Darwin's Dreampond: Drama in Lake Victoria

Description:

Translated by Sherry Marx-Macdonald. Dazzling in their variety of sizes, shapes, and colours, the cichlids (small perch-like fishes) of Lake Victoria, like the finches of the Galapagos Islands and Hawaii's Honeycreepers, have been geographically isolated long enough to undergo unusually broad speciation. These small fish form a species flock -- closely related species that have descended from a common ancestor and radiated, or fanned, into different specializations -- that is the most spectacular in the world, fascinating anatomists, ecologists, ethologists, and evolutionary biologists alike. The process of speciation was still under way until just recently, when the introduction of the large, predatory Nile perch so disrupted the Lake's intricate ecosystem that the glorious spectrum of cichlids has almost vanished. 'Darwin's Dreampond' tells the evolutionary story of the extraordinary "furu" and the battlefield leading to extinction. Tijs Goldschmidt skilfully blends a masterful discussion of the principles of neo-Darwinian evolution and speciation with a history of Lake Victoria's ecosystem. The science unfolds in the context of the engaging first-person narrative of Goldschmidt's adventures and misadventures as a field researcher. An astute observer and a clear and witty writer, he warmly portrays the colours and textures of the landscapes and the lives of the local people as he interacts with them during the course of his fieldwork.

Condition

From the library of Jim Green (1928-2016), Professor of Zoology at Queen Mary College, University of London, with his name to endpaper. Vg in d/w.