Doubly Labelled Water - Theory and Practice

Book Description

Divided into three parts, Doubly Labelled Water presents a clear and accessible account of this technique. Part One presents a general introduction to the study of animal energetics: Part Two discusses the theory behind use of doubled labellled water and Part Three evaluates the practical aspects of its use and the methodlologies required for its application.

Customer Reviews:

Essential.......2001-04-10

This book really stands out, more than anything else in the last 50 years. Using doubly labelled water is complex and can be confusing, but Speakman does a great job in all three sections of his book. First, he presents the general introdution to animal energetics, then he talks about the theroy of doublly labelled water, and finally he presents useful information about the practice of both using and writing about doubly labeled water in scientific papers. These book is essential reading for graduate students and professors looking for a guide in getting started with doubly labelled water.

Diatoms to Dinosaurs: The Size And Scale Of Living Things

Average customer rating:

Intriguing.
No fireworks but comprehensive
Unlimited wonders of Life
Interesting Subject; Dull Book
Physics of biology: limits of animal size and speed.

Diatoms to Dinosaurs: The Size And Scale Of Living Things
Christopher McGowan
Manufacturer: Island Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1559633042

Amazon.com

With a background in paleobiology, Christopher McGowan is adept at asking deceptively simple but actually very awkward questions of the "Well, we've dug up this fossil skeleton, now how on God's earth did it ever fly?" variety. McGowan looks at the way the scale and shape of animals relate to their behavior, diet, and life span. Why, in other words, tortoises live far longer than guinea pigs, but aren't nearly as much fun.

This line of argument leads to some seriously counterintuitive physics as McGowan explains how animals of different scales handle and exploit the physical constants by which they are bound. Discussions of drag, inertia, and viscosity are particularly well handled.

Especially refreshing and entertaining is McGowan's happy willingness to admit that millions of years of evolution are smarter than he is. Sometimes animals just make no sense at all. Consider Quetzalcoatlus, a pterosaur with a 40-foot wingspan and a long, serpentine neck. How did it get off the ground? Its neck suggests it may have been a carrion feeder. Did it climb laboriously to the peak of some vast saurian carcass and hitch a passing thermal? "This entire scenario," McGowan admits, with delicious understatement, "strikes me as fanciful."

While Diatoms to Dinosaurs is marketed very much at adults, there is an infectious enthusiasm about McGowan's writing that suggests a gifted teacher sharing sophisticated just-so stories with a spellbound class. --Simon Ings, Amazon.co.uk

Book Description

In Diatoms to Dinosaurs, Chris McGowan takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the natural world, and examines life in all its various forms. He imparts the excitement of discovery and the joy of understanding as he demonstrates the central importance of size and scale to the survival of living organisms.

McGowan investigates a wide range of size-related phenomena, from the gliding mechanism of diatoms to blood pressure problems of dinosaurs. Questions asked - and answered - include:

Will we ever see giant insects the size of pterodactyls?
Why are ants so much stronger relative to body size than elephants?
What do a clam, a condor, a tortoise, and a sturgeon have in common?
How did the skeleton of a 28-ton Apatosaurus support its weight?
How can blood get from the heart to the head of a giraffe without rupturing blood vessels?

The author explicates the scientific concepts - both physical and biological - needed to inform the relevant phenomena: area/volume relations, metabolism and other basic physiology, kinetic energy, inertial forces, the biology of senescence, boundary layers, and Reynolds numbers. Numerous illustrations scattered throughout the text make the biophysical principles easily comprehensible to readers, regardless of their scientific sophistication.

Customer Reviews:

Intriguing........2002-06-21

The book is about muscles and skeletons, hearts, fluids and brains. Quite a large chunk of the book is about flight. I found the most captivating chapter was "Tiffany wings and kite strings". It is all about tiny fliers: microfilm model airplanes and microscopic flying insects. It reveals that the mechanism that insects use to fly is different to birds. After reading this, you may think twice about squishing the next harmless little insect that flies right by you. The section on drag was surprisingly very interesting.

Although it introduces familiar animals, it goes into enough detail to provide substantially new and rewarding information about these creatures, which you almost certainly won't be aware of. There are loads of great diagrams, which really make this book very enjoyable to read. The book is straightforward and I relished reading it.

