British Butterflies A Photographic Guide

About this book

Find out about 50 of the most common butterflies found in Britain today. Full descriptions of the insects, along with their scientific name, size, family and habitat, will help you to recognise which butterfly is which. Beautiful, large colour photographs will help make identification easy.

Perfect for the new National Curriculum, this book includes fascinating information about different insects life cycles, their unique body parts and their habitats. A simple activity shows you how you can protect butterflies. Become a nature detective and explore the natural world around you.

Contents

Brood parasitism in birds: a coevolutionary point of view.- Factors affecting the rates of coevolution between obligate avian brood parasites and their hosts.- Evolution of avian brood parasitism and phylogenetic history of brood parasites.- A taxonomic review of obligate and facultative interspecific avian brood parasitism.- Conspecific brood parasitism among birds: The effects of phylogeny, mode of reproduction and geographic distribution .- Why do birds lay eggs in conspecifics' nests?- Evolution and maintenance of egg rejection by hosts as adaptation against conspecific brood parasites - an individual-based model.- Interspecific avian brood parasitism as a model system for exploring ecological and evolutionary questions related to habitat selection .- The Brown-headed Cowbird: a model species for testing novel research questions in animal ecology, evolution and behavior.- Cuckoos as indicators of biodiversity.- Hippocampus and Spatial Memory in Brood Parasitic Cowbirds.- Brood parasitism and cooperative breeding: seeking an evolutionary link.- Host Resource Partitioning Among Sympatric Molothrine Generalist Brood Parasites.- High diversity of brood parasites in China and coevolution between cuckoos and their hosts.- Brood parasites as predators: farming and mafia strategies.- Cuckoo-host coevolutionary interactions across all breeding stages: unusual ecological setting of a cavity-nesting host.- Evidence of adaptations and counter-adaptations before the parasite lays its egg: the frontline of the arms race.- Parasitic behaviour of interspecific brood parasitic females.- Egg color polymorphism in brood parasites and their hosts: Adaptation and evolution.- Adaptations of brood parasitic eggs.- Implications of Nest Sanitation in the Evolution of Egg Rejection.- Egg characteristics affecting egg rejection .- Anti-brood parasite defences: the role of individual and social learning.- Cognitive Decision Rules for Egg Rejection.- Phenotypic plasticity in egg rejection: evidence and evolutionary consequences.- The evolution of nest sharing and nest mate killing strategies in brood parasites.- Begging behaviour, food delivery and food acquisition in nests with brood parasitic nestlings.- Begging call mimicry by brood parasite nestlings: Adaptation, manipulation and development.- Host defences against brood parasite nestlings: theoretical expectations and empirical evidence.- Parasite adaptations during the nestling and fledgling stages.

Customer Reviews

Biography

Victoria Munson has been fascinated by wildlife since she was 8 years old, whne she helped her parents to rescue a kestrel with a broken wing. She joined the Young Ornithologist's Club (YOC, part of the RSPB) shortly after and spend many a happy weekend visiting Wildfowl and Wetland Centres, hand-feeding Canada Geese and adopting a Wigeon (Wilbur). Since then, she has made a study of butterflies, homed hedgehogs, worms and ladybirds, and is now enjoying a second childhood through introducing her own children to rockpooling, wildlife spotting and making minibeast homes.