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This Special Issue on the Systematics and Phylogeny of Weevils presents 31 new research papers on one of the most diverse and successful groups of animals on Earth, the beetle superfamily Curculionoidea. It was in part inspired to commemorate the extraordinary life and scientific achievements of Guillermo (“Willy”) Kuschel (1918–2017), who shaped this field of science over the last century like no other weevil systematist. The papers in this memorial issue span weevil faunas from all over the globe, including South and Central America, Africa, Europe and the Near East, South-East Asia, New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand. They include major advances on the phylogeny and classificatio...
“Sword aims to lead us to ‘fit and trim’ prose via an assault course covering horrors such as ‘Prepositional pudge,’ ‘Ad-dictions’ and ‘Waste words.’” —Times Higher Education Do your sentences sag? Could your paragraphs use a pick-me-up? If so, The Writer’s Diet is for you! It’s a short, sharp introduction to great writing that will help you energize your prose and boost your verbal fitness. Helen Sword dispenses with excessive explanations and overwrought analysis. Instead, she offers an easy-to-follow set of writing principles: use active verbs whenever possible; favor concrete language over vague abstractions; avoid long strings of prepositional phrases; employ a...
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New taxonomic, distribution and habitat data are presented for Canadian species in various families of Coleoptera. Distributional records are presented mostly from New Brunswick but also Quebec, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. For New Brunswick, 320 new provincial records, 6 new records for Canada, and 22 new records of adventive species are provided. For Quebec, 1 new provincial record is provided; for Nova Scotia, 11 new provincial records are provided; and for Prince Edward Island, 2 new provincial records are provided. Maps of all new distribution records and significant new biological information are provided for all species. This volume on Maritime provinces beetle biodiversity contributes new and important baseline data, and significantly updates the known Coleoptera faunas of New Brunswick, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Canada.
Stephen L. Wood (1924?2009) was the leading authority of bark and pinhole borer beetle systematics (Scolytinae and Platypodinae) in the latter half of the 20th century. He published over 100 taxonomic papers including monographs and a worldwide catalog. His research advanced the understanding of Scolytinae and Platypodinaeÿ diversity and influenced several generations of bark beetle systematists. This Festschrift honors Dr. Wood?s 60 years of Scolytinae and Platypodinae systematic research. The 20 contributing authors represent worldwide taxonomic expertise that report on a range of topics from biology to phylogeny. These studies concern species from all major faunal regions. Twenty-three new taxa are described and five patronymics are named. Most taxonomic treatments include identification keys. A brief biography accompanied by a list of Dr. Wood?s publications is included.
This volume offers extensive information on insect life in dying and dead wood. Written and reviewed by leading experts from around the world, the twenty-five chapters included here provide the most global coverage possible and specifically address less-studied taxa and topics. An overarching goal of this work is to unite literature that has become fragmented along taxonomic and geographic lines. A particular effort was made to recognize the dominant roles that social insects (e.g., termites, ants and passalid beetles) play in saproxylic assemblages in many parts of the world without overlooking the non-social members of these communities. The book is divided into four parts: · Part I “Di...
This book brings together an overview of the recent geological history, active earth and biological processes and human settlement of New Zealand. Topics covered include the very active neotectonic and volcanic setting. Mountain geomorphic processes are examined and new ideas about landsliding are highlighted. The exceptional sedimentary archives of the Whanganui Basin are also presented. As one of two land masses that extend into the southern mid-latitudes, New Zealand is ideally located to investigate changes in Southern Ocean climate. Related to this, mountain glaciation in New Zealand is a focus in global climate change debates. New Zealand also has a unique biota due to its long isolation and is the last major land mass to be settled by people. Advances in DNA technologies have revolutionised our understanding of the histories and processes involved. The book provides a comprehensive review of existing work and highlights new ideas and major debates across all these fields.
This detailed exposition gives background and context to how modern biogeography has got to where it is now. For biogeographers and other researchers interested in biodiversity and the evolution of life on islands, Biogeology: Evolution in a Changing Landscape provides an overview of a large swathe of the globe encompassing Wallacea and the western Pacific. The book contains the full text of the original article explored in each chapter, presented as it appeared on publication. Key features: Holistic treatment, collecting together a series of important biogeographical papers into a single volume Authored by an expert who has spent nearly three decades actively involved in biogeography Descri...
Beginning in the late 1980s, a series of improbable bark beetle outbreaks unsettled iconic forests and communities across western North America. An insect the size of a rice kernel eventually killed more than 30 billion pine and spruce trees from Alaska to New Mexico. Often appearing in masses larger than schools of killer whales, the beetles engineered one of the world's greatest forest die-offs since the deforestation of Europe by peasants between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. The beetle didn't act alone. Misguided science, out-of-control logging, bad public policy, and a hundred years of fire suppression created a volatile geography that released the world's oldest forest manager...