A pocket-sized comprehensive field-guide for the neotropical avifaunas. It features texts, maps and illustrations for various birds recorded in Colombia, including offshore islands. Every species is illustrated and various non-pelagic species are mapped.

Describing all of Colombia's birds, Steven Hilty and William Brown bring together information on one of the world's largest avifaunas-nearly 1,700 species. Over half of all the species of birds in South America are included, thus making the book useful in regions adjacent to Colombia, as well as in the country itself. The primary purpose of the work is to enable observers to identify the birds of the region, but it also provides detailed species accounts and will serve as an important handbook and reference volume. Fifty-six lavish color plates, thirteen halftone plates, and ninety-nine line drawings in the text illustrate over 85% of the species, including most of the resident birds. Notes on the facing-page of each place, and range maps of 1,475 species, facilitate identification. Written with the field observer in mind, the text gives special attention to comparisons of similar species, transcriptions of voices, and comments on behavior, status, and habitat. It also provides ranges, breeding data, and references. Notes outline taxonomic problems and briefly describe species that eventually may be found in Colombia. Introductory chapters and photographs highlight Colombia's geography, climate, and vegetation, and discuss migration and conservation questions, and the history of Colombian ornithology. Appendices contain a large bibliography, a section on birding locations, and coverage of two of Colombia's far-flung island territories, Isla San Andr s and Providencia. Maps depicting vegetation zones, political boundaries, national parks, and the most text localities are included.

The diversity of life is displayed by a diversity the biodiversity elements. These unique of structural and functional elements. Many approaches are usually tailored to the region of aspects of this diversity are critical for main the world where the scientists' work is focused. taining the healthy functioning of biological This book presents accounts of many tech systems both within short and long time scales. niques that are currently being used in different Some highly diverse features of nature arise parts of the globe by conservation scientists. simply from the heterogeneous patterns that Many different techniques are necessary to comprise the web of nature. Many of these handle the differences in data types and data features contribute to the beauty and quality of coverages that occur across the globe. Also, a life. Humans do not yet understand enough variety of mapping approaches are needed about the complexity of nature to distinguish today to strengthen the many diverse critical those elements that act to support natural conservation objectives. These objectives include vitality from those elements that contribute the identification of the distribution patterns exclusively to our experience of beauty and for a species or habitat type and the placement quality in life. of protected area boundaries.

New Jersey Biographical Dictionary contains biographies on hundreds of persons from diverse vocations that were either born, achieved notoriety and/or died in the state of New Jersey. Prominent persons, in addition to the less eminent, that have played noteworthy roles are included in this resource. When people are recognized from your state or locale it brings a sense of pride to the residents of the entire state.

With 'Biogeography and Ecology in South America' as the general theme, a total of twenty-nine contributions by thirty authors is offered here in two volumes, being volumes 18 and 19 of the Monographiae Biologicae. Most of these discussions deal with decidedly specialist themes and the editors have been particularly concerned to ensure that the authors enjoyed the greatest possible freedom in the preparation of their work in order that different points of view and interpretations, together with some questions of controversy, may be clarified. This also applies, of course, to the several chapters in which general themes (geographical substance, climate, geology, vegetation, amongst others) are discussed. Since the amount of material available is too great to enable one to aspire to a presentation of the complete biogeographical and ecological picture, this procedure seems expedient. However, these two volumes could well be regarded as being a preparatory work for just such a complete description. Each of the separate technical contributions refers to the continent as a whole, in order to characterise it as such from the viewpoint of the specialist. For this reason it was necessary to forgo special discussions of particular regions or types of landscape, although South America of all places is remarkably rich in unique regional phenom- ena, the altiplano of Peru and Bolivia, the relict forests of Fray Jorge, the shrub formations of Tierra del Fuego, the lakes of the High Andes, for example.