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FREE LIFE IN THE UNDERGROWTH PDF David Attenborough Productions Ltd.,Sir David Attenborough | 288 pages | 10 Oct 2005 | Ebury Publishing | 9780563522089 | English | London, United Kingdom BBC - Science & Nature - Life In The Undergrowth A study of the evolution and habits of invertebratesit was the fifth of Attenborough's specialised surveys Life in the Undergrowth his major trilogy that began Life in the Undergrowth Life on Earth. Each of the five minute episodes looks at a group or aspect of the creatures using innovative photographic techniques. The series was produced in conjunction with Animal Planet. The Chief Scientific Consultant was Dr. George McGavin. Invertebrates had been largely ignored by filmmakers in the past, due to the difficulties in filming them, but advances in lens and camera technology gave the makers an opportunity to film the creatures at their level. The series features a Life in the Undergrowth of everyday European invertebrates such as the wolf spider and housefly and more exotic varieties such as the redback spider of Australia and venomous centipedes of the Amazon. This was the first Life in the Undergrowth that such animals had been photographed at such a high level of detail for television some sequences were filmed in high definition formatand provided not only casual viewers but also scientists with a new understanding of certain species ' behaviour. Production of the series took around two years, during which time filming took place around the world, from the Amazonian rainforest to Costa RicaAustralia, Life in the UndergrowthHungary, Switzerland and many more locations, including the United Kingdom. To follow Life in the Undergrowth understand the various species looked at throughout the series, the production team consulted with some of the foremost experts on invertebrate life. In certain instances, their help proved Life in the Undergrowth, particularly when coming across particularly dangerous species or societies. In other instances, the specialists helped to provide some of their most recent discoveries, enabling the makers to showcase in rich detail the complex processes through which invertebrates may interact with their environmentas well as the regular processes of all animals in the wild, such as their mating rituals and hunt for food. Many of the creatures' interactions were not only filmed for the first time, but were also recorded with such extraordinary Life in the Undergrowth that scientists who studied them were able to answer specific questions that observance with the naked eye had Life in the Undergrowth rendered impossible. As always, time and money constraints played a huge part. The filming schedules had to be arranged to fit in with expected dates of major events that were planned to be included, such as the emergence of the North American cicadas or the mass emergence of mayfly in Hungary. As is usual in the preparation of a nature documentary, not everything went to plan, due to the unpredictable nature of the subject matter. Although filming took place over several years, time constraints still meant that some scenes almost weren't filmed, and Life in the Undergrowth few never materialised at all. For instance, the simultaneous mass emergence of the mayfly in Hungary did not occur until the deadline day for its filming, as David Attenborough had to be in Switzerland the very next day to film the mating of Life in the Undergrowth ants. Using expert advice, the team had come to film at the time of the annual emergence, but the problem of the unusually wet spring had delayed the event. Luckily, on the very last day conditions were perfect, and the mayfly emerged — apparently in one of the more impressive manifestations of recent times. Because of these kinds of occurrences being largely dependent on environmental factors such as temperature or moisture, Life in the Undergrowth was nearly impossible to tell exactly when they would happen. Instead the producers had to rely on expert estimates, but even these could be completely unpredictable. So although the mayfly appearance was captured, others were missed, such as the advent of a type of moth in Arizona despite the camera crew camping out in the area twice, two weeks at a time. Sometimes subjects were so small that it would have been impossible to film them in the wild. Instead, the construction of a complete habitat in a studio allowed easy pursuit of their actions, allowing the camera to capture them throughout their day. This technique was used on the wolf spider, for example, which provided Life in the Undergrowth hours of film Life in the Undergrowth notably including its courting ritual. Filming also involved entering rough environments. To film the giant centipedea team had to endure a dark cave whose floor was covered with guanobeetles and cockroaches. We don't often see a snail that way, and that's because we've only recently had the tiny lenses Life in the Undergrowth electronic cameras that we