Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #114460 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781597261975
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From Publishers Weekly
Around the world, climate change is indicated by natural events-especially in shifting migration routes-leading to results familiar (species die-out) and unexpected-like the discovery of a heretofore unprecedented "pizzly," a bear cub with one polar parent and one grizzly. Not all geographical displacement is quite so friendly; as ""ecological niches are shriveling up and disappearing," common and persistent species are dying off at a rate "between 17 percent and 377 percent faster than normal" over the past 400 years. While reviewing the evidence that points to drastic changes resulting from even small global temperature increases, Barnosky also discusses biodiversity's importance, compares rates of evolutionary change with global temperatures, and recounts Earth's four previous mass extinctions. One of her grim assessments is that "many of the species that humans tend to like" will be wiped out by global warming, and spur helpful evolutionary diversification only in "what we normally call pests." For the most part Barnosky is less gloomy than curious, able and straight-forward, flavoring his report with a sense of adventure and possibility; by the end of his discussion on humanity's four-pronged problem-global warming, habitat loss, introduced species and population growth-Barnosky will have readers looking to do more than change lightbulbs.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The Washington Post
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by Barbara J. King Ecosystem: It has long been a sacred word in environmental science. How best to preserve nature in the face of human population growth and habitat loss? Tempted though we may be to think "save the gorilla" or "save the whale," we must instead think "save the ecosystem" and protect a stable community of plants and animals. Now along comes ecologist Anthony D. Barnosky to say, think again. Barnosky likes ecosystems just as much as the next scientist, but in "Heatstroke: Nature in an Age of Global Warming," he argues brilliantly that conservation biology can no longer focus on saving them. The reason is simple: Thanks to global warming, the ecosystem we work to save today will have a different climate tomorrow. This means that many species will face extinction (or at least serious loss of genetic diversity) even if the land around them is protected from the logger's chainsaw and the developer's backhoe. Already, warming and drying have killed big herbivores such as antelope in South Africa. In Yellowstone National Park, the whitebark pine is declining, affecting animals from grizzly bears to red squirrels. Northern states are becoming increasingly southern in climate: For plants, Barnosky tells us, living in Maryland today is like living in Virginia was in 1970. Like all complex systems, the Earth tends toward a stable state; it's not easy to change Nature. But once a fundamental shift in climate has occurred, Barnosky warns, it will be very hard to change back. "Heatstroke" begins with an assumption that the "if" questions about global warming have been answered, so on we march toward ways of coping. Most innovative is Barnosky's proposal for wildland reserves, where ecological interactions rather than stable communities would be protected. Because of global warming, in wildland reserves "our children will not see the same species that we see," but immersion in true wilderness will still be possible. May it be so.
Copyright 2009, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

From Booklist
Barnosky uses a unique approach to address the problem of global warming. Rather than dwell on human factors, he offers a host of examples from the past to illustrate how animals of previous eras survived or failed to adapt. From the recent discovery of a grizzly/polar bear hybrid (a pizzly) to dead zones in the Pacific Ocean, he chronicles various irrefutable changes to earth’s climate. Chapters focusing on long-term studies at Kew Gardens and Yosemite Park make good use of research dating back to John Muir and other early naturalists. More contemporary discoveries involve wolf eradication and the successful reintroduction of this essential species in Yellowstone National Park, and the area’s fossil record, which reveals how the Yellowstone ecosystem responded to what was the most significant global warming event, prior to the current one, in the past 3,200 years. Wolves are more than a political topic, Barnosky proves, just as the Canadian pizzly is likely not an isolated phenomenon. In straightforward language, this sensible climate-change book presents solid evidence from earth’s deep history. --Colleen Mondor

Customer Reviews

Eye and Mind opening reading
This was an engaging and compelling book. Dr. Barnoski describes the impacts that global warming are having on plants and animals around us and in places far from human activity. I never realized that the human-accelerated warming is too fast for nature to adjust and that many species will be unable to cope. While other books address CO2 and global warming, this book talks about the effects on nature and the large-scale consequences we need to be prepared for.

Compelling.
This book kept me engaged throughout. Gives a very thorough explanation of why the warming we are experiencing now is different from other global warming events in the past. Instead of just throwing scary statistics at you, this book does a great job of describing the painstaking processes used to come up with those statistics, without making it too complicated for someone, like me, who does not have a strong science background.

Heatstoke is a great read!
Heatstroke reveals in very understandable terms the impacts of change on the natural world. It was a compelling read that was both very personal, based on Dr. Barnusky's research, and global, the author presents climate changes in the context of planet Earth. I learned a great deal and appreciated the author's science-based findings. Dr. Barnusky stays on message, and without being alarmist or speculative, he lays out the status of the world in which we find ourselves. I've ordered the book for friends and family and would urge those who are interested in the evolution of the planet and climate change through the ages to read this book.