When Plants Took Over the Planet

When Plants Took Over the Planet PDF

Author: Chris Thorogood

Publisher: Happy Yak

Published: 2021-09-07

Total Pages: 66

ISBN-13: 0711261261

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This beautifully illustrated book follows the amazing story of plant evolution, from the first plants arriving on a dark and lifeless planet to the colorful—often weird and wonderful—world of today’s varied and vibrant plant life.

When Plants Took Over the Planet

When Plants Took Over the Planet PDF

Author: Chris Thorogood

Publisher: Incredible Evolution

Published: 2021-09-07

Total Pages: 66

ISBN-13: 0711261288

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This beautifully illustrated book follows the amazing story of plant evolution, from the first plants arriving on a dark and lifeless planet to the colorful—often weird and wonderful—world of today’s varied and vibrant plant life.

Eating the Sun

Eating the Sun PDF

Author: Oliver Morton

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2009-11-17

Total Pages: 74

ISBN-13: 0007163657

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Wherever there is greenery, photosynthesis is working to make oxygen, release energy, and create living matter from the raw material of sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. Without photosynthesis, there would be an empty world, an empty sky, and a sun that does nothing more than warm the rocks and reflect off the sea. Eating the Sun is the story of a world in crisis; an appreciation of the importance of plants; a history of the earth and the feuds and fantasies of warring scientists; a celebration of how the smallest things, enzymes and pigments, influence the largest things, the oceans, the rainforests, and the fossil fuel economy. Oliver Morton offers a fascinating, lively, profound look at nature's greatest miracle and sounds a much-needed call to arms—illuminating a potential crisis of climatic chaos and explaining how we can change our situation, for better or for worse.

Experiment with What a Plant Needs to Grow

Experiment with What a Plant Needs to Grow PDF

Author: Nadia Higgins

Publisher: Lerner Publications ™

Published: 2017-08-01

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13: 1541509463

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Sunlight, air, water, and minerals help keep plants alive. But do you know how much water is needed for a seed to sprout? Or what a plant will do to find the light it needs? Let's experiment to find out! Simple step-by-step instructions help readers explore key science concepts.

The Emerald Planet

The Emerald Planet PDF

Author: David Beerling

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017-05-12

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 0192529781

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Plants have profoundly moulded the Earth's climate and the evolutionary trajectory of life. Far from being 'silent witnesses to the passage of time', plants are dynamic components of our world, shaping the environment throughout history as much as that environment has shaped them. In The Emerald Planet, David Beerling puts plants centre stage, revealing the crucial role they have played in driving global changes in the environment, in recording hidden facets of Earth's history, and in helping us to predict its future. His account draws together evidence from fossil plants, from experiments with their living counterparts, and from computer models of the 'Earth System', to illuminate the history of our planet and its biodiversity. This new approach reveals how plummeting carbon dioxide levels removed a barrier to the evolution of the leaf; how plants played a starring role in pushing oxygen levels upwards, allowing spectacular giant insects to thrive in the Carboniferous; and it strengthens fascinating and contentious fossil evidence for an ancient hole in the ozone layer. Along the way, Beerling introduces a lively cast of pioneering scientists from Victorian times onwards whose discoveries provided the crucial background to these and the other puzzles. This understanding of our planet's past sheds a sobering light on our own climate-changing activities, and offers clues to what our climatic and ecological futures might look like. There could be no more important time to take a close look at plants, and to understand the history of the world through the stories they tell. Oxford Landmark Science books are 'must-read' classics of modern science writing which have crystallized big ideas, and shaped the way we think.

Weird Plants

Weird Plants PDF

Author: Chris Thorogood

Publisher: Royal Botanic Gardens Kew

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781842466629

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For the first time, this extraordinary compilation showcases weird, mysterious and bizarre plants from around the world. Plants trick, kill, steal and kidnap, and this unique book explores a fascinating world in which plants have turned the tables on animals. Author Chris Thorogood showcases these plant behaviours, the interrelationships among plants, the interdependencies between plants and animals, and the intrigue of plant evolution. All types of weird and sinister are featured in this book, from carnivorous plants that drug, drown and consume unsuspecting insect prey; giant pitcher plants that have evolved toilets for tree shrews; flowers that mimic rotting flesh to attract pollinating flies, and orchids that duplicitously look, feel and even smell like a female insect to bamboozle sex-crazed male bees.

When We Became Humans

When We Became Humans PDF

Author: Michael Bright

Publisher: Words & Pictures

Published: 2019-07-16

Total Pages: 67

ISBN-13: 1786038862

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What makes us human, and where did we come from? How did a clever ape climb down from the trees and change the world like no other animal has done before? This large-format, highly illustrated book guides readers through the key aspects of the human story, from the anatomical changes that allowed us to walk upright and increased brain size in our ancestors, to the social, cultural, and economic developments of our more recent cousins and our own species. Along the way, focus spreads take a closer look at some of the key species in our history, from the ancient Australopithecus Afarensis, 'Lucy', to our recent cousins the Neanderthals and ourselves, Homo sapiens. ​Looking beyond the anatomical evolution of humans, this book explores how our culture and way of living has evolved, from how trails of cowry shells reveal early trade between tribes, to how and why humans first domesticated dogs, horses, and farm animals, and began settling in permanent villages and cities. Through digestible information and absorbing illustration, young readers will be given an insight into their own origins, and what it really means to be a human.

What a Plant Knows

What a Plant Knows PDF

Author: Daniel Chamovitz

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2012-05-22

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 0374288739

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Explores the secret lives of various plants, from the colors they see to whether or not they really like classical music to their ability to sense nearby danger.

The Nation of Plants

The Nation of Plants PDF

Author: Stefano Mancuso

Publisher: Other Press, LLC

Published: 2023-04-18

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 1635421004

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In this playful yet informative manifesto, a leading plant neurobiologist presents the eight fundamental pillars on which the life of plants—and by extension, humans—rests. Even if they behave as though they were, humans are not the masters of the Earth, but only one of its most irksome residents. From the moment of their arrival, about three hundred thousand years ago—nothing when compared to the history of life on our planet—humans have succeeded in changing the conditions of the planet so drastically as to make it a dangerous place for their own survival. The causes of this reckless behavior are in part inherent in their predatory nature, but they also depend on our total incomprehension of the rules that govern a community of living beings. We behave like children who wreak havoc, unaware of the significance of the things they are playing with. In The Nation of Plants, the most important, widespread, and powerful nation on Earth finally gets to speak. Like attentive parents, plants, after making it possible for us to live, have come to our aid once again, giving us their rules: the first Universal Declaration of Rights of Living Beings written by the plants. A short charter based on the general principles that regulate the common life of plants, it establishes norms applicable to all living beings. Compared to our constitutions, which place humans at the center of the entire juridical reality, in conformity with an anthropocentricism that reduces to things all that is not human, plants offer us a revolution.