Chemical Ecology: The Chemistry Of Biotic Interaction

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Eisner, Thomas

Meinwald, Jerrold

History

Franklin Classics

Imagine beetles ejecting defensive sprays as hot as boiling water; female moths holding their mates for ransom; caterpillars disguising themselves as flowers by fastening petals to their bodies; termites emitting a viscous glue to rally fellow soldiers--and you will have entered an insect world once beyond imagining, a world observed and described down to its tiniest astonishing detail by Thomas Eisner. The story of a lifetime of such minute explorations, For Love of Insects celebrates the small creatures that have emerged triumphant on the planet, the beneficiaries of extraordinary evolutionary inventiveness and unparalleled reproductive capacity. 
 To understand the success of insects is to appreciate our own shortcomings, Eisner tells us, but never has a reckoning been such a pleasure. Recounting exploits and discoveries in his lab at Cornell and in the field in Uruguay, Australia, Panama, Europe, and North America, Eisner time and again demonstrates how inquiry into the survival strategies of an insect leads to clarifications beyond the expected; insects are revealed as masters of achievement, forms of life worthy of study and respect from even the most recalcitrant entomophobe. Filled with descriptions of his ingenious experiments and illustrated with photographs unmatched for their combination of scientific content and delicate beauty, Eisner's book makes readers participants in the grand adventure of discovery on a scale infinitesimally small, and infinitely surprising.

For Love of Insects

Science & Math

WILSON, EDWARD O.

Biological Sciences

Belknap Press

Mostly tiny, infinitely delicate, and short-lived, insects and their relatives--arthropods--nonetheless outnumber all their fellow creatures on earth. How lowly arthropods achieved this unlikely preeminence is a story deftly and colorfully told in this follow-up to the award-winning For Love of Insects. Part handbook, part field guide, part photo album, Secret Weapons chronicles the diverse and often astonishing defensive strategies that have allowed insects, spiders, scorpions, and other many-legged creatures not just to survive, but to thrive. 
 In sixty-nine chapters, each brilliantly illustrated with photographs culled from Thomas Eisner's legendary collection, we meet a largely North American cast of arthropods--as well as a few of their kin from Australia, Europe, and Asia--and observe at firsthand the nature and extent of the defenses that lie at the root of their evolutionary success. Here are the cockroaches and termites, the carpenter ants and honeybees, and all the miniature creatures in between, deploying their sprays and venom, froth and feces, camouflage and sticky coatings. And along with a marvelous bug's-eye view of how these secret weapons actually work, here is a close-up look at the science behind them, from taxonomy to chemical formulas, as well as an appendix with instructions for studying chemical defenses at home. Whether dipped into here and there or read cover to cover, Secret Weapons will prove invaluable to hands-on researchers and amateur naturalists alike, and will captivate any reader for whom nature is a source of wonder.

Secret Weapons: Defenses of Insects, Spiders, Scorpions, and Other Many-Legged Creatures

Eisner, Maria

Siegler, Melody

Mostly tiny, infinitely delicate, and short-lived, insects and their relatives--arthropods--nonetheless outnumber all their fellow creatures on earth. How lowly arthropods achieved this unlikely preeminence is a story deftly and colorfully told in this follow-up to the award-winning For Love of Insects. Part handbook, part field guide, part photo album, Secret Weapons chronicles the diverse and often astonishing defensive strategies that have allowed insects, spiders, scorpions, and other many-legged creatures not just to survive, but to thrive. 
In sixty-nine chapters, each brilliantly illustrated with photographs culled from Thomas Eisner's legendary collection, we meet a largely North American cast of arthropods--as well as a few of their kin from Australia, Europe, and Asia--and observe at firsthand the nature and extent of the defenses that lie at the root of their evolutionary success. Here are the cockroaches and termites, the carpenter ants and honeybees, and all the miniature creatures in between, deploying their sprays and venom, froth and feces, camouflage and sticky coatings. And along with a marvelous bug's-eye view of how these secret weapons actually work, here is a close-up look at the science behind them, from taxonomy to chemical formulas, as well as an appendix with instructions for studying chemical defenses at home. Whether dipped into here and there or read cover to cover, Secret Weapons will prove invaluable to hands-on researchers and amateur naturalists alike, and will captivate any reader for whom nature is a source of wonder.

Sports & Outdoors

Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press

Book by Eisner, Thomas, Wilson, Edward O.

The Insects: Readings from Scientific American

W.H.Freeman & Co Ltd

Animal behavior: Readings from Scientific American

W.H.Freeman

Book by Eisner, Thomas, Wilson, Edward O.

Readings from Scientific American: Animal Behavior

In this book, Thomas Eisner presents us with a portfolio of natural imagery hitherto unseen, the fruit of his search for beauty in nature. He examined autumnal leaves in the midst of color change and was enthralled by what came into view at higher magnifications. The imagery was art at its best. He turned to his camera and the result is a series of natural masterpieces.

Chromatic Fantasy: Leaves in the Midst of Change

Sinauer Associates, Inc.

Tom Eisner's first forays into photography were the result of scientific pursuits. An early fascination for insects--specifically in the strategies that enabled these little animals to achieve dominance on earth--required a close look into their behavior, physiology, and ecology. Photography became an indispensable means of data acquisition. Dr. Eisner's creative eye was not to be limited, however, and his collection of some 20,000 images has come to include photos of organisms other than insects, as well as pictures taken by special techniques, or for special non-scientific purposes. The instruments he employed to achieve a wide variety of visual effects include 35mm cameras, compound microscopes, scanning electron microscopes, ultraviolet lenses, and a color copier. Eisner's World: Life through Many Lenses features 118 of these photos, selected for their innate natural drama, sheer beauty, and imaginative appeal.

Eisner's World: Life through Many Lenses

Arts & Photography

Photography & Video

Sinauer Associates is an imprint of Oxford University Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Eisner, Thomas. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Eisner, Thomas

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Eisner, Thomas. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Chemical Ecology: The Chemistry Of Biotic Interaction

Chemical Ecology: The Chemistry Of Biotic Interaction

For Love of Insects

Secret Weapons: Defenses of Insects, Spiders, Scorpions, and Other Many-Legged Creatures

Secret Weapons: Defenses of Insects, Spiders, Scorpions, and Other Many-Legged Creatures

The Insects: Readings from Scientific American

Animal behavior: Readings from Scientific American

Readings from Scientific American: Animal Behavior

Chromatic Fantasy: Leaves in the Midst of Change

Eisner's World: Life through Many Lenses