A very very similar book is called "Cats' Paws and Catapults". It also contains many examples of design, although it is from an engineering perspective, and the focus is on comparing the design of evolution with that of technological invention. I think Diatoms to Dinosaurs is a much more interesting read - it is predominantly concerned with nature, not with technology. This book is simply more profound, but both books are very good.

No fireworks but comprehensive.......2001-10-20

This book covers a great many zoological issues connected with scale as succinctly as possible offering a fairly comprehensive treatment. It includes scalar descriptions in terms of physiology, intelligence, lifespan, flight and swimming (among others) and whearas the style may be staid, palaeontologists will find much to refer to in this book which is based on solid foundations rather than guesswork and opinions. A must for students, researchers and communicators on the subject.

Unlimited wonders of Life.......2001-03-16

An excellent exploration of the mysteries of living things.

We are surrounded by wonders. From the tiny phytoplankton with 7.5 micrometers in size, to the giant brachiosaurus weighing 78 tons, life manages to find its way, showing us facts that are just almost impossible to believe.

This is one of those books you can trust because is written for somebody who knows what he is writing about. Explores quite interesting subjects ranging from the movement of the wings doves and bats, to the heart rate of mice, and the naps of elephants. There are also very good illustrations in it.

Definitely, a very nice and productive reading for everybody, especially for those Lovers of Nature.

We need a wide mind to understand the wide wonders of Life.

Interesting Subject; Dull Book.......2000-04-16

This book almost repays the drudgery of reading it. It should be a case-study in poor editing. Apparently, no one ever quite decided who the audience was, and so it falls between any: though aimed at the general reader it is in essence a summary of technical literature - complete with maths, graphs, equations (more than a couple), and citations of authority in quasi-academic style. The text is at least one or two drafts from being finished; there are inadvertent repetitions, important points blurred or glossed over, paragraphs broken badly, and several discussions (including an entire chapter) that are off-topic and mostly pointless. McGowan's personal stories and asides are not well-integrated, as if an afterthought tacked on simply to soften his rather dry style. The illustrations are small, the photographs few and not directly relevant to the text.

McGowan seems to know what he is writing about; he needs an editor firmer and more adept and a publisher willing to put more money into the production.

Physics of biology: limits of animal size and speed........1998-08-19

McGowan has put together a nice book about basic limitations that physics sets on animal size, e.g. how insect respiratory system limits insect size, or how big a bird can fly, or how body shape, swimming speed and Reynolds numbers compare with plankton and whales. Even though the subtitle claims that the book is about "living things", there is nothing about plants, which is a pity because e.g. trees are extreme in size. McGowan's writing is lucid and the level is good for reading: there are a couple of equations and about hundred simple charts and figures (B&W, nothing fancy) which give good extra information to the text. You might also want to check Knut Schmidt-Nielsen's book "Scaling: Why Is Anaimal Size So Important".

Life at the Extremes: The Science of Survival

Average customer rating:

An outstanding and accessible science book
Deceptive description, but still a good read
Almost An Adventure Book
What The Future May Bring
This is an excellent book for the curious-minded!

Life at the Extremes: The Science of Survival
Frances Ashcroft
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0520222342

Amazon.com

"It is an extraordinary coincidence," writes English physiologist Frances Ashcroft, "that the highest peak on Earth is also about the highest point at which humans can survive unaided." A coincidence, to be sure, and, like many other milestones of the limits of human endurance, one known to us through the joint efforts of scientists, mountain climbers, explorers, and athletes.

Ashcroft's book is a thoroughly engaging survey of those limits and their origins in the nature of things, of what happens to human beings in the most difficult environmental conditions. She writes, for instance, of why it is that astronauts have trouble standing after returning to Earth (because, in part, their leg muscles quickly atrophy outside of terrestrial gravity); of how the famed Japanese pearl divers condition themselves to attain such extraordinary underwater depths; of how and why the consumption of carbohydrates and caffeine can improve athletic performance; of why British children so easily suffer heat exhaustion on trips to such semitropical venues as, say, Disneyworld, whereas young Saudis can tolerate much higher temperatures (but would likely not thrive in an English winter).

