The phenomenon of bird migration has fascinated people from time immemorial. The arrivals and departures of different species marked the seasons, heralding spring and autumn, and providing a reliable calendar long before anything better became available. Migration is shown by many kinds of animals, including butterflies and other insects, mammals, marine turtles and fish, but in none is it as extensively developed as in birds.

The collective travel routes of birds span almost the entire globe...

Understanding how our living environment works is essentially a study of ecological systems. Ecology is the science of how organisms interact with each other and with their environment, and how such interactions create self-organising communities and ecosystems. This science touches us all.

The food we eat, the water we drink, the natural resources we use, our physical and mental health, and much of our cultural heritage are to a large degree products of ecological interactions of organisms a...

The Story of Trees takes the reader on a visual journey from some of the earliest known tree species on our planet to the latest fruit cultivars.

The chosen trees have all had a profound effect on the planet and humankind. Starting with the Ginkgo biloba, fossils of which date back 270 million years, we learn about how trees came to be integral to the development of our species and how specific trees have become important religious, political and cultural symbols.

With beautiful illustration...