The Story of Life & the Environment: An African Perspective, by Jo van As et al.

The Story of Life & the Environment: An African Perspective, by Jo van As, Johann du Preez, Leslie Brown and Nico Smit. Randomhouse Struik, ISBN 9781770075856 / ISBN 978-1-77007-585-6

The Story of Life & the Environment: An African Perspective, by Jo van As, Johann du Preez, Leslie Brown and Nico Smit. Randomhouse Struik, ISBN 9781770075856 / ISBN 978-1-77007-585-6

The Story of Life & the Environment: An African Perspective is not only about the perils that face Africa, however, and it is not intended to be a gloomy tale. It is also a celebration of the wonders of the continent, and the remarkable diversity of life in all its environments - in fresh water, in the ocean and on land. Jo van As, Johann du Preez, Leslie Brown and Nico Smit have been involved in teaching ecology at different levels for quite some time.

Jo van As  Johann du Preez  Leslie Brown  Nico Smit  

At the beginning of the 19th century, the African continent was still mostly pristine and populatedby a considerable assembly of wildlife roaming free without boundaries. The human population of Africa then was only slightly more than 100 Million, of whom the majority lived in rural areas. Then came the scramble for Africa: European powers carved up the continent into countries with unnatural borders, regardless of watersheds, rivers, lakes, animal migration or even human habitation. [...] To relate The Story of Life and the Environment, we must start at the beginning of time. We show how our universe and solar system came about and how our planet has transformed over more than 4.567 billion years (chapter 1) from a hostile environment to an orb teeming with magnificent creatures. We explore this biodiversity (chapter 2) and the processes that resulted in the divergent living creatures that share this planet with us. In the next chapter (chapter 3) we explain the workings of ecosystems and how environmental factors act in sustaining all the ecosystems of our planet. We examine these dynamic principles, which apply to all living creatures in chapter 4. In the ecological context, community (chapter 5) refers to the entire living component of an ecosystem, usually including many species. We explore a range of interactions and associations, some of which do not necessarily fit into the more commonly perceived categories (chapter 6). After dealing with the mechanics and processes of our world we examine the three broad realms of the living world (figure 5): life in fresh water (chapter 7), life in the ocean (chapter 8) and life on land (chapter 9). In each case the different habitats are discussed, as well as the particular ecological challenges they pose for their inhabitants. These chapters also deal with the individual biomes' natural resources upon which we depend for human survival. The stage is now set to return to the beginning of our human history (chapter 10), which played out here in our own backyard, and which has steadily been uncovered by scientists, both South African and foreign. [...] Humans are clever and resourceful and have the ability to adapt and survive, as has been shown throughout the ages. However, if our life-support systems fail, we are lost. We have only one Earth - and nowhere else to go. We are the generation that can make a difference not only to our own lives, but also to the lives of following generations. If we are to make that difference and become responsible citizens of Earth, all of us will have to become actively involved in protecting the environment. We can do this by educating people about the dangers of habitat destruction, pollution and the irresponsible use of natural resources. To illustrate how this can be achieved, the concluding chapter (chapter 11) of The Story of Lite and the Environment is about how to care for our planet.

This is an excerpt from the book: The Story of Life & the Environment: An African Perspective, by Jo van As et al.

Title: The Story of Life & the Environment
Subtitle: An African Perspective
Authors: Jo van As; Johann du Preez; Leslie Brown; Nico Smit
Publisher: Random House Struik
Imprint: Nature
4th edition. Cape Town, South Africa 2012
ISBN 9781770075856 / ISBN 978-1-77007-585-6
Softcover, 14x21 cm, 456 pages, throughout colour photos and illustrations

van As, Jo und du Preez, Johann und Brown, Leslie und Smit, Nico im Namibiana-Buchangebot

The Story of Life & the Environment: An African Perspective

The Story of Life & the Environment: An African Perspective

The Story of Life and the Environment brings bring the social and the biological perspective of Africa into conversation.

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