Results by title
1445 books match the query 'Life Sciences' and 53 start with w
World Checklist of Myrtaceae
Rafael Govaerts, Marcos Sobral, Peter Ashton, and Fred Barrie
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2008
Myrtaceae is the ninth largest flowering plant family; it is economically important in the production of timber, gums, essential oils, fruits and spices, and contains many commonly cultivated ornamentals. The family is particularly rich in large genera, often found in some of the world's most threatened ecosystems, where their fruits comprise an important part of the diet of primates and birds. The similarity of Myrtaceae species is high, and its taxonomic and nomenclatural history is complex, resulting in notorious difficulties in basic identification, inventory compilation and floristic treatment.
The World Checklist of Myrtaceae is a much needed work that lists all validly published names in the family, providing the source of their publication and indicating which names are currently accepted and which are synonyms. It will be respected as the standard nomenclatural reference for further research into this important family.
The World Checklist of Myrtaceae is a much needed work that lists all validly published names in the family, providing the source of their publication and indicating which names are currently accepted and which are synonyms. It will be respected as the standard nomenclatural reference for further research into this important family.
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World Checklist of Palms
Rafaël Govaerts and John Dransfield
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2005
The palm family, considered to be second only to the grasses among monocotyledonous plants of economic importance, is of immense significance to man, especially among rural communities in the tropics, where wild palms are intensively utilised. The 'World Checklist of Palms' is the unique resource that lists all validly published names of palms, providing the source of their publication and indication of which names are currently accepted and which are synonyms. Geographical distribution is also included for all accepted species.
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Worlds Before Adam
The Reconstruction of Geohistory in the Age of ReformMartin J. S. Rudwick
University of Chicago Press, 2008
In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, scientists reconstructed the immensely long history of the earth—and the relatively recent arrival of human life. The geologists of the period, many of whom were devout believers, agreed about this vast timescale. But despite this apparent harmony between geology and Genesis, these scientists still debated a great many questions: Had the earth cooled from its origin as a fiery ball in space, or had it always been the same kind of place as it is now? Was prehuman life marked by mass extinctions, or had fauna and flora changed slowly over time?
The first detailed account of the reconstruction of prehuman geohistory, Martin J. S. Rudwick’s Worlds Before Adam picks up where his celebrated Bursting the Limits of Time leaves off. Here, Rudwick takes readers from the post-Napoleonic Restoration in Europe to the early years of Britain’s Victorian age, chronicling the staggering discoveries geologists made during the period: the unearthing of the first dinosaur fossils, the glacial theory of the last ice age, and the meaning of igneous rocks, among others. Ultimately, Rudwick reveals geology to be the first of the sciences to investigate the historical dimension of nature, a model that Charles Darwin used in developing his evolutionary theory.
Featuring an international cast of colorful characters, with Georges Cuvier and Charles Lyell playing major roles and Darwin appearing as a young geologist, Worlds Before Adam is a worthy successor to Rudwick’s magisterial first volume. Completing the highly readable narrative of one of the most momentous changes in human understanding of our place in the natural world, Worlds Before Adam is a capstone to the career of one of the world’s leading historians of science.
The first detailed account of the reconstruction of prehuman geohistory, Martin J. S. Rudwick’s Worlds Before Adam picks up where his celebrated Bursting the Limits of Time leaves off. Here, Rudwick takes readers from the post-Napoleonic Restoration in Europe to the early years of Britain’s Victorian age, chronicling the staggering discoveries geologists made during the period: the unearthing of the first dinosaur fossils, the glacial theory of the last ice age, and the meaning of igneous rocks, among others. Ultimately, Rudwick reveals geology to be the first of the sciences to investigate the historical dimension of nature, a model that Charles Darwin used in developing his evolutionary theory.
Featuring an international cast of colorful characters, with Georges Cuvier and Charles Lyell playing major roles and Darwin appearing as a young geologist, Worlds Before Adam is a worthy successor to Rudwick’s magisterial first volume. Completing the highly readable narrative of one of the most momentous changes in human understanding of our place in the natural world, Worlds Before Adam is a capstone to the career of one of the world’s leading historians of science.
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