darling Basin has been a prominent issue in Australia for many years. Several high profile government programs have sought to restore the flow conditions required to sustain healthy wetlands, and this book documents the scientific effort that has underpinned this task.
Click to display full details and optionally purchase via our secure online Shopping Cart
[Stock ID:31950] A world of rivers: environmental change on ten of the world's great rivers.
Wohl, Ellen.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press 2010.
Octavo, dustwrapper, 359 pp., black and white photographs.
AU$55.00
Explores the confluence of human and environmental change on ten of the great rivers of the world. Ranging from the Murray-Darling in Australia and the Yellow River in China to Central Europe's Danube and the Mississippi, the book journeys down the most important rivers in all corners of the globe. Wohl shows us how pollution, such as in the Ganges and in the Ob of Siberia, has affected biodiversity in the water. But rivers are also resilient, and Wohl stresses the importance of conservation and restoration to help reverse the effects of human carelessness and hubris. What all these diverse rivers share is a critical role in shaping surrounding landscapes and biological communities, and Wohl's book ultimately makes a strong case for the need to steward positive change in the world's great rivers. Also available in paperback [stock id 34995].
Click to display full details and optionally purchase via our secure online Shopping Cart
[Stock ID:33574] Yarra: the history of Melbourne's murky river.
Otto, Kristin.
Melbourne: Text Publishing, 2009.
Octavo, paperback, 245 pp., black and white photographs, illustrations, maps.
AU$25.00
It was John Wedge, Batman's private surveyor, who named the Yarra Yarra. In September 1835 he was at the Turning Basin with some Kulin and heard them identify the river as it came over the Falls as, he wrote, 'Yarrow Yarrow'. It was only some months later that Wedge discovered they had been referring to the pattern and movement of water over the Falls, not the river itself. And ever since, it has been the Yarra's fate to be misunderstood: maligned for its muddiness, ill-used as sewer and tip; scooped, sculpted, straightened and stressed, 'cleaned up' to the detriment of its natural inhabitants; built-over, under and beside; worked mercilessly and then bridged almost to maritime extinction. In Kristin Otto's superbly entertaining new history, the whole sorry tale is laid bare. From the creation stories of Kulin owners and geologist blow-ins (and Robert Hoddle's bad-tempered expedition to the headwaters) to the twenty-first-century waterside building boom, Otto traces the course of Melbourne's murky river.
Click to display full details and optionally purchase via our secure online Shopping Cart
[Stock ID:24754] River and stream ecosystems of the world.
Cushing, Colbert E. et al, editors.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006.
Quarto, paperback, 817 pp., black and white photographs, text illustrations, maps.
AU$130.00
This valuable sourcebook, now available to a wide audience in a paperback edition, is an important comparative documentation of what is being lost: naturally flowing river and stream ecosystems. No other single volume brings together so much critical information on rivers and streams worldwide. Each chapter is packed with a wealth of raw data on waterways including the prominent rivers of North America, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, Australia, and Oceania. The volume evaluates the usefulness of the River Continuum Concept and ecosystem-level measurements for evaluating the structure and function of rivers and streams. The new introductory chapter examines the relevance of other useful concepts including Nutrient Spiraling, Patch Dynamics, the Flood Pulse Concept, the Network Dynamics Hypothesis, and the Hyporheic Corridor Concept.
Click to display full details and optionally purchase via our secure online Shopping Cart
[Stock ID:38009] On the edge: the state and fate of the world's tropical rainforests.
Martin, Claude; foreword by Thomas E. Lovejoy.
Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2015.
Octavo, dustwrapper, 343 pp., colour photographs, black and white illustrations, maps, tables.
AU$43.00
In 1972, The Limits to Growth introduced the idea that world resources are limited. Soon after, people became aware of the threats to the world's rainforests, the biggest terrestrial repositories of biodiversity and essential regulators of global air and water cycles. Since that time, new research and technological advances have greatly increased our knowledge of how rainforests are being affected by changing patterns of resource use. Increasing concern about climate change has made it more important than ever to understand the state of the world's tropical forests. This book provides an up-to-date picture of the health of the world's tropical forests. Claude Martin, an eminent scientist and conservationist, integrates information from remote imaging, ecology, and economics to explain deforestation and forest health throughout the world. He explains how urbanization, an increasingly global economy, and a worldwide demand for biofuels put new pressure on rainforest land. He examines the policies and market forces that have successfully preserved forests in some areas and discusses the economic benefits of protected areas. Using evidence from ice core records and past forest cover patterns, he predicts the most likely effects of climate change.
