Neotropical Savannas and Dry Forests: Diversity, Biogeography, and Conservation (SYSTEMATICS ASSOCIATION SPECIAL VOLUMES)

Book Description

This volume is the first extensive compilation of the patterns of plant biodiversity in the species-rich savannas and seasonally dry forests of the neotropics. Focusing on the molecular phylogenies and population genetics for uncovering biogeographic history, it addresses three questions: Where are the centers of species-richness and endemism that make up the floras of these ecosystems? How and why did this endemism and diversity arise? Are these ecosystems adequately protected, and if not how can this be best achieved? It also looks at evolutionary history, including links to the development of analogous vegetation in Africa. According to the Midwest Book Review (August 2006) this work is "...a seminal and necessary addition to professional and academic library Biological Sciences and Environmental Studies reference collections."

Customer Reviews:

The first systematic treatment.......2006-08-12

This book is the result of a plant diversity symposium that composed part of a conference held at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in September 2003. As with most scientific books of this type where the information is the result of research that was conducted very recently, there are numerous contributors, more than fifty. They come from most of the world: England, United States, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Switzerland, France, and many others.

Most of the book covers Latin and South America with discussions on the types of plants found in these environments. Only one chapter is devoted to Africa, the other large area where savannas and seasonally dry forests are to be found. And it primarily discusses the differences.

This is the first extensive compilation of the patterns of plant diversity in these neotropical ecosystems. It is a monumental work.

The first extensive compilation focused specifically upon patterns of plant biodiversity in the species-rich savannas .......2006-08-09

Collaboratively compiled, organized and edited by the team of R. Toby Pennington, James A Ratter (both of whom are with the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh) and Gwilym P. Lewis (from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew), "Neotropical Savannas And Seasonally Dry Forests: Plant Diversity, Biogeography, And Conservations" is the latest addition to the prestigious 'Systematics Association Special Volumes' series (under the general editorial supervision of Alan Warren (Department of Zoology, The Natural History Museum, London, England) and the first extensive compilation focused specifically upon patterns of plant biodiversity in the species-rich savannas and seasonally dry forests of the neotropics. This scholarly and expert 484-page overview (contributed to by 59 contributors from around the world) succinctly summarizes what is currently known of the evolutionary history of these particular ecosystems, including links to the development of analogous vegetation in Africa. "Neotropical Savannas And Seasonally Dry Forests" focus on plant biodiversity and the molecular phylogenies and molecular population genetics for uncovering the biogeographic history of these ecosystems making it a seminal and necessary addition to professional and academic library Biological Sciences and Environmental Studies reference collections.

Island Biogeography: Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation

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Island Biogeography: Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation
Robert J. Whittaker , and Jose Maria Fernandez-Palacios
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0198566123

Book Description

Island biogeography is the study of the distribution and dynamics of species in island environments. Due to their isolation from more widespread continental species, islands are ideal places for unique species to evolve, but they are also places of concentrated extinction. Not surprisingly, they are widely studied by ecologists, conservationists and evolutionary biologists alike. There is no other recent textbook devoted solely to island biogeography, and a synthesis of the many recent advances is now overdue. This second edition builds on the success and reputation of the first, documenting the recent advances in this exciting field and explaining how islands have been used as natural laboratories in developing and testing ecological and evolutionary theories. In addition, the book describes the main processes of island formation, development and eventual demise, and explains the relevance of island environmental history to island biogeography. The authors demonstrate the huge significance of islands as hotspots of biodiversity, and as places from which disproportionate numbers of species have been extinguished by human action in historical time. Many island species are today threatened with extinction, and this work examines both the chief threats to their persistence and some of the mitigation measures that can be put in play with conservation strategies tailored to islands.