need to explore this miniature world. But when we meet its inhabitants face to face, we suddenly realise that their behaviour can be just as meaningful to us as the behaviour of many animals more our own size. The final programme looks at the superorganisms formed by bees, ants and termites. Attenborough reveals that their colonies, whose individuals were once considered purely servile, are "full of conflict, power struggles and mutinies. There are about 20, species of bee, and a queen bumblebee is shown starting a new nest. As it grows, the inhabitants all help to maintain it and bring nectar and pollen. However, Life in the Undergrowth erupts when the queen starts to destroy eggs laid by her workers: she is stung to death and the colony ends. Ants live in bigger societies, which can make them vulnerable, but Attenborough goads a nest of wood ants into demonstrating their defence: formic acid. In Australia, a nest in a mangrove swamp has to be continuously rearranged to escape the tides. Meanwhile, desert-dwelling harvester ants block up nearby nests in an effort to maximise their food pickings. A bivouac of army ants is explored: they prove to be one of those most regimented organisms, where the action of each individual is for the good of the million-strong colony. Attenborough investigates magnetic termites, whose slab-like mounds are all aligned to account for the movement of the Sun. Finally, a full-scale battle between termites and matabele ants is depicted in close-up. But if [the invertebrates] were to disappear, the land's ecosystems would collapse. The soil would lose its fertility. Many of the plants would no longer be pollinated. Lots of animals, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals would have nothing to eat. And our fields and pastures would be covered with dung and carrion. These small creatures are within a few inches of our feet, wherever we go on land — but often, they're disregarded. We would do very well to remember them. Its special features comprise an interview with the series producer, Mike Salisburyand the original score. Inthe BBC made available online a viewer's guide to Life in the Undergrowthspecially designed to help the viewer locate an exciting clip of a particular scientific or geographical lesson. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Play Life in the Undergrowth. See also: Superorganism. Jo Wander Management. Retrieved 13 July Africa Madagascar Great Barrier Reef. Inside Life. Last Chance to See. David Attenborough. Categories : British television series debuts British television series endings BBC television documentaries Nature educational television series. Namespaces Article Talk. Views Read Edit View history. Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file. Download as PDF Printable version. Region 2 DVD cover. Nature documentary. Original footage includes predation by a velvet worm. The first episode tells how invertebrates became the first creatures of any kind to colonise dry land. Their forerunners were shelled and segmented sea creatures that existed million years ago. Some of them ventured out of the water to lay their eggs in safety, and Attenborough compares those first steps with Life in the Undergrowth mass spawning of horseshoe crabs off the Atlantic coast of North America. Some animals abandoned the oceans altogether when the land became green with algaemosses and liverworts. The earliest ground-dwellers were millipedeswhich were quickly followed by other species. Springtails are shown to be smaller than the head of a pin Life in the Undergrowth, for their size, can jump immense heights. The velvet worm hunts nocturnally and has scarcely changed over millennia, while the giant centipede possibly a kind of Scolopendromorpha can kill instantly and is shown hunting bats in Venezuela. Mating habits are explored, including the unusual ritual of leopard slugs and the meticulous nest maintenance of the harvestman. The arrival of earthworms was of great importance since they changed the nature of the soil, leading to a proliferation of plant life. Despite their aquatic ancestry, many invertebrates, particularly those with no exoskeletonneed a moist environment to keep themselves from drying out. Finally, a creature that has adapted to a desert habitat, the scorpionis shown as it pursues its dangerous courting dance, followed by the birth Life in the Undergrowth up to fifty individuals. A hoverfly in flight The next programme deals with flying insects. Mayflies and dragonflies were among the first to take to the air about million years ago, and fossils reveal that some were similar in size to a seagull. Damselflies are also looked at in detail. One species, the rare cascade damselflyinhabits waterfalls, while another, the helicopter damselflylives away from water unlike all the others in its group and is also the biggest. Several types of butterfly are shown, but all have common habits, and Attenborough describes their physiology.

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