Island Africa: Evolution of Africa's Animals and Plants - Hardcover

Kingdon, Jonathan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0002194430 ISBN 13: 9780002194433

Publisher: Collins, 1990

Synopsis

This text examines the flora and fauna of the African continent by viewing it as a complex mosaic of landlocked islands; islands which vary from isolated forests in oceans of grassland to lakes in seas of land. Each of these islands represents a snapshot of millions of years of evolution. The author highlights representative species, and as the reader is led around continental Africa, a pattern emerges which provides a deeper understanding of the complexity of the biology of Africa. The author was born in Tanzania and now teachers at Oxford University. He has also published a 7-volume work called "East African Mammals".

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"Increasingly African conservation has become a question of saving species-rich areas that tend to be fairly discrete regions, which differ from each other and from their less-favored surroundings. Jonathan Kingdon's book is a wealth of information on the whereabouts and resident species of these African `islands,' and a passionate call to preserve them. In a sense, this is an action plan for the biodiversity of a whole continent. The explicit accounts of human impact, and points of influence, in the final chapters mean that any reader can join in the action. . . . Kingdon's paintings are instant classics, already collectors' items."--Alison Jolly, Princeton University

About this edition

• Publisher: Collins
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0002194430
• ISBN 13: 9780002194433
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288