Foto de l'autor

Richard L. Scheffel

Autor/a de ABCs of Nature

4 obres 768 Membres 4 Ressenyes

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Obres de Richard L. Scheffel

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male

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Ressenyes

Excellent book for a young teen.
 
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ShelleyAlberta | Hi ha 2 ressenyes més | Jun 4, 2016 |
Wonderful photographs, drawings, and information on our planet and its diversities, in question-and-answer format. The work does not attempt to describe everything, but touches upon the "most familiar and important" features likely to be wondered about.

For example, Tardigrades, (so numerous they have their own phylum) are not mentioned, perhaps because so few are large enough to be visible.

Four sections: Part 1. The World Itself -- physical earth, atmosphere, geology and forms. Part 2. Plants - the vegetable mantle, including underwater/sea. Part 3. Animal - presentation emphasizing characteristics, and lifestyles. Part 4. Worlds of Life - explores the adaptations, interactions and relationships of plants and animals in various environments -- desert, mountain, and seashore.

Color tabbed pages with Index, and detailed Table of Contents in each section.

Samples:

AIR - 78 percent of dry air is nitrogen, 21 percent is oxygen, and the remaining 1 percent is carbon dioxide and all other gases. [14]

CRUST - The crust is a thin shell of rock encasing the globe, much thicker under the continents than on the ocean floors. Its depth ranges from 5 to 25 miles below the surface. [24]

MANTLE AND CORE - The upper mantle extends down about 400 miles. The lower mantle at its base lies some 1800 miles beneath the surface, with an estimated 5,400 degree F. The outer core is molten iron and nickel. The inner core, in spite of temperatures in excess of 7,200 F, is a solid mass because of the immense pressure exerted upon it. [24]

MINERALS. More than 2000 minerals have been identified. Only 20 make up 95% of the Crust. Each mineral has two basic properties -- a chemical composition, and a crystal structure. Other characteristics are useful in distinguishing them -- color, shape, scratching or streaking, cleavage, specific gravity. The commonest iron ore, hematite, varies from rust red to black, but it always produces a red streak when scratched against a rough white surface. [26] Granite is usually composed of quartz and feldspar. Some limestones and all coal is composed of fossilized remains of living creatures and plants.

FOSSILS. Any trace of a plant or animal that lived in the past. Oldest known lived 3 billion years ago. The youngest found by Paleontologists are mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses unearthed in the Arctic tundra completely intact. [28-29] The La Brea tar pits have yielded the richest trove of fossils yet discovered. [29]

MOSS. Among the most primitive of land plants, emerging 350 million year ago. Spores germinate into plants that produce eggs and sperm. Some "moss" that is not -- Irish moss is an edible alga; Spanish moss is a flowering plant of the pineapple family. [83]

FERNS. 10,000 widespread species. Reproduce by setting spore sacs, called sori, which burst open and scatter granules. These germinate into heart-shaped plants called prothali (1/2 inch). Fern prothali produce male and female sex cells--sperms and eggs. When mature, these unite and from each fertilized egg a new spore-producing fern grows. [86]

ANIMAL LIFE. The longest-lived creature was a tortoise captured on the Seychelles Islands in 1766. It died falling from a gun emplacement in the French garrison 156 years later. Among mammals, only a few whales come close to man, reaching octogenaric spans. [158]

DIET. The hungriest animal is the shrew, an active predator with an extremely high metabolic rate (a heart running 1,200 beats per minute). It eats several times its body weight every day. A blue whale must devour 8 tons of krill per day (only 4% of its body weight. [159] On land, the elephant consumes 500 pounds a day of plant materials--mostly leaves. Some animals never eat -- the mayfly [160] {(the "ephemera" have no mouth}.

CARE OF YOUNG. The female lays eggs in his mouth, and the male gafftopsail catfish abstains from food for weeks until they hatch. The male emperor penguin incubates a single egg for two months, losing about a third of his body weight. When the egg hatches, he disgorges any remains he may have in his crop to feed the young for a day or two while waiting for the mother to take her turn. [160] Among flightless birds, the male usually cares for the young. [222]

FISH. Sharks, sea horses, puffers, and eels are all fish. (Star fish, and jelly fish are not). [200, 178-9]

ANTS. More than 3,000 kinds of insects live in ants' nests -- and more than a third of them are beetles. [175] In its caterpillar stage, the Large Blue flutterby of Europe is carried into the nest, where it eats ant larvae. But the caterpillar also secrets a syrup when stroked by the ants, which they love to suck. [175]

FLIGHTLESS BIRDS. Ostriches in Africa, Rheas in South America, Cassowaries and Emus in Australia [222]; Kiwis in New Zealand. [233]

SHORELIFE. Sandfleas, ghost crab, parchment worm, coquina clam, mole crab (in sand at water's edge), trumpet worm, sanderlings, moon snail, quahogs, whelk, sea cucumbers, sand dollars. [299] Lichens, blue-green algae, periwinkles, barnacles, limpet, blue mussels, dog whelk, rockweed, sea urchin, irish moss, brittle star, jonah crab, sea anenome...[301]
… (més)
½
 
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keylawk | Hi ha 2 ressenyes més | Feb 19, 2012 |
 
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newhampshire | Hi ha 2 ressenyes més | Mar 31, 2010 |
This is the first book I ever mail ordered, back in 1980. I was in the sixth grade and beyond excited when this bulky thing showed up at our door. If you're interested in geography or some of the more iconic (and obscure) natural landmarks out there worldwide, places you've never imagined or ever heard of -- be they weird rock formations, underground rivers/caverns, chasms, rivers, canyons, holes in the ground, any idiosyncratic geological oddity -- then this book is a must have; an excellent introduction to the natural wonders of the world.… (més)
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absurdeist | Mar 25, 2008 |

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Obres
4
Membres
768
Popularitat
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Valoració
½ 3.7
Ressenyes
4
ISBN
4
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