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The lowest-priced brand-new, unused, unopened, undamaged item in its original packaging where packaging is applicable. Packaging should be the same as what is found in a retail store, unless the item is handmade or was packaged by the manufacturer in non-retail packaging, such as an unprinted box or plastic bag. See details for additional description. Skip to main content. About this product. Stock photo. Brand new: Lowest price The lowest-priced brand-new, unused, unopened, undamaged item in its original packaging where packaging is applicable. Will be clean, not soiled or stained. Books will be free of page markings. See all 7 brand new listings. Buy It Now. Add to cart. About this product Product Information Pliny's Natural History is an astonishingly ambitious work that ranges from astronomy to art and from geography to zoology. Mingling acute observation with often wild speculation, it offers a fascinating view of the world as it was understood in the first century AD, whether describing the danger of diving for sponges, the first water-clock, or the use of asses' milk to remove wrinkles. Pliny himself died Natural History: A Selection investigating the volcanic eruption that destroyed Pompeii in AD 79, and the natural curiosity that brought about his death is also very much evident in the Natural History -- a book that proved highly influential right up until the Renaissance and that his nephew, Pliny the younger, described 'as Natural History: A Selection of variety as nature itself'. John Natural History: A Selection. Healy has made a fascinating and varied selection from the Natural History for this clear, modern translation. In his introduction, he discusses the book and its sources topic by topic. This edition also includes a full index and notes. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With Natural History: A Selection than 1, titles, Penguin Classics represents Natural History: A Selection global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as Natural History: A Selection as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. Astronomy Book III. Spain and Italy Book IV. Europe and Britain Book V. Land Animals Book IX. Creatures of the Sea Book X. Birds Book XI. Trees Book XIV. Vines and Viticulture Book XV. Show More Show Less. Any Condition Any Condition. Last one Free shipping. See all 14 - All listings for this product. No ratings or reviews yet No ratings or reviews yet. Be the first to write a review. Best Selling in Nonfiction See all. Bill o'Reilly's Killing Ser. When Women Pray Hardcover T. Jakes Christian Inspirational No ratings or reviews yet. Save on Nonfiction Trending price is based on prices over last 90 days. You may also like. Natural History Natural History: A Selection Nonfiction Books. Vintage Paperback History Paperback Children. Vintage Paperback History Magazines. History Paperback Personalized Books. History Almanac Paperback Books. This item doesn't belong on this page. Be the first to write a review About this product. natural selection | Definition & Processes | Britannica

Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organismsincluding animalsfungiand plantsin their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than Natural History: A Selection methods of study. A person who studies natural history is called a naturalist or natural historian. Natural history encompasses scientific research but is not limited to it. The meaning of the English term "natural history" a calque Natural History: A Selection the Latin historia naturalis has narrowed progressively with time, while, by contrast, the meaning of the related term "nature" has widened see also History below. In antiquity"natural history" covered essentially anything connected with natureor used materials drawn from nature, such as Pliny the Elder 's encyclopedia of this titlepublished circa 77 to 79 AD, which covers astronomygeographyhumans and their technologymedicineand superstitionas well as animals and plants. Medieval European academics considered knowledge to have two main divisions: the humanities primarily what is now known as classics and divinitywith science studied largely through texts rather than observation or experiment. The study of nature revived in the Renaissance Natural History: A Selection, and quickly became a third branch of academic knowledge, itself divided into descriptive natural history and natural philosophythe analytical study of nature. In modern terms, natural philosophy roughly corresponded to modern physics and chemistrywhile natural history included the biological and geological sciences. The two were strongly associated. During the heyday of the gentleman scientistsmany people contributed to both fields, and early papers in both were commonly read at professional science society meetings such as the Royal Society and the French Academy of Sciences —both founded during the 17th century. Natural history had been encouraged by practical motives, such as Linnaeus' aspiration to improve the economic condition of Sweden. Modern definitions of natural history come from a variety of fields and sources, and many of the modern definitions emphasize a particular aspect of the field, creating a plurality of definitions with a number of common themes among them. For example, while natural history is most often defined as a type of observation and a subject of study, it can also be defined as a body of knowledge, and as Natural History: A Selection craft or a practice, in which the emphasis is placed more on the observer than on the observed. Definitions from biologists often focus on the scientific study of individual organisms in their environment, as seen in this definition by Marston Bates: "Natural history is the study of animals and Plants—of organisms. I like to think, then, of natural history as the study of life at the level of the individual—of what plants and animals do, how they react to each other and their environment, how they are organized into larger groupings like populations and communities" [6] and this more recent definition by D. Wilcove and T. Eisner: "The close observation of organisms—their origins, their evolution, their behavior, and their relationships with other species". This focus on Natural History: A Selection in their environment is also echoed by H. Greene and J. Losos: "Natural history focuses on where organisms are and what they do in their environment, including interactions with Natural History: A Selection organisms. It encompasses changes in internal states insofar as they pertain to what organisms do". Some definitions go further, focusing on direct observation of organisms in their environments, both past and present, such as this one by G. Bartholomew: "A student of natural history, or a naturalist, studies the world by observing plants and Natural History: A Selection directly. Because organisms are functionally inseparable from the environment Natural History: A Selection which they live and because their structure and function cannot be adequately interpreted without knowing some Natural History: A Selection their evolutionary history, the study of natural history embraces the study of fossils as well as physiographic and other aspects of the physical environment". A common thread in many definitions of natural history is the inclusion of a descriptive component, as seen in a recent definition by H. Greene: "Descriptive ecology and ethology". Herman, who defines the field as "the scientific study of plants and animals in their natural environments. It is concerned with levels of organization from the individual organism to the ecosystem, and stresses identification, life history, distribution, abundance, and inter-relationships. It often Natural History: A Selection appropriately includes an esthetic component", [11] and T. Fleischner, who defines the field even more broadly, as "A practice of intentional, focused attentiveness and receptivity to the more-than-human world, guided by honesty and accuracy". Lopez, who defines the field as the "Patient interrogation of a landscape" while referring to the natural history knowledge of the Eskimo Inuit. A slightly different framework for natural history, covering a similar range of themes, is also implied in the scope of work encompassed by many leading natural history museumswhich often include elements of anthropology, geology, paleontology, and astronomy Natural History: A Selection with botany and zoology, [14] [15] or include both cultural and natural components of the world. The plurality of definitions for this field has been recognized as both a weakness and a strength, and a range of definitions has recently been offered by practitioners in a recent collection of views on natural history. Natural history begins with Aristotle and other ancient philosophers who analyzed the diversity of the natural world. Natural history was understood by Pliny the Elder to cover anything that could be found in the world, including living things, geology, astronomy, technology, art, and humanity. It was widely read for more than 1, years until supplanted in the Renaissancemaking it one of the longest-lasting Natural History: A Selection all natural Natural History: A Selection books. From the ancient Greeks until the work of Carl Linnaeus and other 18th-century naturalists, a major concept of natural history was the scala naturae or Great Chain of Beingan arrangement of minerals, vegetables, more primitive forms of animals, and more complex life Natural History: A Selection on a linear scale of supposedly increasing perfection, culminating in our species. Natural history was basically static through the Middle Ages in Europe—although in the Arabic and Oriental world, it proceeded at a much brisker pace. From the 13th century, the work of Aristotle was adapted rather rigidly into Christian philosophyparticularly by Thomas Aquinasforming the basis for natural theology. During the Renaissance, scholars herbalists and humanists, particularly returned to direct observation of plants and animals for natural history, and many began to accumulate large collections of exotic specimens and unusual monsters. Leonhart Fuchs was one of the three founding fathers of botany, along with Otto Brunfels and Hieronymus Bock. The British historian of Natural History: A Selection science Joseph Needham calls Li Shizhen "the 'uncrowned king' of Chinese naturalists", and his Bencao gangmu "undoubtedly the greatest scientific achievement of the Ming". His works translated to many languages direct or influence many scholars and researchers. A significant contribution to English natural history was made by parson-naturalists such as Gilbert Natural History: A SelectionWilliam KirbyJohn George Woodand John Raywho wrote about plants, animals, and other aspects of nature. Many of these men wrote about nature to make the natural theology Natural History: A Selection for the existence or goodness of God. In modern Europe, professional disciplines such as botany, geology, mycologypalaeontologyphysiologyand zoology were formed. Natural historyformerly the main subject taught by college science professors, was increasingly scorned by scientists of a more specialized manner and relegated to an "amateur" activity, rather than a part of Natural History: A Selection proper. In Victorian Scotland, the study of natural history was believed to contribute to good mental health. Still, the traditions of natural history continue to play a part in the study of biology, especially ecology the study of natural systems involving living organisms and the inorganic components of the Earth's biosphere that support Natural History: A Selectionethology the scientific study of animal behaviorand evolutionary biology the study of the relationships between life forms over very long periods Natural History: A Selection timeand re-emerges today as integrative organismal biology. Amateur collectors and natural history entrepreneurs played an important role in building the world's large natural history collections, such as the Natural History Museum, Londonand the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. The understanding of "Nature" as "an organism and not as a mechanism" can be traced to the writings of Alexander von Humboldt Prussia, — Natural history museumswhich evolved from cabinets of curiositiesplayed an important role in the emergence of professional biological disciplines and research programs. Particularly back in the 19th century, scientists began to use their natural history collections as teaching tools for advanced students and the basis for their own morphological research. The term "natural history" alone, or sometimes together with archaeology, forms the name of many national, regional, and local natural history societies that maintain records for animals including birds ornithologyinsects entomology and mammals mammalogyfungi mycologyplants botanyand other organisms. They may also have geological and microscopical sections. Many civil servants took an interest in their new surroundings, sending specimens back to museums in the Britain. See also: Indian natural history. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For other uses, see Natural history disambiguation. For other uses, see Naturalist disambiguation. Study of organisms including plants or animals in their environment. Further information: List of natural history museums. Earth sciences portal Ecology portal Environment portal Evolutionary biology portal. Natural History WordNet Search, princeton. Linnaeus: Nature and Nation. Harvard: Harvard University Press. S Wilcove and T. G Herman, "Wildlife biology and natural history: time for a reunion", The Journal of wildlife management 66, no. Fleischner, "Natural history and the spiral of offering", Wild Earth 11, no. Natural History: A Selection. Penguin Classics. Gracewing Publishing. Retrieved 31 March Retrieved January 23, West Midland Bird Club. Archived from the original on 23 May Retrieved 11 February CS1 maint: unfit url link. Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore. Kohler, Robert E. University of Chicago Press: Chicago. Mayr, Ernst. Rainger, Ronald; Keith R. University Natural History: A Selection Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia. Natural history. History of biology. Fisher E. Ford J. Stephen Jay Gould W. Williams Carl Woese. Carroll Scott F. History of science Philosophy of biology Teleology Ethnobotany Eugenics History of the creation-evolution controversy Human Genome Project Humboldtian science Natural history Natural philosophy Natural theology Relationship between religion and science Timeline of biology and organic chemistry. Environmental humanities. Crop art Environmental art Environmental sculpture Land art Landscape painting Photography conservation landscape nature wildlife Sculpture trail Site-specific art Sustainable art. Cultural ecology Cultural landscape Ecolinguistics Ecological anthropology Ecosemiotics Environmental anthropology Ethnoecology Traditional ecological knowledge. Aesthetics of nature Constructivism Cosmology Critical realism Deep ecology Ecofeminism Ecophenomenology Ecosophy Environmental ethics Environmental justice Environmental philosophy Materialism Natural philosophy Philosophy of mind Philosophy of science Predation problem Social ecology. Ecotheology Environmental theology Religion and environmentalism Spiritual ecology Stewardship. Anthrozoology Ecomusicology Environmental communication Environmental education adult arts-based Environmental history Environmental interpretation Environmental journalism Environmental law Outdoor education Psychogeography Thematic interpretation. Animal studies Bioethics Biophilia hypothesis Do it yourself ethic Natural history museums Popular science Property theory common property Science, technology and society science studies Natural History: A Selection living Slow food Spirit of place Sustainability studies. Natural History : A Selection - -

Natural selection is one of the Natural History: A Selection to account for the millions of species on Earth. For example, the beetle family Curculionidae snout beetles is extremely diverse, comprising an estimated 83, species. Natural selection is a mechanism of evolution. Natural History: A Selection that are more adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and pass on the genes that aided their success. This process causes species to change and diverge over time. Natural selection is one of the ways to account for the millions of species that have lived on Earth. Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace are jointly credited with coming up with the theory of evolution by natural selection, having co- published on it in Darwin has generally overshadowed Wallace since the publication of On the Origin of Species inhowever. The Museum's Library holds the world's largest concentration of Darwin works, with editions of On the Origin of Species in 38 languages. In Darwin and Wallace's time, most believed that organisms were too complex to have natural origins and must have been designed by a transcendent God. Natural selection, however, states that even the most complex organisms occur by totally natural processes. Prof Adrian Listera researcher at the Museum says, 'It's not that biologists don't understand Natural History: A Selection organisms are complex and functional, and it does seem almost miraculous that they exist. We realise that, but we think we've found another way of explaining it. Wallace L and Natural History: A Selection R came up with very similar theories on evolution. Darwin has generally overshadowed Wallace's contributions, however. In natural selection, genetic mutations that are beneficial to an individual's survival are passed on through reproduction. This results in a new generation of organisms that are more likely to survive to Natural History: A Selection. For example, evolving long necks has enabled giraffes to feed on leaves that others can't reach, giving them a competitive advantage. Thanks to a better food source, those with longer necks were able to survive to reproduce Natural History: A Selection so pass on the characteristic to the succeeding generation. Those with shorter necks and access to less food would be less likely to survive to pass on their genes. Adrian explains, 'If you took 1, giraffes and measured their necks, they're all going to be slightly different from one another. Those differences are at least in part determined by their genes. Then, if you were to measure the necks of the next generation, they're also going to vary, but the average will have shifted slightly towards the longer ones. The process carries on generation after generation. An adaptation is a physical or behavioural characteristic that helps an organism to survive in its environment. Adaptations for one purpose can be co-opted for another. For instance, feathers were an adaptation for thermoregulation - their use for flight only came later. This means that feathers are an exaptation for flight, rather than an adaptation. Adaptations can also become outdated, such as the tough exterior of the Natural History: A Selection fruit Crescentia cujete. This gourd is generally thought to have evolved to avoid being eaten by Gomphotheres, a family of elephant-like animals. But these animals went extinct around 10, years ago, so the fruit's adaptation no longer has a survival benefit. The large, spherical calabash fruit has an extremely tough exterior. Selection for adaptation is not the only cause Natural History: A Selection evolution. Species change can also be caused by neutral mutations that have no detriment or benefit to an individual, genetic drift or gene flow. In terms of evolution, an animal that is 'fit' is one that is adapted to its environment. This concept is at the core of natural selection, although the term 'survival of the fittest' Natural History: A Selection often been misunderstood and may be best avoided. There is also a degree of randomness to evolution, so the best-adapted animal won't always be the one to survive. Adrian explains, Natural History: A Selection you're going to get hit by a rock or something, it's just bad luck. But on average and over time, the ones that survive are the ones that are fittest - the ones that have the best adaptations. Peppered moths Biston betularia are difficult to see when they perch on tree bark. Those that blend in best are less likely to be preyed on, so have advantage for survival. Darwin collected many animal specimens during the voyage of HMS Beagle The birds sit within the same taxonomic family and have a diverse array of beak sizes and shapes. These correspond to both their differing primary food sources and divergence due to isolation on different islands. The green warbler-finch Certhidea olivaceafor Natural History: A Selection, has a sharp, slender beak which is perfect for feeding on small insects. In comparison, the large ground finch Geospiza magnirostris has a short, stocky beak to crack Natural History: A Selection and nuts. Darwin's finches are often Natural History: A Selection of as inspiring a Natural History: A Selection moment', but it was actually mockingbirds that impacted Darwin's thoughts on evolution. But on nearby Floreana Natural History: A Selection he saw that the mockingbirds were considerably different. Darwin realised Natural History: A Selection differences between species of mockingbird on the islands were greater than between those he'd seen across the continent. Natural History: A Selection began contemplating while aboard HMS Beagle, but it took several years before he came up with his theory of evolution by natural selection. The finches - once they had been identified as different species by the British ornithologist John Gould - became one useful example among the many other animals he saw. The finches are of scientific interest today. Both species' beaks have been Natural History: A Selection to shrink over time, but followed different patterns. Darwin thought that natural selection progressed slowly and only occurred over a long period of time. This may often be true, but it has been shown that in some cases a new species can evolve within a lifetime. For 31 years, scientists studied the survival of a male finch that emigrated from Santa Cruz Island as well as six generations of its descendants on Daphne Major. From the second generation onwards, the birds behaved as a separate species to the others on the island. The Daphne Major cactus finches have been studied for over 30 years. In that time the size of their beaks has fluctuated, eventually decreasing in size over a period of 15 years. Lamarckism is a theory named after French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck It proposes that animals acquire characteristics based on use or disuse during their lives, rather than through hard-coded genetic changes. In Lamarckian theory, giraffes stretch their necks to make them longer. These animal's offspring Natural History: A Selection inherit longer necks as a result of their parents' efforts. Adrian says, 'If you tried to stretch your neck for 10 minutes each morning, then you would probably end up with your neck being a few millimetres longer for a few years. But your Natural History: A Selection would not inherit it. That's where this theory fails. For millennia, the world was viewed Natural History: A Selection static. The ideas that mountains could rise, and climate and organisms could change didn't exist. Earth was thought to exist in an optimal form. But natural selection relies on the fact that the world is constantly changing. Evolution occurs automatically for survival and for millions of years it has been playing catch-up with our dynamic Natural History: A Selection. Poaching and habitat loss have had huge impacts on the now critically endangered saiga antelope Saiga tatarica. Natural selection stands little chance in cases like this. It may even shrink to zero, and that means extinction,' states Adrian. Scientists have been able to predict natural selection over short terms. But it is almost impossible to accurately determine its effects in the future due to unpredictable fluctuations of the environment. Natural selection implies that if organisms are surviving, they are adapted. But as the environment changes, we may find that what was once an adaptation may no longer be useful. Although it is possible for evolution to occur quickly, the more rapidly the planet changes, the harder it is for evolution to keep pace and the more serious the risk of a massive rise in extinctions becomes. From giant fossil mammals to mysterious moths, uncover the colourful stories behind some of the Museum's most fascinating specimens. An intrepid explorer and brilliant naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace co-published the theory of evolution by natural selection with Charles Darwin. Charles Robert Darwin transformed the way we understand the natural world with ideas that, in his day, were nothing short of revolutionary. When resources run short, the sharp-beaked finches of Wolf Island turn into vampires to survive. Get email updates about our news, science, exhibitions, events, products, services and fundraising activities. You must be over the age of Privacy notice. We use cookies and similar technologies to optimise your experience when using this site and to help tailor our digital advertising on third party sites. View our Cookie Policy and our new Privacy notice. Skip to content. By Emily Osterloff. How does natural selection work? But not all characteristics of an animal are adaptations. What does 'survival of the fittest' mean? What are Darwin's finches? What is Lamarckism? Protecting our planet We're working towards a future where both people and the planet thrive. Hear from scientists studying human impact and change in the natural world. The time is now. What on Earth?