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Tropical nature, and other essays

By Alfred Russel Wallace
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Essays, Letters & SpeechesNature/Gardening/Animals

About This Book

A series of essays examines the equatorial zone’s climate, vegetation, and animal life, explaining physical causes of uniform heat, atmospheric moisture, and intense weather while describing forest structure, palms, climbers, and diverse tropical fauna. Case studies use hummingbirds to illustrate rapid diversification and natural selection, and a wider discussion of animal coloration argues that colour is a normal product of organization and offers an alternative explanation for sexual ornamentation. Other pieces explore curious local colour patterns, the geographical distribution of animals and past continental changes, and the implications of tropical biology for interpreting Earth’s climatic and evolutionary history.

About the Author

Wallace, Alfred Russel portrait

Alfred Russel Wallace

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) was a British naturalist, explorer, and biologist, best known for independently formulating the theory of evolution through natural selection, a concept he presented alongside Charles Darwin. His extensive travels in the Amazon and the Malay Archipelago provided him with rich insights into biodiversity and biogeography, which he documented in works such as "A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro." Wallace also contributed to various fields, including entomology and anthropology, and was an advocate for spiritualism later in life, as reflected in his book "A Defence of Modern Spiritualism." His legacy endures in the realms of science and literature, marking him as a pivotal figure in the history of evolutionary thought.

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