Here Be Dragons: How the Study of Animal and Plant Distributions Revolutionized Our Views of Life and Earth

by Dennis McCarthy

Overview

Why are polar bears found only near the North Pole, and penguins only near the South? Why are there so many kinds of finches on the Galapagos Islands?

The story of how animals and plants came to be found where they are-the story of biogeography-brings together two great theories of life and Earth: evolution and plate tectonics. In this wonderfully rich telling, that takes in pygmy mammoths and orca whales, Dennis McCarthy traces the powerful forces that have altered the surface of the planet and shaped the pattern of life on Earth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199595662
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	06/24/2011
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Denis McCarthy is a researcher at the Museum of Natural History at Buffalo.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

List of Illustrations xi

Preface: "That Grand Subject" Biogeography as the fountainhead of scientific discovery and the unifying theory of life and Earth xv

1 Galápagan Epiphany 1

How the distributions of plants and animals led Darwin to the theory of evolution

2 The Mesosaurus Problem 20

How fossil locations helped revolutionize our view of Earth history

3 Pygmy Mammoths and Mysterious Islands 40

Why the geography of certain island groups, like Hawaii, Galápagos, and the Channel Islands, has turned them into a cauldron of evolutionary catalysts

4 The Volcanic Ring That Changed the World 70

How evolution and plate tectonics have operated in concert to govern the major biotic patterns and produce the Earth's most fascinating creatures in the most exotic locales

5 The Bloody Fall of South America and the Last of the Triassic Beak-Headed Reptiles 94

South America, Australia, and New Zealand as sanctuaries for "living fossils"

6 Enchanted Waters 118

Biogeography among the life aquatic

7 The Battle Over Eden 145

The controversy over the biogeographical history of the human race

8 The Grand Coalescence of Life and Earth 181

The past, present, and future of biogeography

Endnotes 195

Bibliography 205

Index 207

Editorial Reviews

"It's a grand time-and-space voyage of the imagination, the drift of continents, the appearance and rise and fall and extinction of new species, the human story with all its tragedy and complexity.... Read this one, a great pleasure, and...at the end of the book you will be someone different." — Dan Agin, Huffington Post

"[Here Be Dragons] provides a quick but enthusiastic summary of the fascinating field of biogeography, and it leaves us wanting more. The book delivers on its promise that we will never look at the world in the same way again." — Devorah Bennu, Science Magazine

"This is a fascinating, accessible work, which offers a new, more complete perspective on the world we live in. McCarthy packs a tremendous amount in 200 pages but his writing skill is such that the reader never feels overwhelmed and turns each page with as much entertainment as enlightenment.... Fans of Jared Diamond or Richard Dawkins will be fans of the eloquent Dennis McCarthy." — Lynn Harnett, Portsmouth Herald (Seacoast Sunday)

"With a knowledge of Earth history at his disposal, a precision and clarity reminiscent of other great science popularizers, and a courteous tone to smooth out any stubborn complexities, McCarthy makes biogeography into a story that is both intelligible and compelling." — Mark Cocker, BBC Wildlife Magazine

From the Publisher