Click to display full details and optionally purchase via our secure online Shopping Cart
[Stock ID:38199] The wet tropics: endemic terrestrial vertebrates of Australia's wet tropics.
Ward, Craig and Tim Hawkes.
Mossman: Eternal Endemism, 2015.
Quarto, oblong format, paperback, 200 pp., colour photographs, map.
AU$50.00
Through a stunning collection of full colour photographs, this book showcases every endemic frog, reptile, bird and mammal found in Australia's wet tropics bringing up to date the list of unique animals of this region. Recently described species are included as well as updates on the status of others, making this the most accurate and comprehensive listing in print. This book is a celebration of the endemic species of the wet tropics, the photographers and biologists who work there, and a call to arms for conservation.
Click to display full details and optionally purchase via our secure online Shopping Cart
[Stock ID:32127] Remnants of Gondwana: a natural and social history of the Gondwana rainforests of Australia.
Kitching, Roger, Richard Braithwaite and Janet Cavanaugh.
Chipping Norton: Surrey Beatty, 2010.
Quarto, paperback, 351 pp., colour photographs, tables, maps.
AU$50.00
The rainforests of Australia cover only 4% of Australia's land mass but contain 50% of Australia's plant and animals life. This superb synthesis of these Heritage listed forests covers all aspects of conservation, plant and animal biology, and cultural significance.
Click to display full details and optionally purchase via our secure online Shopping Cart
[Stock ID:34115] Restoring tropical forests: a practical guide.
Elliott, Stephen, David Blakesley and Kate Hardwick.
Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens, 2013.
Quarto, paperback, 344 pp., colour photographs, illustrations, maps.
AU$82.00
A user-friendly and globally relevant practical guide to restoring forests throughout the tropics. Based on the concepts, knowledge and innovative techniques developed at Chiang Mai University's Forest Restoration Research Unit, this book will enable substantial improvements in existing forest restoration projects and provide a key resource to enable new ones. The book presents three aspects of the restoration of tropical forest ecosystems for biodiversity recovery and environmental protection. Firstly, the general concepts of tropical forest dynamics and regeneration that are relevant to the practice of effective tropical forest restoration are covered. This is followed by proven restoration techniques and case studies of their successful application, and research methods to refine such techniques and adapt them to local ecological and socio-economic conditions.
Click to display full details and optionally purchase via our secure online Shopping Cart
[Stock ID:36132] The ornaments of life: coevolution and conservation in the tropics.
Fleming, Theodore H. and W. John Kress.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013.
Octavo, paperback, 588 pp., colour photographs, line drawings.
AU$95.00
The average kilometre of tropical rainforest contains thousands of species of plants and animals. As this book reveals, many of the most colourful and eye-catching rainforest inhabitants, toucans, monkeys, leaf-nosed bats, and hummingbirds, to name a few, are integral to the infrastructure that supports life in the forest. These fruit-and-nectar eating birds and mammals pollinate the flowers and disperse the seeds of hundreds of tropical plants, and unlike temperate communities, much of this greenery relies exclusively on animals for reproduction. Synthesizing recent research by ecologists and evolutionary biologists, Theodore H. Fleming and W. John Kress demonstrate the tremendous functional and evolutionary importance of these tropical pollinators and frugivores. They shed light on how these mutually symbiotic relationships evolved and lay out the current conservation status of these essential species. To illustrate the striking beauty of these "ornaments" of the rainforest, the authors have included a series of breathtaking colour plates and full-colour graphs and diagrams.
Click to display full details and optionally purchase via our secure online Shopping Cart
[Stock ID:35951] Leopold: a sand county almanac and other writings on ecology and conservation.
Leopold, Aldo and Curt Meine.
New York: Library of America, 2013.
Octavo, dustwrapper, 931 pp., black and white photographs, illustrations, maps.
AU$55.00
Since his death in 1948, Aldo Leopold has been increasingly recognized as one of the indispensable figures of American environmentalism. A pioneering forester, sportsman, wildlife manager, and ecologist, he was also a gifted writer whose farsighted land ethic is proving increasingly relevant in our own time. Now, Leopold's essential contributions to our literature, including some hard-to-find or previously unpublished works are gathered in a single volume for the first time. Here is his classic 'A Sand County Almanac', hailed as one of the main literary influences on the modern environmental movement. Published in 1949, it is still astonishing today: a vivid, firsthand, philosophical tour de force. Also included are more than fifty articles, essays, and lectures exploring the new complexities of ecological science and what we would now call environmental ethics. Leopold's sharp-eyed, often humorous journals are illustrated here for the first time with his original photographs, drawings, and maps. Also unique to this collection is a selection of over 100 letters, most of them never before published, tracing his personal and professional evolution and his efforts to foster in others the love and sense of responsibility he felt for the land.
