TY - BOOK ID - 77868461 TI - How the earthquake bird got its name and other tales of an unbalanced nature PY - 2004 SN - 1281721786 9786611721787 0300128606 9780300128604 030010457X 9780300104578 9781281721785 PB - New Haven : Yale University Press, DB - UniCat KW - Animals KW - Ecology. KW - Global environmental change. KW - Environmental change, Global KW - Global change, Environmental KW - Global environmental changes KW - Change KW - Ecology KW - Balance of nature KW - Biology KW - Bionomics KW - Ecological processes KW - Ecological science KW - Ecological sciences KW - Environment KW - Environmental biology KW - Oecology KW - Environmental sciences KW - Population biology KW - Animals, Legends and stories of KW - Climatic changes UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:77868461 AB - Although people have been altering earth's landscapes to some extent for tens of thousands of years, humankind today is causing massive changes to the planet. Such widespread environmental change is accompanied by accelerating rates of species extinction. In this book, noted ecologist H. H. Shugart presents important ecological concepts through entertaining animal parables. He tells the stories of particular birds and mammals-the packrat, ivory-billed woodpecker, penguin, dingo, European rabbit, and others-and what their fates reveal about the interactions between environmental change and the extinctions or explosions of species populations. Change is the root of many planetary problems, but it is also an intrinsic feature of our living planet. Shugart explores past environmental change, discusses the non-existence of a "balance of Nature," and documents how human alterations have affected plants, soils, and animals. He looks with hope toward a future in which thoughtful people learn-and use-ecological science to protect the landscapes upon which terrestrial creatures depend. ER -