Bøker av Justin Gerlach

This book covers the fundamentals of biology. It is primarily aimed at students completing school biology courses or about to start a biology degree course. It summarises the biology that ought to be seen as essential at those stages and corrects the most common misinterpretations that tend to occur. The fact that all aspects of biology are interlinked is highlighted. The book also emphasises that biology is not just about humans, or vertebrates, but that an appreciation of the vast diversity of life is important to a proper understanding of the subject.

This field guide covers the 229 species of land and freshwater snails and slugs found in Tahiti and the other Society Island (French Polynesia). All species are illustrated and distribution records briefly summarised.

This book provides a brief introduction to each of the 36 phyla of living animals. A short summary is given of every phylum: its general characteristics, number of species, ecology and evolutionary relationships, along with an illustration of each, and an indication of their position on the most recent phylogenetic trees. The aim of this is to give readers an overview of the diversity of animal life, to show that the Animalia are more than just vertebrates and insects.

The story of the tree snails of the Pacific Islands spans 250 years of the history of biology as a science. This runs from Captain Cook's first voyage of exploration, through the start of evolutionary theory and the development of the science of genetics. 'Snailing round the South Seas' traces this history through the surprisingly central role played by a group of snails. Ultimately this leads into the struggle for survival in the modern world. Partula snails almost disappeared in the most rapid extinction event known so far and the survivors are among the rarest species on earth. Once more these snails have been at the heart of new developments, this time in conservation biology.

136 animal species have become extinct in the British Isles over the past thousand years. This book describes many of these extinctions, from familiar species such as the wolf and the iconic extinction of the great auk, to the numerous insects that have vanished from the islands. Whilst some losses are unsurprising others are strange stories of enigmatic species such as the Manchester moth, the Potters Bar beetle and the St. Kilda mouse. Attempts have been made to reintroduce some species and the successes and failures are described. With increasing attention being paid to preserving and restoring our natural environment consideration is also given to the questions of which species could be reintroduced in the future and whether this can ever play a meaningful role in conservation.