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In the Light of Evolution, Volume II:

Biodiversity and Extinction
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Status: Available Now

Size: 432 pages, 6 x 9

Publication Year:2008

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ISBN-10: 0-309-12743-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-309-12743-1 		$59.00   Add to Cart
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In The Light of Evolution Five Volume Set is available. Click here for details.

Authors:
John C. Avise, Stephen P. Hubbell, and Francisco J. Ayala, Editors, National Research Council
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Description:

The current extinction crisis is of human making, and any favorable resolution of that biodiversity crisis--among the most dire in the 4-billion-year history of the Earth--will have to be initiated by mankind. Little time remains for the public, corporations, and ...
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Table of Contents
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Front Matter i-xviii  
Part I: Contemporary Patterns and Processes in Animals 1-4 (skim)
1 Ecological Extinction and Evolution in the Brave New Ocean--JEREMY B. C. JACKSON 5-26 (skim)
2 Are We in the Midst of the Sixth Mass Extinction? A View from the World of Amphibians--DAVID B. WAKE and VANCE T. VREDENBURG 27-44 (skim)
3 Patterns of Biodiversity and Endemism on Indo-West Pacific Coral Reefs--MARJORIE L. REAKA, PAULA J. RODGERS, and ALEXEI U. KUDLA 45-62 (skim)
4 Homage to Linnaeus: How Many Parasites? How Many Hosts?--ANDY DOBSON, KEVIN D. LAFFERTY, ARMAND M. KURIS, RYAN F. HECHINGER, and WALTER JETZ 63-82 (skim)
Part II: Contemporary Patterns and Processes in Plants and Microbes 83-84 (skim)
5 Species Invasions and Extinction: The Future of Native Biodiversity on Islands--DOV F. SAX and STEVEN D. GAINES 85-106 (skim)
6 How Many Tree Species Are There in the Amazon and How Many of Them Will Go Extinct?--STEPHEN P. HUBBELL, FANGLIANG HE, RICHARD CONDIT, LUIS BORDA-DE-ÁGUA, JAMES KELLNER, and HANS TER STEEGE 107-126 (skim)
7 Microbes on Mountainsides: Contrasting Elevational Patterns of Bacterial and Plant Diversity--JESSICA A. BRYANT, CHRISTINE LAMANNA, HÉLÈNE MORLON, ANDREW J. KERKHOFF, BRIAN J. ENQUIST, and JESSICA L. GREEN 127-148 (skim)
8 Resistance, Resilience, and Redundancy in Microbial Communities--STEVEN D. ALLISON and JENNIFER B. H. MARTINY 149-166 (skim)
Part III: Trends and Processes in the Paleontological Past 167-170 (skim)
9 Extinction as the Loss of Evolutionary History--DOUGLAS H. ERWIN 171-188 (skim)
10 Extinction and the Spatial Dynamics of Biodiversity--DAVID JABLONSKI 189-206 (skim)
11 Dynamics of Origination and Extinction in the Marine Fossil Record--JOHN ALROY 207-226 (skim)
12 Megafauna Biomass Tradeoff as a Driver of Quaternary and Future Extinctions--ANTHONY D. BARNOSKY 227-242 (skim)
Part IV: Prospects for the Future 243-246 (skim)
13 A Phylogenetic Perspective on the Distribution of Plant Diversity--MICHAEL J. DONOGHUE 247-262 (skim)
14 Phylogenetic Trees and the Future of Mammalian Biodiversity--T. JONATHAN DAVIES, SUSANNE A. FRITZ, RICHARD GRENYER, C. DAVID L. ORME, JON BIELBY, OLAF R. P. BININDA-EMONDS, MARCEL CARDILLO, KATE E. JONES, JOHN L. GITTLEMAN, GEORGINA M. MACE, and ANDY PURVIS 263-280 (skim)
15 Three Ambitious (and Rather Unorthodox) Assignments for the Field of Biodiversity Genetics--JOHN C. AVISE 281-296 (skim)
16 Engaging the Public in Biodiversity Issues--MICHAEL J. NOVACEK 297-316 (skim)
17 Further Engaging the Public on Biodiversity Issues--PETER J. BRYANT 317-328 (skim)
18 Where Does Biodiversity Go from Here? A Grim Business-as-Usual Forecast and a Hopeful Portfolio of Partial Solutions--PAUL R. EHRLICH and ROBERT M. PRINGLE 329-346 (skim)
References 347-394 (skim)
Index 395-414 (skim)
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Description

The current extinction crisis is of human making, and any favorable resolution of that biodiversity crisis--among the most dire in the 4-billion-year history of the Earth--will have to be initiated by mankind. Little time remains for the public, corporations, and governments to awaken to the magnitude of what is at stake. This book aims to assist that critical educational mission, synthesizing recent scientific information and ideas about threats to biodiversity in the past, present, and projected future.
This is the second volume from the In the Light of Evolution series, based on a series of Arthur M. Sackler colloquia, and designed to promote the evolutionary sciences. Each installment explores evolutionary perspectives on a particular biological topic that is scientifically intriguing but also has special relevance to contemporary societal issues or challenges. Individually and collectively, the ILE series aims to interpret phenomena in various areas of biology through the lens of evolution, address some of the most intellectually engaging as well as pragmatically important societal issues of our times, and foster a greater appreciation of evolutionary biology as a consolidating foundation for the life sciences.

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