Backed by extensive field research--the author has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, sweated it out in Japanese hot tubs, and run after her share of buses--as well as by a wealth of laboratory studies, Ashcroft's book is of great appeal to anyone who wishes to test the world's limits--or their own. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

The challenge of scaling the highest mountain, exploring the deepest ocean, crossing the hottest desert, or swimming in near-freezing water is irresistible to many people. Life at the Extremes is an engrossing exploration of what happens to our bodies in these seemingly uninhabitable environments. Frances Ashcroft weaves stories of extraordinary feats of endurance with historical material and the latest scientific findings as she investigates the limits of human survival and the remarkable adaptations that enable us to withstand extreme conditions.
What causes mountain sickness? How is it possible to reach the top of Everest without supplementary oxygen, when passengers in an airplane that depressurized at the same altitude would lose consciousness in seconds? Why do divers get the bends but sperm whales do not? How long you can survive immersion in freezing water? Why don't penguins get frostbite? Will men always be faster runners than women? How far into deep space can a body travel?
As she considers these questions, Ashcroft introduces a cast of extraordinary scientific personalities--inventors and explorers who have charted the limits of human survival. She describes many intriguing experiments and shows how scientific knowledge has enabled us to venture toward and beyond ever greater limits. Life at the Extremes also considers what happens when athletes push their bodies to the edge, and tells of the remarkable adaptations that enable some organisms to live in boiling water, in highly acidic lakes, or deep in the middle of rocks.
Anyone who flies in an airplane, sails the high seas, goes skiing or walking in the mountains, or simply weathers subzero winters or sweltering summers will be captivated by this book. Full of scientific information, beautifully written, and packed with many fascinating digressions, Life at the Extremes lures us to the very edge of human survival.

Customer Reviews:

An outstanding and accessible science book.......2003-07-24

I have always been fascinated with this topic, and this book opened my eyes to all kinds of interesting aspects of adaptation of animals (especially humans) to extreme conditions. Particularly interesting to me were the chapters on altitude and depth. Examples and sidebars were well chosen and well explained. I have used information from the book in lectures to students of physiology. Highly recommended.

Deceptive description, but still a good read.......2003-05-30

This book appealed to my inner nerd, and helped me understand from a physiological standpoint what is happening during when the body is put to the extreme test. It doesn't talk about when people are placed in extreme situations, which was the part I found pretty deceptive. But Dr. Ashcroft is an anatomy professor - that should have been my big clue. Still, a good read if you've got an interest in anatomy and physiology.

Almost An Adventure Book.......2002-04-16

I must admit that I was fooled by the description of this book on the dusk jacket. What I thought I was buying was a book that detailed what happened to individual people in extreme conditions, in space, tops of mountains etc. What the book provided me was a description of what happens to the human body in these extreme conditions. Overall the information was interesting, but this is not a book that would fall into the action / adventure category. You do not get the drama or tension of actual people being put in harms way. The book is well written, even in the parts that are medical descriptions. If you are interested in what happens to someone in extreme conditions or as a reference book next time you are reading an action / adventure book then this is the book for you.

What The Future May Bring.......2001-02-28

An amazing book for people who are into the possibility of extraterrestrial life and also those who fear that the demise of our own ecosystem will lead to an end to life on our planet as we know it. The best thing you can tell someone who insist life cannot exist outside our biosphere is "vent fish", these fish that live 5000 feet deep on the ocean floor where there is no light and the only source of food is the sulfur blowing from volcanic vents. This book is all about life in the harshest of places. This line from the introduction: "Environmental extremes are not the prerogative of the adventurous few - with the help of technology, all of us can tolerate severe conditions with equanimity." reminds me of the movie "True Stories" where John Goodman asked God to do something about all these malls and parking lots, so God created people who love malls and parking lots!!! Life At The Extremes might be a how-to guide to this uncertain future we are blindly racing into... It's a must read for environmentalists and ufologists alike. Remy C.

This is an excellent book for the curious-minded!.......2001-01-13

If you have ever wondered EXACTLY why and how humans get altitude sickness, what happens to the body when exposed to extreme heat or cold, why scuba divers sometime get the "bends," or what would happen to an astronaut if the Space Station developed a leak, this book is for you. Frances M. Ashcroft explains in complete detail - the detail that is so often lacking in the popular, dumbed-down modern media - why the body at high altitudes can't get the oxygen it needs, what happens to skin cells when you burn yourself or get frostbite, how nitrogen dissolves in your blood when diving deep in water, or how your blood would boil if exposed to the emptiness of space.

