Island life, or, The phenomena and causes of insular faunas and floras : including a revision and attempted solution of the problem of geological climates / by Alfred Russel Wallace ; with a foreword by David Quammen ; and an introduction with commentary by Lawrence R. Heaney.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wallace, Alfred Russel, 1823-1913.

Contributor:

Quammen, David, 1948-

Heaney, Lawrence R.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Biogeography.

Island ecology.

Glacial epoch.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (623 p.)

Other Title:

Phenomena and causes of insular faunas and floras

Place of Publication:

Chicago ; London : University of Chicago Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Alfred Russel Wallace is best known as the codiscoverer, with Charles Darwin, of natural selection, but he was also history's foremost tropical naturalist and the father of biogeography, the modern study of the geographical basis of biological diversity. Island Life has long been considered one of his most important works. In it he extends studies on the influence of the glacial epochs on organismal distribution patterns and the characteristics of island biogeography, a topic as vibrant and actively studied today as it was in 1880. The book includes history's first theory of continental glaciation based on a combination of geographical and astronomical causes, a discussion of island classification, and a survey of worldwide island faunas and floras. The year 2013 will mark the centennial of Wallace's death and will see a host of symposia and reflections on Wallace's contributions to evolution and natural history. This reissue of the first edition of Island Life, with a foreword by David Quammen and an extensive commentary by Lawrence R. Heaney, who has spent over three decades studying island biogeography in Southeast Asia, makes this essential and foundational reference available and accessible once again.

Contents:

pt. I. The dispersal of organisms : its phenomena, laws, and causes

pt. II. Insular faunas and floras.

Notes:

"This is a facsimile of the 1880 edition published by Macmillan, London"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780226045177

022604517X

OCLC:

852158705