Flowering Plants. Eudicots (The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants)

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Flowering Plants. Eudicots (The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants)
C. Bayer , and P.F. Stevens
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Product Description

In this volume, the ninth of the series, treatments are offered for 52 families containing 432 genera belonging to 13 eudicot orders, many of which have recently been newly designed; four families remain unassigned to order. Emphasis is on the early-diverging eudicots and basal core eudicots the phylogenetic relationships and diversification of which have recently been in focus and are critically discussed. Systematically relevant information includes descriptions of families and genera, keys to the genera, and references to recent revisions. Introductions to the families provide convenient, in-depth overviews of key aspects of systematics. The wealth and precision of information contained in this volume will make it an important source of reference for both the scholar and the practitioner in the fields of pure and applied plant sciences.

Green Plants: Their Origin and Diversity

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Great upper-level book, but not for an intro course
Basic botany text.

Green Plants: Their Origin and Diversity
Peter R. Bell , and Alan R. Hemsley
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521646731

Book Description

The central theme of Green Plants is the astonishing diversity of forms found in the plant kingdom. The book is arranged according to generally accepted classification schemes, beginning with prokaryotic and eukaryotic algae and moving through mosses, liverworts, fern allies, ferns and gymnosperms to flowering plants. Copiously illustrated throughout, it provides a concise account of all algae and land plants, with information on topics from cellular structure to life cycles and reproduction. The authors include newly emerging information on features of plants known only as fossils. This new edition has been completely updated to reflect current views on the origin of the major plant groups.

Customer Reviews:

Great upper-level book, but not for an intro course.......2002-06-23

I was needing a book for an introductory botany course, covering plant evolution and structure. This book is too advanced for a course like that, but would be excellent for a 300 or 400 level course after students have the basics of evolution, taxonomy, and plant structures down. As a grad student, this is a text I'd love to have as a resource and will use as a reference text in my course...but it's too dry and the language is at too high a level for beginners. I am recommending this text to a professor of a botany class I was TA'ing for on Comparative Plant Anatomy, a 300 level course. So...if you want to be a botanist, grab it. If you want to teach plant anatomy and origins after an introductory botany course, this is perfect (best I've seen for the price, too!). If you want to teach an AP Botany course to high school students that only have a high-school biology background with no botany experience....not a good choice except as a strong reference. Book explains well, has excellent black-and-white diagrams, follows a thorough and logical pattern of evolution, but simply uses terminology too advanced for a lower-level course. They have trouble with the concepts of transcription and translation, much less page 103, "The passage of materials into the sporophyte is entirely through the apoplast since in all archeoniates the boundary between the two phases lacks plasmodesmata." Clear to me....but not to a beginner. I can't stress how good this book is for an advanced course or a serious botanist/taxonomist/plant geneticist/etc. GREAT upper-level/professional text!!!!!

Basic botany text........2001-04-30

This is a short book on plant diversity. There are lots of B/W drawings and diagrams. The book can be used in botany classes or for amateurs who want to learn more about plants.

Dangerous Liaisons?: When Cultivated Plants Mate with Their Wild Relatives (Syntheses in Ecology and Evolution)

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Dangerous Liaisons?: When Cultivated Plants Mate with Their Wild Relatives (Syntheses in Ecology and Evolution)
Norman C. Ellstrand
Manufacturer: Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 080187405X

Book Description

With the advent of genetic engineering, "designer" crops might interbreed with natural populations. Could such romances lead to the evolution of "superweeds", as some have suggested? But haven't crops had sex with wild plants in the past? Has such gene swapping occurred without consequences? And if consequences have indeed occurred, what lessons can be gleaned for engineered crops?

In Dangerous Liaisons? Norman Ellstrand examines these and other questions. He begins with basic information about the natural hybridization process. He then describes what we now know about hybridization between the world's most important crops -- such as wheat, rice, maize, and soybeans -- and their wild relatives. Such hybridization, Ellstrand explains, is not rare, and has occasionally had a substantial impact. In some cases, the result was problematic weeds. In others, crop genes have diluted natural diversity to the point that wild populations of certain rare species were absorbed into the gene pool of the more common crop, essentially bringing the wild species to the brink of extinction.

Ellstrand concludes with a look to the future. Will engineered crops pose a greater threat than traditional crops? If so, can gene flow and hybridization be managed to control the escape of engineered genes? This book will appeal to academics, policy makers, students, and all with an interest in environmental issues.

