LEADER 04096nam 22006615 450 001 9911007459803321 005 20250603131512.0 010 $a3-031-89790-0 024 7 $a10.1007/978-3-031-89790-0 035 $a(CKB)39160742600041 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC32145057 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL32145057 035 $a(DE-He213)978-3-031-89790-0 035 $a(EXLCZ)9939160742600041 100 $a20250603d2025 u| 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur||||||||||| 181 $ctxt$2rdacontent 182 $cc$2rdamedia 183 $acr$2rdacarrier 200 10$aNature?s Biodiversity $eThe Search, for Beginnings and for Order /$fby Joseph Heller 205 $a1st ed. 2025. 210 1$aCham :$cSpringer Nature Switzerland :$cImprint: Springer,$d2025. 215 $a1 online resource (966 pages) 311 08$a3-031-89789-7 327 $aChapter 1. Ancient Days -- Chapter 2. The Dark Ages -- Chapter 3. Renaissance in the Study of Nature -- Chapter 4. Early Modern Biology -- Chapter 5. Enlightenment -- Chapter 6. Paving the Road to Evolution -- Chapter 7. Darwin -- Chapter 8. After Darwin: Classification -- Chapter 9. After Darwin: Biogeography. 330 $aThis book is about our quest over the centuries, from ancient Greece onwards, for pattern in the rich diversity of life. How did our ancestors think that living creatures first came to be, each fitting so well to its specific environment? Does biodiversity have a purpose? What biodiversity exists, beyond what our eyes can see? Do dragons and unicorns exist? How did the world begin, how did order emerge and were there several Creation events? Reproduction resembles Creation in that order appears out of nothing, form out of matter. Can different reproduction modes increase biodiversity? Why sexual reproduction? Can living creatures, and hence biodiversity, arise from non-living dust? How do embryos develop, from a featureless mass into an orderly, organised living body? Does embryonic development dictate diversity and do species ever go extinct? What is a soul? Do animals have souls? Do souls migrate, between man and animal? Does inheritance of acquired characters create biodiversity? Does diversity form an orderly ladder from plants through animals to Man, or perhaps orderly circles-within-circles? These questions and many others have been central to our culture?s overall view of nature, from ancient times onwards. This book, presenting the urge to understand overall pattern in the diversity of life throughout history, takes a broad approach. It links theories of classification with those of reproduction, embryology, theology and (eventually) evolution, as they developed from ancient days onwards, over 2400 years. Over 250 illustrations accompany the text, many taken from the ancient, original treatises, many others painted especially for this book, to present specific animals or ideas. This comprehensive view of the study of biodiversity will appeal to zoology lecturers and students, biology teachers and amateur naturalists, as well as to lecturers and learners of history, of theology; and of course, to anybody seeking to broaden horizons. 606 $aBiodiversity 606 $aZoology 606 $aBotany 606 $aFreshwater ecology 606 $aMarine ecology 606 $aScience$xHistory 606 $aBiodiversity 606 $aZoology 606 $aPlant Science 606 $aFreshwater and Marine Ecology 606 $aHistory of Science 615 0$aBiodiversity. 615 0$aZoology. 615 0$aBotany. 615 0$aFreshwater ecology. 615 0$aMarine ecology. 615 0$aScience$xHistory. 615 14$aBiodiversity. 615 24$aZoology. 615 24$aPlant Science. 615 24$aFreshwater and Marine Ecology. 615 24$aHistory of Science. 676 $a333.95 700 $aHeller$b Joseph$0445315 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9911007459803321 996 $aNature?s Biodiversity$94389845 997 $aUNINA