The miner's canary : unraveling the mysteries of extinction / Niles Eldredge.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Eldredge, Niles, author.

Series:

Princeton Science Library

Princeton Science Library ; v.13

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Biodiversity.

Ecology.

Extinction (Biology).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (276 pages)

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, 1994.

Summary:

Like the bird whose death signaled dangerous conditions in a mine, the demise of animals that once flourished should give humans pause. How is our fate linked to the earth's creatures, and the cycle of flourishing and extinction? Which are the simple workings of nature's order, and which are omens of ecological disaster? Does human activity accelerate extinction? What really causes it? In an illuminating and elegantly written account of the widespread reduction of the world's wildlife, renowned paleontologist Niles Eldredge poses these questions and examines humankind's role in the larger life cycles of the earth, composing a provocative general theory of extinction.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Acknowledgments

Contents

Geologic Time Chart

Prologue

CHAPTER ONE. Extinctions Are for Real

CHAPTER TWO. Santa Rosalia, or Why Are There So Many Kinds of Living Things?

CHAPTER THREE. Biotic Armageddon: Dejd Vu Over and Over Again

CHAPTER FOUR. Patterns and Clues in Paleozoic Mass Extinctions

CHAPTER FIVE. Extinction, and the Rise and Vicissitudes cf Modern Life

CHAPTER SIX. Without a Helping Hand: Causes of Mass Extinctions in the Geological Past

CHAPTER SEVEN. The Ice Man Cometh: Climate Change, Human Action, and the Great Pleistocene Extinctions

CHAPTER EIGHT. The Canary's Song: Land Use, Habitat Reduction, and Extinction

Annotated Bibliography and Suggested Readings

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Eldredge, Niles The Miner's Canary

ISBN:

9780691241845

0691241848

OCLC:

1292364034