AUSTRALIAN FAUNA & FLORA

Alfred Russel Wallace, the father of biogeography, discovered the flora and fauna of the South East Asian islands and the extraordinary way in which they are geographically distinct. In a lively historical narrative, Penny van Oosterzee tells the story of his achievement. His legacy is the Wallace Line, a faunal barrier separating the Asian from the Australian: monkeys from kangaroos, weaver birds from cockatoos, and pheasants from parrots. This invisible boundary and the difference between the species it divides catalyzed Wallace’s theory of evolution and prodded Darwin to articulate his own theory.

• xiv, 234 pages : illustrations maps ; 24 cm. #131123 (Age tanning)
• Biogeography — Australia
• Biogeography — Southeast Asia
• Evolution (Biology) — History