Showing 1–12 of 18 results
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Wild Sea: A History of the Southern Ocean
Artist/Author: McCann, Joy$33.00 Add to cartUnimpeded by any landmass, the mysterious Southern Ocean flows completely around Earth from west to east between the seasonally shifting icy continent of Antarctica and the coastlines and islands of Australia, New Zealand, South America and South Africa.
Weaving together sea captains’ journals, whalers’ log books, explorers’ letters, scientific research and ancient beliefs with her own voyage of discovery, Joy McCann reveals the secrets of a little-known ocean.
Wild Sea explores a little-known ocean and its emerging importance as a barometer of planetary climate change
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Our big blue backyard: New Zealand’s oceans and marine reserves.
Artist/Author: Hunt, Janet.$60.00 Add to cartA landmark book about New Zealand’s marine reserves that connects readers to New Zealand waters. Written by award-winning natural history writer Janet Hunt, this book examines New Zealand’s 34 marine reserves, and the need to protect and preserve our seas and foreshores in their natural state. Each chapter contains features about outstanding plants, birds, fish, mammals, invertebrates and crustaceans as well as interviews and items of interest about people associated with marine conservation such as divers, underwater camera operators and marine biologists. From New Zealand’s most distant marine reserves (the Kermadecs and the Auckland Islands) to the Poor Knights, and from the five reserves of the Hauraki Marine Park to the ten reserves of Fiordland, this book also covers New Zealand’s marine animals and their unique environments. It’s a fascinating tale, with stories of conger eels prowl for sleeping fish, mass gatherings of fish, tropical turtles, the snatch-and-grab habits of gannets and much much more. Based on a six-episode television series made by Natural History New Zealand and which is to be screened on TVNZ in late 2014 but it goes much further than the six episodes go. This entertaining, beautiful and engaging book about our little-known backyard oceans, the place where the world’s largest marine predators and weirdest fish live, covers a wide variety of life from the sub-tropical seas to the sub-Antarctic oceans. It makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the sometimes contested waters that surround us.
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Wild Dunedin: the natural history of New Zealand’s wildlife capital.
Artist/Author: Peat, Neville and Brian Patrick.$45.00 Add to cartHome to an amazing range of habitats and landscapes, Dunedin city and its environs boasts a great diversity of plants, animals, birds, insects and geological features. From the ocean, with its albatrosses and penguins, to the high alpine zone of inland ranges, this book introduces a magnificent natural environment. This brand-new fully revised edition of Wild Dunedin includes new and updated information and stunning new images, including a look at the new jewel in Dunedin’s natural history crown, Orokonui Ecosanctuary. A must-read for visitors and Otago residents alike.
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New Zealand inventory of biodiversity, volume three: Kingdoms Bacteria, Protozoa, Chromista, Plantae, Fungi.
Artist/Author: Gordon, Dennis P., editor.$90.00 Add to cartThis volume is the third in the trilogy that provides a review and inventory of New Zealand’s entire living and fossil biodiversity – an international effort involving more than 220 New Zealand and overseas specialists and the most comprehensive of its kind in the world. Together, the three volumes list every one of the almost 55,000 known species of New Zealand’s animals, plants, fungi, and micro-organisms. These volumes are affiliated with Species 2000, an international scientific project with the long-term goal of enumerating all described species on Earth into one seamless list – the Catalogue of Life, a kind of online biological telephone directory. To date, only New Zealand has compiled a checklist of its entire living and fossil biota. Approximately 52% of this country’s species are endemic – found only in New Zealand’s freshwater, marine, and land environments. We have a responsibility to the global community to preserve this unique heritage or taonga. But further than that, all of our species – including many of the naturalised aliens included in the survey – are important to New Zealand’s economy, ecology and well-being.
Written for the advanced high-school and tertiary-level reader, these volumes are also intended to be a kind of ‘Cooks Tour’ of the kingdoms and phyla of life that will, it is hoped, provide an appreciation of the wondrous diversity of nature. Volume one [31469] and volume two [32943]. -
Wild New Zealand from the road.
Artist/Author: Ell, Gordon.$53.00 Add to cartNew Zealand is world famous for its natural environment: its changeable and unique landscape, its strange and wonderful flora and fauna. This book is both guidebook and celebration, a handbook outlining the most significant features of our wilderness and introducing the key species and where they can easily be observed and experienced. As the title suggests, the book is about easily accessible nature experiences: viewing areas and hides from which rare birds can be observed, short bush walks and even what can be seen directly from the car as the Kiwi or international tourist drives through this magnificent country of ours. It covers such highlights as dolphins in the Bay of Islands, godwits on the Thames Coast and near Christchurch, the flora and fauna of the Southern Alps, and penguins and seals in Otago. Fully illustrated with beautiful colour photographs, it can be enjoyed at home to plan a trip or taken on the road to entertain and inform.
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Collins field guide to New Zealand wildlife.
Artist/Author: Lindsey, Terence and Rod Morris.$40.00 Add to cartFirst published in 2000, the Collins Field Guide to New Zealand Wildflife quickly became a classic of its kind. Familiar to both national and international travellers keen to identify the birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, freshwater fish and invertebrates commonly encountered in this country, its combination of authoritative yet clear and precise textual descriptions and stunning photographs proved an instant winner. Now, more than 10 years on, this classic field guide has been updated and extended to make it even more useful to travellers with an interest in natural history and ecology. Retaining its useful glovebox-friendly format, the significantly expanded text will also include the latest research findings and changes in classification and nomenclature that have occurred in the past 10 years, along with new photographs where appropriate. Including both native and introduced species, each entry succinctly describes both habits and habitats, distribution, classification, breeding patterns, food and recognition tips to assist amateur identification. A wonderful addition to any natural history collection.
