Science Ecology

As Brits we pride ourselves as stoic defenders, boasting a record of resistance dating back to 1066. Yet, even a cursory examination of the natural world reveals that while interlopers of the human variety may have been kept at bay, our islands have been invaded, conquered and settled by an endless succession of animals, plants, fungi and other alien lifeforms that apparently belong elsewhere. Indeed it’s often hard to work out what actually is native, and what is foreign.

What is the difference between a savanna and a prairie? How do bison, zebras, and other grazers avoid hungry grassland predators? Trek across the plant-covered landscape of this book, and find out what makes grasslands one of Earth's treasures.

We live in an age of mass extinction. The earth's biodiversity is decreasing at a faster rate than ever. Industrial agriculture and the standardisation of taste are not only wiping out many edible plants but also the food cultures, histories and livelihoods that go with them. Inspired by a global project to collect and preserve foods that are at risk of extinction, Dan Saladino sets out to encounter these endangered foods.

By turns epic and intimate, Telling Our Way to the Sea is both a staggering revelation of unraveling ecosystems and a profound meditation on our changing relationships with nature - and with one another. When the biologists Aaron Hirsh and Veronica Volny, along with their friend Graham Burnett, a historian of science, lead twelve college students to a remote fishing village on the Sea of Cortez, they come upon a bay of dazzling beauty and richness.

Transporting listeners to far-flung environments we could never call home, Super Natural paints an awe-inspiring portrait of life’s resilience and ingenuity under the harshest circumstances. We meet creatures exquisitely adapted to endure unimaginable deprivations: of water, oxygen, food, sunlight. Alex Riley shows how, at nature’s extremes, the rules of life as we know them are rewritten—and how, here, we can find hope for the future of life on Earth, and beyond.

Natalie Angier knows all that scientists know—and sometimes more—about the power of symmetry in sexual relations, about the brutal courting habits of dolphins, about the grand deceit of orchids, about the impact of female and male preferences on evolution. She knows how scientists go about their work, and she describes their ways, their visions, and their arguments. Perhaps most poignantly, she understands the complexities and the sad necessity of death.

Si la historia de la Tierra se redujera a un año, nuestra especie surgiría en los últimos treinta minutos. Pero la vida ha existido durante 3.700 millones de años, la mayor parte de la historia de nuestro planeta y más de una cuarta parte de la edad del universo. ¿Qué hicieron esos organismos durante todo este tiempo?

Neues von Peter Wohlleben. Die Natur steckt voller Überraschungen: Laubbäume beeinflussen die Erdrotation, Kraniche sabotieren die spanische Schinkenproduktion und Nadelwälder können Regen machen. Der passionierte Förster und Bestsellerautor Peter Wohlleben beschreibt das faszinierende Zusammenspiel zwischen Pflanzen und Tieren: Wie beeinflussen sie sich gegenseitig? Gibt es eine Kommunikation zwischen den unterschiedlichen Arten?

From science and technology to business and education, curiosity is often taken for granted as an unquestioned good. And yet, few people can define curiosity. Curiosity Studies marshals scholars from more than a dozen fields not only to define curiosity but also to grapple with its ethics as well as its role in technological advancement and global citizenship. While intriguing research on curiosity has occurred in numerous disciplines for decades, no rigorously cross - disciplinary study has existed - until now.

In late March 2015, ornithologist Bruce M. Beehler set off on a solo three-month trek to track songbird migration and the northward progress of spring through America. Traveling via car, canoe, bike, and on foot, Beehler followed woodland warblers and other neotropical songbird species from the southern border of Texas, where the birds first arrive after their winter sojourns in South America and the Caribbean, northward through the Mississippi drainage to its headwaters in Minnesota and onward to their nesting grounds in the north woods of Ontario.

Although it is widely understood that energy and water are the world’s two most critical resources, their vital interconnections and vulnerabilities are less often recognized. This farsighted audiobook offers a new, holistic way of thinking about energy and water - a big picture approach that reveals the interdependence of the two resources, identifies the seriousness of the challenges, and lays out an optimistic approach with an array of solutions to ensure continuing sustainability.

Discover the amazing ways animals adapt to the most extreme regions on Earth. Fiery temps and little rain make the desert a difficult place to survive. But several animals from fennec foxes to kangaroo rats have adapted to these harsh conditions. Find out how their unique behaviors and body parts allow them to call this biome home.

A shocking investigative journey into the way the resource trade wreaks havoc on Africa, The Looting Machine explores the dark underbelly of the global economy. Africa: the world's poorest continent and arguably its richest. While accounting for just 2 percent of global GDP, it is home to 15 percent of the planet's crude oil, 40 percent of its gold, and 80 percent of its platinum. A third of the Earth's mineral deposits lie beneath its soil. But far from being a salvation, this buried treasure has been a curse.

In Wild Sex, Dr. Carin Bondar takes listeners on an enthralling tour of the animal kingdom as she explores the diverse world of sex in the wild. She looks at the evolution of sexual organs (and how they've shaped social hierarchies), tactics of seduction, and the mechanics of sex. She investigates a wide range of topics, from whether animals experience pleasure from sex to what happens when females hold the reproductive power.

Over the last half a billion years, there have been five mass extinctions of life on earth. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. Elizabeth Kolbert combines brilliant field reporting, the history of ideas and the work of geologists, botanists and marine biologists to tell the gripping stories of a dozen species – including the Panamanian golden frog and the Sumatran rhino – some already gone, others at the point of vanishing.

Journey along with wildlife cameraman Hamza Yassin as he recounts stories of his birdwatching adventures and shares tips and tricks in this guide for beginning birders. With practical advice and personal anecdotes, you will learn how to get started in birdwatching and hone your identification skills to become an experienced twitcher. Whether you need a companion on your next expedition or simply wish to dip in and out as you learn more, Be a Birder is fit for every purpose, and encourages us all to discover the joy of birdwatching.

Ben Law has lived as a woodsman in Prickly Nut Wood for over 20 years. His authentic, incredible sense of the land and the wildlife, and his respect for age-old traditions and how to sustain them offers a wonderful, inviting insight into the life and character of Prickly Nut Wood. Having travelled to Papua New Guinea and the Amazon, observing age-old techniques for living in, working in and preserving forests and woodland, Ben Law felt compelled to return home and apply his learning to a 400-year-old plot of woodland near where he grew up.

Filled with catchall research, American Hemp examines what this new domestic crop can be used for, what makes it a superior product, and what made it illegal in the first place; the book also delves into the many health and medical benefits of the plant. Hobbs weighs in on how hemp can improve existing industries, from farming to energy to 3D printing, plus how it can make a serious impact on climate change by removing toxins from the soil and by decreasing our dependence on plastics and fossil fuels.

Guess what: Bees are incredible. Extreme bee enthusiast and bestselling author Matt Kracht is here to set the record straight with this helpful guidebook to all things bees.

In April 2018, seasoned adventurer Ben Fogle and Olympic cycling gold medallist Victoria Pendleton, along with mountaineer Kenton Cool, took on their most exhausting challenge yet – climbing Everest for the British Red Cross to highlight the environmental challenges mountains face. It would be harrowing and exhilarating in equal measure as they walked the fine line between life and death 8,000 metres above sea level.