Outstanding Academic Titles 2024: Zoology

Posted on January 9, 2025 in Outstanding Academic Titles

Enjoy these five selections from the Choice Reviews 2024 Outstanding Academic Titles list. This week, we highlight Outstanding Academic Titles focused on zoology. A hearty congratulations to the winning authors, editors, and publishers!

1. Lives of butterflies : a natural history of our planet’s butterfly life
James, David G. by David G. James and David J. Lohman Princeton, 2024

Butterflies occupy a special place in nature’s beauty, bringing out color, fragility, and the wonder of transformation. It may surprise readers that butterflies are really moths, comprising 10 percent of 160,000 moth species in 7 families. There are more general books about butterflies that try to capture their diversity of color, forms, and lifestyles. Entomologists James (Washington State Univ.) and Lohman (CCNY) have assembled a comprehensive, beautifully illustrated butterfly biology book with chapters on life histories, behavior, habitats, populations, seasonality, defense, threats, and conservation. Crisp figures supplement brilliant color photographs. Life histories include eggs and oviposition, site selection, egg development, caterpillars, and hiding. There are several photos and figures of metamorphosis that trace the transformation from egg to adult. Each adult butterfly is a survivor of numerous hazards befalling eggs and larvae. Color photos illustrate many details of behavior (flying, basking, feeding, roosting, and mating), camouflage, and diversity. Adversities include habitat loss, overcollecting, pesticides, and climate change. Woven throughout are detailed text and figures, providing information at an educated amateur level. View on Amazon

2. Birds of Rhode Island: seasonal distribution and ecological history
by Richard L. Ferren; ed. by Richard R. Veit Comstock Publishing Associates, 2024

With a title like Birds of Rhode Island one might expect a typical field guide, but a quick glance reveals nothing of the sort. Instead, this book is an annotated checklist of the 400-plus species recorded from the state. The annotations, however, are so extensive that the result is a 559-page tome concerning the Rhode Island avifauna, and the subtitle, “seasonal distribution and ecological history,” accurately describes the contents. The introduction provides a perspective on the history of Rhode Island ornithology, beginning in the 1700s; a brief description of habitats; a review of data sources, including early workers, bird-banding, Christmas bird counts, and much more; there is also a complete account of hurricanes impacting the region. Species accounts include status (relative abundance, residents, transients, vagrants), historical notes, breeding and non-breeding populations, and extreme dates of occurrence. Historical breeding populations at various localities are considered in great detail. Several maps and photographs of some rarely seen species are included. The book is of most interest to birders in the Northeast. View on Amazon

3. Ecology and management of black-tailed and mule deer of North America
ed. by James R. Heffelfinger and Paul R. Krausman; illustrated by Randall Babb CRC Press, 2023

Representing three subspecies of Odocoileus hemionus, black-tailed and mule deer are the iconic deer of western North America. Significant culturally, historically, economically, and spiritually, these deer have drawn a significant amount of attention in both technical and popular outlets. Until now, the most comprehensive volume on these deer was Mule and Black-Tailed Deer of North America, compiled and ed. by Olof Wallmo (1981), comprising 15 essays by 12 contributors. In the 40-years since 1981 much has changed and much has been learned. Wildlife scientists and managers have long been concerned over the steady decline in mule deer populations. Heffelfinger and Krausman, both respected experts, brought together 15 essays by a total of 82 authors. Readers at all levels, whether scientists, wildlife managers, students, or wildlife enthusiasts, will find this book readable yet packed with the most current science and technical information. Examples of topics represented in the present volume but not in the earlier book include chronic wasting disease, migration ecology, integrated population modeling, genetics, and finer treatments of ecoregional differences. The editors’ care with this volume is evident throughout. View on Amazon

4. The wingsnappers : lessons from an exuberant tropical bird Schlinger, Barney A. Yale, 2023

This is a carefully crafted study of the complex behavior of a small, colorful tropical bird, the golden-collared manakin of Panama. Manakins create surprisingly loud vocalizations and dramatically snap their wings, executing backflips and engaging in sophisticated courtship displays in arenas that the males construct. Across 14 chapters, Schlinger’s volume explores this behavior, including the physics and physiology of the manakin’s sounds, its endocrinology and musculature, and the corresponding behavior of the females. The book also includes the chapter “Some Ornithological Basics.” Less technical are the sections on Schlinger’s career and early life—he is currently a professor of biology at UCLA—and the challenges of his and others’ fieldwork in the tropics. Each chapter has an excellent list of references and recommended readings, and 16 color photographs and 11 black-and-white text figures enhance this largely technical book. This rather small, fairly expensive monograph has a lot of meaty biology. View on Amazon.

5. Boas of the West Indies : evolution, natural history, and conservation by R. Graham Reynolds et al Cornell, 2023

The West Indies is a living laboratory for the study of evolution, particularly speciation. The Boas, including Boa constrictor, are icons of the reptile world. Chapters cover the history of Boas and humans in the West Indies; the difference between West Indian Boas and Neotropoical mainland species; Boas as invasive species; conservation; detailed accounts of 18 species; and the history of herpetology in the West Indies. The reptiles and amphibia of the Caribbean Islands, particularly anoles and frogs, are often used as examples of evolution, island biogeography, endemism, and isolation. Snake speciation is less familiar but parallels these groups. Basic natural history and conservation of the Boas will bolster efforts to preserve threatened species. Detailed species accounts range from 5 to 30 pages, covering (where known) taxonomy research history, color patterns, distribution, ecology and behavior, foods and predators, defensive behavior, reproduction, and conservation status. The volume includes rare species, such as Hispaniolan Vineboa, new to science in 2021, known from only four specimens. A valuable resource for biogeographers anywhere (but particularly in the neotropics), students of evolution, herpetologists in general, and snake lovers anywhere. View on Amazon.

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