And she doesn't stop with humans. She examines the extremes of the animal world for creatures able to withstand and thrive in boiling cauldrons, the extreme depths of the oceans, or the extreme cold of Antarctica.

Customer Reviews:

VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.......2006-02-06

Are you working in the area physiological functioning and the comparative adaptations of animals? If you are, this book is for you. Authors Pat Willmer, Graham Stone and Ian A. Johnston, have written an outstanding book that integrates animal physiology into a more holistic approach.

Willmer, Stone and Johnston, begin by considering adaptation in relation to selection on phenotypes, as determined by genes and their constituent DNA. Then, they cover the process of adaptation in a suitable molecular context, so that new information on the molecular interactions and genomic changes underlying ecophysiological modification can be easily assimilated as it becomes available. The authors continue by discussing the problems of size and scale. In addition, they also present the mechanisms for keeping volumes and concentrations of biological solutions under control--thus, keeping animal tissues operative, in the face of this fundamental challenge. The authors also examine the problem of animal water balance in terms of the actions , and control, of particular effector organs. Then, the authors discuss metabolism and energy supply. Next, they look at the fundamental design of respiratory systems whereby aerobically respiring animals take up the oxygen they require. Then, the authors review the effects of temperature on animals, and the kinds of adaptation they show to withstand or to counter temperature change. Next, they examine the basic functioning of excitable tissues, and how they permit detection of environmental change, response to it, and indeed learning about it. The authors continue by examining the properties and roles of hormones, especially in relation to the bigger issues of coping with environmental challenges, dealing first with the endocrine systems and component glands in different kinds of animals, then with the various functions that are regulated by specific hormones. In addition, they also examine marine life in general. The authors also discuss seashores and estuaries. Then, the authors discuss the nature and occurrence of fresh water. Next, they cover a range of "aquatic" habitats that are in various ways not strictly within the definitions of marine, littoral, estuarine, or freshwater habitats. Then, the authors cover the essential strategies of the broad range of animals that live in the majority of terrestrial habitats; particularly, in the temperate zones and the humid tropics, where thermal extremes are rarely encountered, and where water balance, though difficult to achieve, is not pushed to the limits for survival. Next, they deal with some special cases of terrestrial life: hot and arid deserts, where the hygrothermal endurance limits of animal residents may be severely tested; polar regions, tundra, and northern coniferous forests, where extreme cold is superimposed on the generality of terrestrial problems; and, montane habitats, where altitude effects may parallel the latitudinal effects at the poles. Finally, the authors survey the departures from a free-living physiology that are associated with a range of types of parasitism.

This excellent book also includes both an ecological setting and an appreciation of the range of behavioral responses open to individual animals before specific physiological responses need to come into play. Furthermore, the book has clearly met a need and found a very receptive audience.

A great journey into the physiology of animals in different habitats.......2005-11-07

This text takes the unique approach of looking at the physiology of animals found in different environments. E.g. one may be interested in the adaptations found in deep sea animals or in intertidal organisms? It is an excellent text with plenty of information to allow one to get a better understanding of the array of physiological adaptations needed. It is also interesting to see how different types of animals have solved the same physiological problem. Overall, it is fascinating reading! Highly recommended. It would be useful for a prospective reader to have some previous knowledge of zoology and physiology before taking on this book.

Toxicology of Reptiles (New Perspectives: Toxicology and the Environment)

Average customer rating:

Excellent reference for herpetologists, toxicologists and environmental scientists

Toxicology of Reptiles (New Perspectives: Toxicology and the Environment)

Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0849327156

Book Description

Toxicology of Reptiles cohesively summarizes much of the cutting-edge research taking place in fields such as reptilian endocrinology, neurophysiology, immunology, and ecology. It also addresses conservation needs along with the complications often associated with population studies. The text is easy to synthesize and apply in the evaluation and understanding of potential risks to reptiles from environmental contaminants. This book provides a comprehensive description of the current state of knowledge of reptilian toxicology from the perspective of target organ systems. It covers major contaminant classes within each chapter, focusing on those of greatest concern. The authors highlight the most pressing information gaps, and propose priority directions for further advancement in the fields of reptilian biology, wildlife and environmental toxicology, conservation, and ecological risk assessment.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent reference for herpetologists, toxicologists and environmental scientists.......2006-06-25

This book is a comprehensive look at current knowledge and methods used in a booming field. This is only the second book of its kind, and does a wonderful job of presenting ideas clearly to those just starting out in the field or to professionals. It is not a casual read, but if you are looking for a scientific reference, this book is for you.

