Life Ecology

An eloquent plea for compassion and respect for all species, The Humane Gardener "does the important work of speaking for the trees—and the bees, butterflies, and other living creatures that need healthy ecosystems" (BookPage). Master naturalist Nancy Lawson uses engaging anecdotes and inspired advice, profiles of home gardeners throughout the United States, and interviews with scientists and horticulturalists to demonstrate how and why to welcome wildlife to our backyards and how we can apply the broader lessons of ecology to our own outdoor spaces.

Ecological Intelligence argues that "green" labels and recycling programs may do more harm than good by feeding a vital lie, lulling us into the illusion that we are doing enough already while ignoring the adverse impact of the far vaster proportion of what we buy and do.

Unlock the secrets of life with The Symphony of Life: The Ultimate Guide to Biology—the ultimate reference for anyone seeking to truly understand the living world. This comprehensive volume takes you on an extraordinary journey through the science of life, from the molecular foundations of DNA and cellular processes to the vast complexities of ecosystems and evolution. Whether you're a student, educator, lifelong learner, or simply a curious mind, this book provides a clear, engaging, and thorough exploration of biology in all its forms.

‘Combines the natural history of programmes such as David Attenborough’s Planet Earth with the planetary focus of Brian Cox’s Universe’ Guardian A beautiful, full colour book to accompany the 5 part BBC TV series telling the most important story of all, the deep history of our own planet...

Our insatiable demand for animals - for jewelry, pets, medicine, meat, trophies, and fur - is driving a worldwide poaching epidemic, threatening the continued existence of countless species. Rachel Nuwer, an award-winning science journalist with a background in ecology, takes listeners on a narrative journey to the front lines of the trade: to killing fields in Africa, traditional medicine black markets in China, and wild meat restaurants in Vietnam. Through exhaustive first-hand reporting that took her to 10 countries, Nuwer explores the forces currently driving the demand.

Even if we've never had direct contact with one, we will have seen one, or at the very least, heard one. For those of us who live in the Western world, it is more than likely that one sleeps in our house, possibly even on our bed. I'm talking, of course, of the dog. Yet, this animal, which lives alongside 500 million of us all over the world - as an invaluable partner and a trusted confidant - presents us with one great unsolved mystery: how did this relationship - the most complex and enduring of any between human and animal - start in the first place?

In this sequel to Gibbons’s beloved classic Ellen Foster, Ellen, now fifteen, is settled into a permanent home with a new mother. Strengthened by adversity and blessed with enough intelligence to design a salvation for herself, she still feels ill at ease. But while she holds fast to the...

Journey Through the Amazon: A Wildlife Adventure invites young explorers on an unforgettable voyage into the heart of the world's largest and most diverse rainforest. Throughout this educational children's book, listeners embark on a journey across the Amazon's sprawling ecosystem, from the dense canopy filled with chattering monkeys and colorful birds to the mysterious forest floor home to jaguars and fascinating insects.

There's so much we don't know about what lies deep beneath the ocean's surface - and the time to find out is growing increasingly precious . . . Professor Alex Rogers is one of the world's leading experts in marine biology and oceanology, and has spent his life studying the deep ocean - and in...

Marine algae are the supreme eco-engineers of life: they oxygenate the waters, create habitat for countless other organisms, and form the base of a food chain that keeps our planet unique in the universe as we know it. In this audiobook Josie Iselin explores both the artistic and the biological presence of 16 seaweeds and kelps that live in the thin region where the Pacific Ocean converges with the North American continent - a place of incomparable richness.

In Ecological Thinking, the second installment in the "Loving a Sacred Life" series, the focus is on how we think about the world and what does that thinking. Mother Earth as a living being will be explored, as well as the idea of a soul that has an infinite relationship to the planet, beyond our limited human body. Some traditions acknowledge this and we'll look at those traditions that relate to the planet differently than the typical world view. Astrology as a tool for monitoring this relationship over the ages will also be explored.

Yellowstone Wildlife is a natural history of the wildlife species that call Yellowstone National Park and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem their home. Yellowstone Wildlife describes the lives of species in the park, exploring their habitats from the Grand Tetons to Jackson Hole.

The ocean teems with life that thrives under difficult situations in unusual environments. The Extreme Life of the Sea takes listeners to the absolute limits of the ocean world - the fastest and deepest, the hottest and oldest creatures of the oceans. It dives into the icy Arctic and boiling hydrothermal vents - and exposes the eternal darkness of the deepest undersea trenches - to show how marine life thrives against the odds. This thrilling book brings to life the sea's most extreme species, and tells their stories as characters in the drama of the oceans.

From one of the finest naturalists and writers of our time, a fascinating investigation of Nature’s inspiring death-to-life cycle. How does the animal world deal with death? And what ecological and spiritual lessons can we learn from examining this? Bernd Heinrich has long been fascinated by...

A groundbreaking popular psychology book that explores the deep connection between our body and our brain. Over decades of study, University of Virginia psychologist Dennis Proffitt has shown that we are each living our own personal version of Gulliver’s Travels, where the size and shape of...

Flowers, and the fruits that follow, feed, clothe, sustain, and inspire all humanity. Flowers are used to celebrate all-important occasions, to express love, and are also the basis of global industries. Americans buy 10 million flowers a day, and perfumes are a worldwide industry worth $30 billion annually. Stephen Buchmann takes us along on an exploratory journey of the roles flowers play in the production of our foods, spices, medicines, and perfumes while simultaneously bringing joy and health.

Life histories can be defined as the means by which individuals (or more precisely genotypes) vary their age- or stage-specific expenditures of reproductive effort in response to genetic, phenotypic, and environmental correlates of survival and fecundity. Life histories reflect the expression of traits most closely related to individual fitness, such as age and size at maturity, number and size of offspring, and the timing of the expression of those traits throughout an individual's life. Life-history research plays an integral role in species conservation and management.

A brain-bending exploration of real-life zombies and mind controllers, and what they reveal to us about nature—and ourselves Zombieism isn’t just the stuff of movies and TV shows like The Walking Dead. It’s real, and it’s happening in the world around us, from wasps and worms to dogs and...

Paul Falkowski looks "under the hood" of microbes to find the engines of life, the actual working parts that do the biochemical heavy lifting for every living organism on Earth. With insight and humor, he explains how these miniature engines are built - and how they have been appropriated by and assembled like Lego sets within every creature that walks, swims, or flies. Falkowski shows how evolution works to maintain this core machinery of life, and how we and other animals are veritable conglomerations of microbes.

Today there is no place on Earth that does not harbor invasive exotic species. Invasive plants and animals can be found on every continent, including Antarctica, and within all waterbodies, including all oceans. This Very Short Introduction provides a clear definition of an invasive species, and considers the myriad ways they are moved around the globe, and the ecological, social, and economic impacts they often impose.