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New Zealand inventory of biodiversity, volume two: Kingdom Animalia: Chaetognatha, Ecdysozoa, Ichnofossils.
Artist/Author: Gordon, Dennis P., editor.$90.00 Add to cartThis volume is the second of three that provide a complete review and inventory of New Zealand’s entire living and fossil biodiversity. Volume 2 deals with the major branch of the animal kingdom known as Ecdysozoa (moulting animals), which includes arachnids, centipedes and millipedes, crustaceans and insects. It also includes the enigmatic phylum Chaetognatha (arrow worms) and concludes with a chapter on the fossil traces – ichnofossils – of ancient animal activities.
All three volumes are affiliated with Species 2000, an international scientific project with the long-term goal of enumerating all known species on Earth into one seamless list – the Catalogue of Life, a kind of online biological telephone directory. To date, only New Zealand has compiled a checklist of its entire biota. Approximately 52% of this country’s species are endemic – found only in New Zealand’s freshwater, marine, and land environments. We have a responsibility to the global community to preserve this unique heritage or taonga. But further than that, all of our species – including many of the naturalised aliens included in the survey – are important to New Zealand’s economy, ecology and well-being.
Written for the advanced high-school and tertiary-level reader, these volumes are intended to be a kind of ‘Cooks Tour’ of the kingdoms and phyla of life that will, it is hoped, provide an appreciation of the wondrous diversity of nature. This series is the result of an international effort involving more than 220 New Zealand and overseas specialists and the most comprehensive of its kind in the world. Volume one [31469] and volume three [34438].
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Bateman field guide to wild New Zealand.
Artist/Author: Fitter, Julian.$50.00 Add to cartAt last a single field guide that covers New Zealand’s plants, birds, insects and animals for visitors and New Zealanders interested in this country’s natural history. When author Julian Fitter first visited New Zealand he was amazed at the number of field guides to birds, plants, insects, marine life and to specific locations – alpine, forest, seashore. But for the traveller not wanting to cart around a library-shelf of books there was no single volume that described the major and most interesting species covering all NZ’s flora and fauna. As author of a natural history field guide to the Galapagos, he set about compiling such a book for New Zealand. The result is a small format, full colour guidebook packed with information on all the species that either are most important, or most obvious to those touring the country covering birds, insects, reptiles, marine mammals, land mammals, trees and shrubs, vines and epiphytes, herbs, ferns, grasses, mosses and lichens as well as a brief survey of New Zealand’s varied habitats and fascinating geological history, including major geothermal areas. Over 600 species are described described in detail, with accompanying information on habitat and a full colour photograph and organised in such as way as to make identification as easy as possible.
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Chatham Islands: heritage and conservation.
Artist/Author: Miskelly, Colin.$40.00 Add to cartThis much anticipated revised and expanded edition describes the Chatham Islands, with particular emphasis on their geology, flora, fauna, habitats, and extinct and endangered species – both on the land and in the sea. It gives an introduction to the history of the islands and a guide to the many reserves and covenants that have been set up to protect and conserve the islands’ heritage. Profusely illustrated with an outstanding selection of colour photos, artwork and maps, as well as historical photographs.
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New Zealand inventory of biodiversity, volume one: Kingdom Animalia: Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterotomia.
Artist/Author: Gordon, Dennis P., editor.$90.00 Add to cartThe first of three volumes that will chart the progress of a scientific inventory of New Zealand’s live and fossil biodiversity. This is a lavish production and value for money. An international effort involving more than 220 New Zealand specialists, this project, when completed, will include every one of the almost 55,000 known species of animals, plants, fungi, and micro-organisms in the country. Part of “Species 2000”, an international scientific project, the long-term goal is to enumerate all known species on earth into one seamless list called the “Catalog of Life”, which will function as an online biological catalog. To date, only New Zealand has compiled a checklist of its entire biota. Volume two [32943] and volume three [34438].
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A continent on the move: New Zealand geoscience into the 21st Century.
Artist/Author: Graham, Ian.$60.00 Add to cartAdrift in the South Pacific Ocean, separated from the rest of the world by vast distances and blessed with some of the most varied and spectacular natural landscapes on Earth, New Zealand is rather special. Generations of geoscientists have developed an increasing understanding of what makes New Zealand geologically unique and why. Highlights of this research, including many discoveries of global significance, are presented in this book. It explains what makes New Zealand tick geologically, and illustrates the ways that geoscience research can make New Zealand a better place in which to live.
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New Zealand’s wilderness heritage.
Artist/Author: Molloy, Les.$99.00 Add to cartNew Zealand’s wilderness heritage is destined to be one of the most significant conservation books published in New Zealand for many years. Written by Les Molloy, and photographed by Craig Potton with additional wildlife photography by Rod Morris, this book is a celebration of the extraordinary wilderness legacy that sits at the heart of New Zealand’s sense of place. The book also offers a far-sighted vision of how best to conserve our unique flora and fauna. It is structured around a bio-regional approach, with thirteen chapters detailing the protected areas, major flora and fauna values, endangered species and conservation threats and responses for each region of New Zealand. This includes all the significant offshore islands, the sub-Antarctic islands, and the Ross Sea region of Antarctica. Seen in totality like this, New Zealand’s wilderness seems all the more remarkable, with a diversity of habitat ranging from the teeming marine reserves around some of the offshore islands to the remote rainforests of Southwest New Zealand., The book is heavily illustrated with the photography of Craig Potton, gathered through extensive travel over twenty years, and is supplemented by wildlife photographs from one of New Zealand’s pre-eminent photographers in this genre, Rod Morris.