Click to display full details and optionally purchase via our secure online Shopping Cart
[Stock ID:32424] Aldo Leopold: his life and work.
Meine, Curt D. and Wendell Berry.
Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2010.
Octavo, paperback, 637 pp., black and white photographs.
AU$60.00
This biography of Aldo Leopold follows him from his childhood as a precocious naturalist to his profoundly influential role in the development of conservation and modern environmentalism in the United States. This edition includes a new preface by author Curt Meine and an appreciation by acclaimed Kentucky writer and farmer Wendell Berry.
Click to display full details and optionally purchase via our secure online Shopping Cart
[Stock ID:37275] Vanishing act: the artistry of animal camouflage.
Wolfe, Art.
Petaluma: Cameron & Company, 2014.
Octavo, paperback, oblong format, 224 pp., colour photographs.
AU$46.00
In this astonishing book, legendary wildlife photographer Art Wolfe turns to one of nature's most fundamental survival techniques: the vanishing act. His portraits show animals and insects disappearing into their surroundings, using deceptions, disguises, lures, and decoys to confuse the eyes of both predator and prey. In a world where nothing is as it appears to be, a lion blends into the tall grass in the late-afternoon sun, or a harp seal disappears against his snowy backdrop. Pastel orchids can suddenly morph into predatory praying mantises, while lizard heads become tails. What at first appears to be a torn and decomposing leaf on a forest floor in Peru suddenly sprouts legs and starts walking: it is a leaf-mimic katydid. Spotting each cryptic animal amid Wolfe's clever compositions is both a fun and an informative challenge. At a time when many species are performing permanent vanishing acts due to habitat loss and human encroachment, this book showcases the beauty and evolutionary extremes of animal behavior and artfully illustrates the tenacious will to stay alive in an eat-or-be-eaten world. Also available in hardcover [Stock ID 38948].
Click to display full details and optionally purchase via our secure online Shopping Cart
[Stock ID:33183] Camouflage Australia: art, nature, science and war.
Elias, Ann.
Sydney: Sydney University Press, 2011.
Octavo, paperback, 239 pp.
AU$60.00
This book tells the little known story of how the Australian government took the advice of zoologist William John Dakin in deploying visual illusions for civilian and military protection. Whilst this book is chiefly about camouflage in WWII, there is a sizeable natural history component concerning camouflage and science.
Click to display full details and optionally purchase via our secure online Shopping Cart
[Stock ID:33403] Dazzled and deceived: mimicry and camouflage.
Forbes, Peter.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011.
Octavo, paperback, 283 pp., colour and black and white photographs.
AU$28.00
Nature has perfected the art of deception. Thousands of creatures all over the world - including butterflies, moths, fish, birds, insects and snakes - have honed and practised camouflage over hundreds of millions of years. Imitating other animals or their surroundings, nature's fakers use mimicry to protect themselves, to attract and repel, to bluff and warn, to forage and to hide. The advantages of mimicry are obvious - but how does 'blind' nature do it? And how has humanity learnt to profit from nature's ploys? This book tells the unique and fascinating story of mimicry and camouflage in science, art, warfare and the natural world. Discovered in the 1850s by the young English naturalists Henry Walter Bates and Alfred Russel Wallace in the Amazonian rainforest, the phenomenon of mimicry was seized upon as the first independent validation of Darwin's theory of natural selection. But mimicry and camouflage also created a huge impact outside the laboratory walls. Peter Forbes' cultural history links mimicry and camouflage to art, literature, military tactics and medical cures across the twentieth century, and charts its intricate involvement with the dispute between evolution and creationism.
Click to display full details and optionally purchase via our secure online Shopping Cart
[Stock ID:35446] Concealing coloration in animals.
Diamond, Judy and Alan B. Bond.
Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2013.
Octavo, dustwrapper, 272 pp., colour illustrations.
