The Nature of Life [antikvár]

Foreword In the 1740's and 1750's, a Swedish physician-naturalist, who signed himself Carolus Linnaeus, attempted to give a short scientific name and description for every kind of plant and animal on earth. He succeeded because, two centuries ago, no one had had a reliable international guidebook to follow in appreciating the truly immense variety among living things. Today about one-and-a-half million species have been named, two-thirds of them animals. The total grows every year, but no good estimate can be made as to whether another century of exploration and research will raise the number closest to two million, or three, or four. No longer does the total matter, for no human mind or lifetime is adequate for getting acquainted with more than a fraction of this array. The names of inconspicuous plants and animals have importance only to a few scientists. Yet everyone must be impressed that each of these many kinds of life has individual peculiarities of geological past history, of inheritance, of combinations in requirements for survival and of geographic range. Perhaps the greatest surprise comes from realizing that each kind of life occupies only a small number among the many places in the world that would be suitable for it. The lack of gorillas in Central America, of polar bears in the Antarctic, of giraffes in Australia, is due to barriers of various types that have prevented the ancestors of these creatures from spreading so far beyond their modern boundaries. Nor is there any indication that the geological disturbances that produced mountains and coastlines had as marked effects on living things as the climatic conditions that foUow from prevailing winds and ocean currents. In our overview of life on the continents and islands, in fresh waters and saU, and of the steps shown by the fossil record toward modern times, we have simplified —oversimplified—to keep manageable the number of kinds for which historical patterns might be sought. We have emphasized these patterns among the familiar, the large, the conspicuous, the common, the colorful and the scientifically meaningful. Most kinds of living things are quite otherwise—unfamiliar, small, inconspicuous, uncommon, drab, or too little known to provide broad interest. We can continue to overlook them while gaining a global perspective from which to think about plants and animals that are our neighbors, wherever we live or travel. Our heartfelt thanks go to the many people in every walk of life who have helped us become acquainted with native plants and animals on the six continents we have visited, and to the uncounted careful scientists who have made available to every reader of scientific journals their discoveries about the world. A number of these skilled men and women have been generous with their time and knowledge in answering specific questions about plants and animals whose names or geographic range eluded us. We are grateful to Dr. Mihon Rugoff of Chanticleer Press for his editorial advice, and to his associate. Miss Susan Weiley, for her resourcefulness in gathering the illustrations that accompany our chapters. April 1970 L. J. M. and M. M.