Plant Growth and Development: Hormones and Environment

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Plant Growth and Development: Hormones and Environment
Lalit M. Srivastava
Manufacturer: Academic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 012660570X

Book Description

This book provides current information on synthesis of plant hormones, how their concentrations are regulated, and how they modulate various plant processes. It details how plants sense and tolerate such factors as drought, salinity, and cold temperature, factors that limit plant productivity on earth. It also explains how plants sense two other environmental signals, light and gravity, and modify their developmental patterns in response to those signals. This book takes the reader from basic concepts to the most up-to-date thinking on these topics.

* Provides clear synthesis and review of hormonal and environmental regulation of plant growth and development
* Contains more than 600 illustrations
supplementary information on techniques and/or related topics of interest
* Single-authored text provides uniformity of presentation and integration of the subject matter
* References listed alphabetically in each section

Environmental Physiology of the Amphibians

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Environmental Physiology of the Amphibians

Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0226239446

Book Description

Through its emphasis on recent research, its many summary tables, and its bibliography of more than 4,000 entries, this first modern, synthetic treatment of comparative amphibian environmental physiology emerges as the definitive reference for the field. Forty internationally respected experts review the primary data, examine current research trends, and identify productive avenues for future research.

Comparative Animal Physiology, Environmental and Metabolic Animal Physiology (Comparative Animal Physiology, Vol 1)

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Prosser's Animal physiology new book
Prosser's Animal physiology new book

Comparative Animal Physiology, Environmental and Metabolic Animal Physiology (Comparative Animal Physiology, Vol 1)

Manufacturer: Wiley-Liss
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 047185767X

Book Description

Here is a uniquely modern approach to the study of physiological diversity that builds on the tradition established by C. Ladd Prosser's Comparative Animal Physiology. Responding to the need for a rigorously up-to-date, comprehensive survey of function and integrative systems in a variety of species, which is also easily accessible to the user, Dr. Prosser has delivered a thoroughly revised Fourth Edition in a convenient two-volume format. This carefully designed framework lets each volume zero-in on distinct aspects of comparative physiology normally studied as a whole unit. From the study of genetically replicating molecules to investigations of adaptive modulation, these two companion volumes offer an all-encompassing view of the field. With their contemporary approach, scholarly editing, flexible format, and detailed contents, Neural and Integrative Animal Physiology and Environmental and Metabolic Animal Physiology will stand together as the authoritative source in the field.

Customer Reviews:

Prosser's Animal physiology new book.......2000-06-03

This new and updated volume of Prosser's Animal Physiology can be taken as the most accurated and useful book about animal physiology. It's clearly, well-writen and has a large number drawnings and tables, and graphics as well. The cited literature's as complete as possible and the chapters are displayed in a logical, integrative sequence. I enthusiastic recomend this book for general physiologists, environmental biologists and specificaly, for comparative physiologists, like me. However, the book is quite expensive for those living here in Brazil. A.

Prosser's Animal physiology new book.......2000-06-03

Average customer rating:

Great Teaching Tool with Gorgeous Illustations

Soaring with the Wind: The Bald Eagle

Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 0688137318

Book Description

A majestic bird swoops down, snatches its prey, then soars into the clouds. It is a bald eagle, one of North America's largest hunting birds.

For centuries the bald eagle has been a symbol of majesty, strength, and freedom. In 1782 it became the official emblem of the United States. Yet now this fierce hunter is in danger of extinction.

Gail Gibbons's thoroughly researched text and dramatic illustrations present the bald eagle in all its grandeur- hunting, courting, nesting, and hatching- with fascinating facts and statistics about this remarkable winged predator and the efforts to save it.

