The Monkey's Voyage
By:Alan de Queiroz
Published on 2014-01-07 by Basic Books (AZ)
Throughout the world, closely related species are found on landmasses separated by wide stretches of ocean. What explains these far-flung distributions? Why are such species found where they are across the Earth? Since the discovery of plate tectonics, scientists have conjectured that plants and animals were scattered over the globe by riding pieces of ancient supercontinents as they broke up. In the past decade, however, that theory has foundered, as the genomic revolution has made reams of new data available. And the data has revealed an extraordinary, stranger-than-fiction story that has sparked a scientific upheaval. In The Monkey’s Voyage, biologist Alan de Queiroz describes the radical new view of how fragmented distributions came into being: frogs and mammals rode on rafts and icebergs, tiny spiders drifted on storm winds, and plant seeds were carried in the plumage of sea-going birds to create the map of life we see today. In other words, these organisms were not simply constrained by continental fate; they were the makers of their own geographic destiny. And as de Queiroz shows, the effects of oceanic dispersal have been crucial in generating the diversity of life on Earth, from monkeys and guinea pigs in South America to beech trees and kiwi birds in New Zealand. By toppling the idea that the slow process of continental drift is the main force behind the odd distributions of organisms, this theory highlights the dynamic and unpredictable nature of the history of life. In the tradition of John McPhee’s Basin and Range, The Monkey’s Voyage is a beautifully told narrative that strikingly reveals the importance of contingency in history and the nature of scientific discovery.
This Book was ranked at 8 by Google Books for keyword mammals of africa including madagascar.
Book ID of The Monkey's Voyage's Books is JOYWBQAAQBAJ, Book which was written byAlan de Queirozhave ETAG "SiOKx9j7CsM"
Book which was published by Basic Books (AZ) since 2014-01-07 have ISBNs, ISBN 13 Code is 9780465020515 and ISBN 10 Code is 0465020518
Reading Mode in Text Status is false and Reading Mode in Image Status is false
Book which have "368 Pages" is Printed at BOOK under CategoryScience
This Book was rated by 1 Raters and have average rate at "5.0"
This eBook Maturity (Adult Book) status is NOT_MATURE
Book was written in en
eBook Version Availability Status at PDF is falseand in ePub is false
Book Preview
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar