The student of biological science in his final years as an undergraduate and his first years as a graduate is expected to gain some familiarity with current research at the frontiers of his discipline. New research work is published in a perplexing diversity of publications and is inevitably concerned with the minutiae of the subject. The sheer number of research journals and papers also causes confusion and difficulties of assimilation. Review articles usually presuppose a background know ledge of the field and are inevitably rather restricted in scope. There is thus a need for short but...

The student of biological science in his final years as an undergraduate and his first years as a graduate is expected to gain some familiarity with current research at the frontiers of his discipline. New research work is published in a perplexing diversity of publications and is inevitably concerned with the minutiae of the subject. The sheer number of research journals and papers also causes confusion and difficulties of assimilation. Review articles usually presuppose a background knowledge of the field and are inevitably rather restricted in scope. There is thus a need for short but...

In this small book I have tried to confine myself to the absolute necessities in a field which requires a knowledge of both biology and physics. It is meant as a primer for biological undergraduates. I hope it will lead some of them to further, more advanced, study. It has not been easy to present the subject in so few pages, and I am aware of many omissions. I hope readers will agree that it is best to concentrate on a small number of topics, which together constitute an essay on plant-atmosphere relationships. Advanced students will be able to take the subject further if they look up some...

The object of this book is to introduce ethology to agricultural and veterinary students. Today ethology covers many approaches to the study of animal behaviour which are connected by one unifying concept: all behaviour must be considered in relation to the ecology and evolutionary history of the species under investigation. This may seem to some to put domesticated animals beyond the scope of classical ethology but, while domestication has involved some behavioural changes, we shall see that much of the behaviour of our species of farm livestock differs little from that of their putative...

THE ECOLOGICAL SURVEY on which this book is based began to be planned in 1942, and since 1945 has been mainly centred upon Oxford University's estate at Wytham Woods, where a rich series of habitats from open ground and limestone to woodland with many springs and marshes interspersed occupies a hill set in riverine surroundings. Here biological research workers from the University have accumulated a considerable body of knowledge, some of which I have arranged in a general setting that allows one to comprehend some of the inter-related parts of the whole system. It is also intended to provide...

n this book I have tried to bring together ideas from three different Istreams of thought with which I have been closely concerned during the last thirty years or so. The first is faunal history, usually regarded as a purely academic subject, but to some of whose events can be traced a number of the serious dislocations taking place in the world today. The second is ecology, particularly the structure and dynamics of populations. The third is conservation. I first published a few ideas about the signifi- cance of invasions in 1943, in a war-time review called Polish Science and Learning,...

by Professor L. E. Eastham Formerly Professor of Zoology in the University of Sheffield Most books are written with the intention of supplying some particular need, but few end with such single purpose. Mrs. Mellanby's is no exception, for while the author planned this work to serve as a guide to the school pupil, which function it fulfils in an admirable way, it will also prove of value to the teacher, the university student and the amateur naturalist. While it may be argued that it is not the function of the Uni- versities to teach Natural History in the commonly accepted sense, it will...

The rapid advances made in the study of the synthesis, structure and function of biological macromolecules in the last fifteen years have enabled scientists concerned with antimicrobial agents to achieve a considerable measure of understanding of how these substances inhibit cell growth and division. The use of antimicrobial agents as highly specific inhibitors has in turn substantially assisted the investigation of complex biochemical processes. The literature in this field is so extensive however, that we considered an attempt should be made to draw together in an introductory book the more...

Providing a broad coverage of the principles of sampling inspection and quality control, this latest edition has been revised throughout. Particular emphasis is given to the inclusion of tables and nomograms enabling the setting of numerical exercises.

This book was originallyconceived in the form ofa second edition ofa volume published in 1980 in Chapman and Hall's 'OutllneStudies in Biology' series and entitled Genetic Engineering - Cloning DNA.It very rapidly became apparent that with the impact ofrecombinant DNA techniques being feIt in so many areas ofblology, it was going to be difficultifnotimpossible to keepthe bookwithin the space confines of these little monographs. The stays were therefore loosened and the book expanded comfortably to its present size.I hope that this extra space has allowed me to clarify sections ofthe text that...