Life in the sea: As it is. How it came to be. How it could become: the magic of diversity, its origins, and implications
Grüter, W. (2001). Life in the sea: As it is. How it came to be. How it could become: the magic of diversity, its origins, and implications. Translated from the German edition. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil: München. ISBN 3-931516-96-2. 288 pp.
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VLIZ: Aquatic communities PBC.30 [104603]
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| Abstract |
The sea was the cradle of primordial life, from which the roots of our own existence sprouted. Billions of years of evolutionary development brought forth an enchanting variety of forms, colors, lifestyles, and patterns of behavior, into which we only not long since began to gain direct insights. Nowhere else is it so conspicuously possible to look back at the same time on the manifestations of all life forms up to our own. In 13 chapters with 60 clearly understandable, vivid, light-heartedly worded and separately enjoyable „wanted posters“, numerous astonishing phenomena of the marine fauna are described, without burdening the reader unnecessarily with technicalities. More than 330 of the author’s underwater color photos illustrate the text. Inquiry into the wider relationships whets our curiosity and satisfies it wherever science has already found the answer. A fascinating macrocosm takes shape around the unique entwinements of marine fauna, evolution, and ecological systems. This is no mere picture book, but a work in which text and illustrations are in proper balance. The reader is drawn to the pictures and the viewer to the text. Accounts of personal experiences enliven the narrative. Learning is seldom coupled with so much aesthetic pleasure. |
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