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Extinct animals --- Animaux disparus --- Encyclopedias --- Encyclopédies

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In The Medea Hypothesis, renowned paleontologist Peter Ward proposes a revolutionary and provocative vision of life's relationship with the Earth's biosphere--one that has frightening implications for our future, yet also offers hope. Using the latest discoveries from the geological record, he argues that life might be its own worst enemy. This stands in stark contrast to James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis--the idea that life sustains habitable conditions on Earth. In answer to Gaia, which draws on the idea of the "good mother" who nurtures life, Ward invokes Medea, the mythical mother who killed her own children. Could life by its very nature threaten its own existence? According to the Medea hypothesis, it does. Ward demonstrates that all but one of the mass extinctions that have struck Earth were caused by life itself. He looks at our planet's history in a new way, revealing an Earth that is witnessing an alarming decline of diversity and biomass--a decline brought on by life's own "biocidal" tendencies. And the Medea hypothesis applies not just to our planet--its dire prognosis extends to all potential life in the universe. Yet life on Earth doesn't have to be lethal. Ward shows why, but warns that our time is running out. Breathtaking in scope, The Medea Hypothesis is certain to arouse fierce debate and radically transform our worldview. It serves as an urgent challenge to all of us to think in new ways if we hope to save ourselves from ourselves.

Catastrophes (Geology). --- Environmental geology. --- Evolution (Biology). --- Extinction (Biology). --- Historical geology. --- Life (Biology). --- Extinction (Biology) --- Life (Biology) --- Evolution (Biology) --- Catastrophes (Geology) --- Animal evolution --- Animals --- Biological evolution --- Darwinism --- Evolutionary biology --- Evolutionary science --- Origin of species --- Geoecology --- Extirpation (Biology) --- Evolution --- Extinction --- Extirpation --- Historical geology --- Biology --- Biological fitness --- Homoplasy --- Natural selection --- Phylogeny --- Geology --- Environmental protection --- Physical geology --- Extinct animals --- Environmental geology

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This is a readable, informative and up-to-date account of the patterns and controls on biodiversity. The author describes major trends in species richness, along with uncertainties in current knowledge. The various possible explanations for past and present species patterns are discussed and explained in an even-handed and accessible way. The implications of global climate change and habitat loss are considered, along with current strategies for preserving what we have. This book examines the state of current understanding of species richness patterns and their explanations. As well as the present day world, it deals with diversification and extinction, in the conservation of species richness, and the difficulties of assessing how many species remain to be discovered. The scientifically compelling subject of vegetation-climate interaction is considered in depth. Written in an accessible style, the author offers an up-to-date, rigorous and yet eminently comprehensible overview of the ecology and biogeography of species richness. He departs from the often heavy approach of earlier texts, without sacrificing rigor and depth of information and analysis. Prefacing with the aims of the book, Chapter 1 opens with an explanation of latitudinal gradients, including a description of major features of the striking gradients in species richness, exceptions to the rule, explanations, major theories and field and experimental tests. The following chapter plumbs the depth of time, including the nature of the fossil record, broad timescale diversity patterns, ecosystem changes during mass extinctions and glaciations and their influence on species richness. Chapters 3 and 4 consider hotspots and local scale patterns in species richness while Chapter 5 looks at the limitations and uncertainties on current estimates of richness, the last frontiers of species diversity and the process of identifying new life forms. The last three chapters cover humans and extinctions in history and prehistory, current habitat and global change, including the greenhouse effect, and the race to preserve what we still have, including parks, gene banks and laws.

Biodiversity conservation. --- Biodiversity. --- Extinction (Biology). --- Vegetation and climate. --- Biodiversity --- Biodiversity conservation --- Vegetation and climate --- Extinction (Biology) --- Earth & Environmental Sciences --- Ecology --- Animals --- Extirpation (Biology) --- Plant biometeorology --- Biological diversity conservation --- Conservation of biodiversity --- Diversity conservation, Biological --- Gender mainstreaming in biodiversity conservation --- Maintenance of biological diversity --- Preservation of biological diversity --- Biological diversification --- Biological diversity --- Biotic diversity --- Diversification, Biological --- Diversity, Biological --- Extinction --- Extirpation --- Conservation --- Life sciences. --- Ecology. --- Ecosystems. --- Environment. --- Nature conservation. --- Life Sciences. --- Environment, general. --- Nature Conservation. --- Biology --- Biocomplexity --- Ecological heterogeneity --- Numbers of species --- Extinct animals --- Plant bioclimatology --- Plants --- Plants and climate --- Bioclimatology --- Conservation of natural resources --- Ecosystem management --- Climatic factors --- Effect of climate on --- Effect of climatic changes on --- Environmental sciences. --- Endangered ecosystems. --- Conservation of nature --- Nature --- Nature protection --- Protection of nature --- Applied ecology --- Conservation biology --- Endangered ecosystems --- Natural areas --- Threatened ecosystems --- Biotic communities --- Nature conservation --- Environmental science --- Science --- Balance of nature --- Bionomics --- Ecological processes --- Ecological science --- Ecological sciences --- Environment --- Environmental biology --- Oecology --- Environmental sciences --- Population biology --- Ecology . --- Biocenoses --- Biocoenoses --- Biogeoecology --- Biological communities --- Biomes --- Biotic community ecology --- Communities, Biotic --- Community ecology, Biotic --- Ecological communities --- Ecosystems --- Natural communities