Diversity and Evolutionary Biology of Tropical Flowers (Cambridge Tropical Biology Series)

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Diversity and Evolutionary Biology of Tropical Flowers (Cambridge Tropical Biology Series)
Peter K. Endress
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521565103

Book Description

The first part of the volume deals with general structural and biological features of flowers and shows facets of their diversity. The second part focuses on the flowers of selected tropical plants and emphasizes their structural and biological idiosyncrasies and evolutionary features. The author also outlines new trends in the study of floral evolution and the role of flowers in the study of flowering plant phylogeny.

Alien Species and Evolution: The Evolutionary Ecology of Exotic Plants, Animals, Microbes, and Interacting Native Species

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Alien Species and Evolution: The Evolutionary Ecology of Exotic Plants, Animals, Microbes, and Interacting Native Species
George W. Cox
Manufacturer: Island Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1559630094

Book Description

In Alien Species and Evolution, biologist George W. Cox reviews and synthesizes emerging information on the evolutionary changes that occur in plants, animals, and microbial organisms when they colonize new geographical areas, and on the evolutionary responses of the native species with which alien species interact.

The book is broad in scope, exploring information across a wide variety of taxonomic groups, trophic levels, and geographic areas. It examines theoretical topics related to rapid evolutionary change and supports the emerging concept that species introduced to new physical and biotic environments are particularly prone to rapid evolution. The author draws on examples from all parts of the world and all major ecosystem types, and the variety of examples used gives considerable insight into the patterns of evolution that are likely to result from the massive introduction of species to new geographic regions that is currently occurring around the globe.

Alien Species and Evolution is the only state-of-the-art review and synthesis available of this critically important topic, and is an essential work for anyone concerned with the new science of invasion biology or the threats posed by invasive species.

Average customer rating:

Consistently confusing from start to end.

Diversity & Evolution Of Planets
PEARSON
Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0849324831

Book Description

This exciting new textbook examines the concepts of evolution as the underlying cause of the rich diversity of life on earth-and our danger of losing that rich diversity. Written as a college textbook, The Diversity and Evolution of Plants introduces the great variety of life during past ages, manifested by the fossil record, using a new natural classification system. It begins in the Proterozoic Era, when bacteria and bluegreen algae first appeared, and continues through the explosions of new marine forms in the Helikian and Hadrynian Periods, land plants in the Devonian, and flowering plants in the Cretaceous. Following an introduction, the three subkingdoms of plants are discussed. Each chapter covers one of the eleven divisions of plants and begins with an interesting vignette of a plant typical of that division. A section on each of the classes within the division follows. Each section describes where the groups of plants are found and their distinguishing features. Discussions in each section include phylogeny and classification, general morphology, and physiology, ecological significance, economic uses, and potential for research. Suggested readings and student exercises are found at the end of each chapter.

Customer Reviews:

Consistently confusing from start to end........1998-08-28

This book's topics are not discussed well at all. Terrible, terrible, terrible....

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Plants: Diversity and Evolution
Martin Ingrouille , and Bill Eddie
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification

ASIN: 0521790972

Book Description

Introducing students to the fundamental concepts of botany, plant science, plant ecology and plant evolutionary biology, this book uses well-defined technical terms and extensive examples. It describes the evolution of land plants and algae in relation to environmental change and examines their biochemical, physiological and morphological adaptations to differing environments. Chapters on plant cell characteristics, new classifications and the topical issue of plant exploitation are included.

Managing Plant Genetic Diversity (Cabi Publishing)

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Managing Plant Genetic Diversity (Cabi Publishing)

Manufacturer: CABI
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0851995225

Book Description

This book contains edited and revised papers from a conference on 'Science and Technology for Managing Plant Genetic Diversity in the 21st Century' held in Malaysia in June 2000, organized by the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI). It includes three keynote papers and some 40 additional ones, covering ten themes. The major scientific challenges to developing a global vision for the next century are identified and key research objectives are discussed.

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