Customer Reviews:

Great Teaching Tool with Gorgeous Illustations.......1999-07-30

I used this book as the basis for a program on eagles prepared for children ages 5-9. The book provides lots of accurate facts about the eagle, its habitat requirements and how we can insure its viability. The illustrations are wonderful and enhance the technical story of the eagle being told by Gail Gibbons. I will use this book again for my own children and for programs focusing on eagles for the early elementary school age kids to learn about our eagle population on the James River.

The Extended Organism: The Physiology of Animal-Built Structures

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Bringing the Outside In

The Extended Organism: The Physiology of Animal-Built Structures
J. Scott Turner
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0674009851

Book Description

Can the structures that animals build--from the humble burrows of earthworms to towering termite mounds to the Great Barrier Reef--be said to live? However counterintuitive the idea might first seem, physiological ecologist Scott Turner demonstrates in this book that many animals construct and use structures to harness and control the flow of energy from their environment to their own advantage. Building on Richard Dawkins's classic, The Extended Phenotype, Turner shows why drawing the boundary of an organism's physiology at the skin of the animal is arbitrary. Since the structures animals build undoubtedly do physiological work, capturing and channeling chemical and physical energy, Turner argues that such structures are more properly regarded not as frozen behaviors but as external organs of physiology and even extensions of the animal's phenotype. By challenging dearly held assumptions, a fascinating new view of the living world is opened to us, with implications for our understanding of physiology, the environment, and the remarkable structures animals build.

Customer Reviews:

Bringing the Outside In.......2001-01-20

In _The Extended Organism: The Physiology of Animal-Built Structures_ (Harvard University Press), J. Scott Turner gives plenty of surprising examples to show that animals indeed use the environment outside in ways that would qualify the outside as part of their physiology. He intends us to take a broader view that organisms are not just tangible things wrapped up in skin or chitin or scales. An organism is, instead, an ephemeral collection of organized matter and energy. An organism is busy all its life influencing the flow of matter and energy through itself, but also through the environment. He argues that the reductionism of molecular and evolutionary biology may give way to a more holistic view, and winds up with the controversial idea of Gaia, the hypothesis that earth can be viewed as a single living organism. He says he doesn't want to air the arguments pro and con of this idea, but if organisms modify their environments into becoming part of their physiology, then it is not much of a step to saying that the Earth has a physiology of its own.

Perhaps. Turner's book is well argued and full of good ideas, and it may presage a neo-holism. Whether it accomplishes that, though, is less important than what it does manage to do. Turner is astonishingly encyclopedic in his explanations of his many surprising examples of out-of-body physiology. He draws upon thermodynamics, hydrodynamics, chemistry, electrical circuits, fractals, acoustics, and much more to put his audacious ideas onto a sound scientific foundation. This does not make for easy reading, but he is a genial guide and he tries his best to explain complicated ideas simply; the book is not for those, however, who can't stand equations mixed with the text. The best parts of the book are the examples of animals that have as good as made their surroundings part of their innards. There are lots of examples. In addition to the beetles that grab a bubble of air to use as scuba gear, there are beetles that not only do that, but if there is a current moving over them, their hydrodynamic form causes a suction, so that if they face into the current (which they of course habitually do), a bubble forms, pulled out of the water itself. They make this their gills, and they never have to go to the surface. Spittlebugs make a frothy white spittle attached to plants. The spittle isn't spittle, of course, but a froth of sap from the plant, processed by the digestive tract, excreted, and inflated with bubbles. Turner makes the case that since the bugs have a diet of protein-rich sap, they have a lot of ammonia as a waste product, and they cannot detoxify it as other animals do. The spittle enables the ammonia to be carried away; in other words, it functions as an exterior kidney. Earthworms, Turner shows, are fundamentally aquatic animals that only manage to get around when the water content of soils is perfectly balanced for them. (Turner reminds us that Darwin got enormous satisfaction for his last great work concerning earthworms and what they do to soils; before Darwin, earthworms were regarded as pests which ate plant roots.) The burrowing activities of the earthworm actually make the soil itself more favorable to the narrow needs of their own survival, and they use the soil as an organ to maintain a proper salt and water balance inside them.

There are many examples even before Turner gets to bees and to termites, which are his own particular enthusiasm and which use their homes to regulate temperature, oxygen content, and more. It is inarguable that these creatures really do shape their environment, and in ways that are not obvious. With clarity, humor, and a broad scientific understanding, Turner has done much to advance an argument to his holistic view.

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