AU$45.00
The biological functions of coloration in animals are sometimes surprising. Colour can attract mates, intimidate enemies, and distract predators. But colour patterns can also conceal animals from detection. Concealing colouration is unusual because it is an adaptation not only to the visual features of the environment but also to the perceptual and cognitive capabilities of other organisms. Judy Diamond and Alan Bond bring to light the many factors at work in the evolution of concealing colouration. Animals that resemble twigs, tree bark, stones, and seaweed may appear to be perfect imitations, but no concealment strategy is without flaws. Amid the clutter of the natural world, predators search for minute, telltale clues that will reveal the identity of their prey. Predators have remarkable abilities to learn to discriminate the fake from the real. But prey have their own range of defensive tactics, evolving multiple appearances or the ability to change colour at will. Drawing on modern experimental evidence of the functional significance of animal colour strategies, Diamond and Bond offer striking illustrations of how the evolution of features in one organism can be driven by the psychology of others. This book takes readers on a scientific adventure that explores creatures inside mats of floating seaweed, mice and lizards on desert rocks and sand, and rare parrots in the rainforest of New Zealand. Colour photographs extensively document the mind-boggling array of deceptive strategies animals use to blend in, mislead, or vanish from view.
Click to display full details and optionally purchase via our secure online Shopping Cart
[Stock ID:34925] Case studies in Bayesian statistical modelling and analysis.
Alston, Clair L. et al.
West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons, 2013.
Octavo, laminated boards, 464 pp.
AU$125.00
This book succeeds in providing an accessible foundation into Bayesian modelling and analysis using real-world models. Each chapter comprises of a description of the problem, the corresponding model, the computational method, results, and inferences as well as the issues that arise in the implementation of these approaches. Coverage focuses on a real-world problems drawn from the editors' own experiences while illustrating the way in which the problem can be analyzed using Bayesian methods.
Click to display full details and optionally purchase via our secure online Shopping Cart
[Stock ID:34924] Bayesian statistics: an introduction.
Lee, Peter M.
New York: John Wiley and Sons, (2012 fourth edition).
Octavo, paperback, 462 pp.
AU$68.00
Now in its fourth edition, this book looks at recent techniques such as variational methods, Bayesian importance sampling, approximate Bayesian computation and Reversible Jump Markov Chain Monte Carlo (RJMCMC). This book provides a concise account of the way in which the Bayesian approach to statistics develops as well as how it contrasts with the conventional approach. The theory is built up step by step, and important notions such as sufficiency are brought out of a discussion of the salient features of specific examples. This edition also includes expanded coverage of Gibbs sampling, including mor numerical examples and treatments of OpenBUGS, R2WinBUGS and R2OpenBUGS. This book is best suited for use as a main text in courses on Bayesian statistics for third and fourth year undergraduates and postgraduate students.
Click to display full details and optionally purchase via our secure online Shopping Cart
[Stock ID:34434] Bayesian biostatistics.
Lesaffre, Emmanuel and Andrew B. Lawson.
West Sussex: John Wiley, 2012.
Octavo, laminated boards, 516 pp. tables, graphs.
AU$88.00
Having experienced phenomenal growth in recent years, biostatistics has undergone considerable technical innovation in both methodology and computational practicality. One area that has experienced the most significant growth is Bayesian methods. The growing use of Bayesian methodology has taken place partly due to an increasing number of practitioners valuing the Bayesian paradigm as matching that of scientific discovery. In addition, computational advances have allowed for more complex models to be fitted routinely to realistic data sets. Through examples, exercises and a combination of introductory and more advanced chapters, this book provides an invaluable understanding of the complex world of biomedical statistics illustrated via a diverse range of applications taken from epidemiology, exploratory clinical studies, health promotion studies, image analysis and clinical trials. Supported by an accompanying website hosting free software and case study guides. This volume introduces the reader smoothly into the Bayesian statistical methods with chapters that gradually increase in level of complexity.
Click to display full details and optionally purchase via our secure online Shopping Cart
Andrew Isles Natural History Books
Rear of 115-117 Greville Street
(PO Box 2305)
Prahran 3181 Melbourne Australia
www.AndrewIsles.com
Phone [61] (03) 9510 5750
Fax [61] (03) 9529 1256
Email: books@AndrewIsles.com
Go to our website or visit our shop in Melbourne. Our trading hours are Monday-Friday 9am-5.30pm; Saturday morning 9am-12.30 (sometimes we are closed so it pays to ring in advance). WE BUY BOOKS.
Members of ANZAAB and ILAB (International League of Antiquarian Booksellers).
EMAIL LISTS
Our regular free email listings are designed to keep customers up-to-date with recent acquisitions, offers, specials and more. They are sent to customers who have made contact with us or subscribed to our lists. Click here to subscribe on our website. If you wish to stop receiving our specialist emails reply with PLEASE REMOVE as the subject. We immediately comply with all such requests.
