New PDF release: The ghosts of evolution : nonsensical fruit, missing

By Connie Barlow

ISBN-10: 0465005519

ISBN-13: 9780465005512

A new imaginative and prescient is sweeping via ecological technological know-how: The dense net of dependencies that makes up an surroundings has received an additional dimension-the size of time. each box, wooded area, and park is stuffed with residing organisms tailored for relationships with creatures which are now extinct. In a vibrant narrative, Connie Barlow indicates how the assumption of "missing companions" in nature advanced from remoted, curious examples into an idea that's reworking how ecologists comprehend the complete natural world of the Americas. This interesting e-book will improve the event of any novice naturalist, in addition to educate us that the ripples of biodiversity loss round us are only the forefront of what may turn into perilous cascades of extinction.

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Extra resources for The ghosts of evolution : nonsensical fruit, missing partners, and other ecological anachronisms

Example text

Bacteria. More to the point, it seems silly to replace who with that in a phrase attributing something as sentient as "intending" or "remembering" to plants. But, then, plants do remember—though not by means of excitable neurons. The memory is retained in the genes. The genes of an avocado tree do not remember the journey through the intestinal tracts of generation upon generation of gomphothere and the rich environment in which generation upon generation of avocado seeds have germinated. The genes do not remember gomphotheres at all.

Inside are several hundred stiff seeds, more rubbery than hard. The seeds are surrounded by "a slimy black mass that is quite sweet," Janzen reports, despite its fetid odor. Horses break the rinds between their front teeth, dropping the pieces to scoop out pulp with lower incisors. 9 10 12 Because gomphotheres lacked front teeth, they may have crushed the smaller fruits between molars and the bigger ones with their feet—just as zoo elephants today step on watermelons to access the pulp. Perhaps, too, ground sloths with widely spaced incisors that functioned like canine teeth punctured and ripped crescentia.

They also entertain our story-loving minds. Because of the role we humans play in all stories that feature Pleistocene or more recent ghosts, the tales are poignant too. Perhaps a modern-day Kipling or Aesop will render them as fables for the generations of children who will grow up in a world where the survival of tens of thousands of species will depend on whether humans learn to care. 24 PAUL MARTIN AND I ARE BROWSING THROUGH FOLDERS OF DRIED plants in the herbarium of the University of Arizona, where he is now professor emeritus.

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