INDEX

Absconditobacteria 47

Abu Hureyra 11

Actinobacteria 47

Addis Ababa 226

aeolopile 191

Afrotropic region 80

Alexander the Great 16

Algonquian people 167, 230

Alkali Flat, White Sands National Monument, New Mexico 107

alpha diversity 59

Altamira Cave, Spain 9, 10, 11, 14–15, 25

Alvarez, Luis and Walter 123

Amazon River 76–77

amino acids 42

ammonia 139–140, 141

ammonites 118

amoebae 47, 92, 134

Amoebozoa 47

Amur River clam 92

Anders, Bill 1, 4

Angkor, Cambodia 13

Anthropocene Epoch 97, 164

ants 35

apes 38

Apicius, Roman cookbook 156

Apollo 8 1

Appalachian Trail 231

aquaculture 174–176, 241

archaea 45, 46–48, 51, 134, 245

Archaeplastida 47

Archean Eon 179

Aristotle 16–17, 38, 136

arthropods 57, 130, 134, 135

Asian lionfish 89

asteroid 40, 110

Athens 16

Atlantic periwinkle 92

atmosphere 22, 26, 29, 53, 200

Attenborough, Sir David 223

auroch 159–160

Australasian region 80

Australian swamp stonecrop 83

australopithecines 5–6

Australopithecus 5

Australopithecus afarensis 6

Australopithecus africanus 6

A Voyage up the River Amazon 76

bacteria 35, 43–45, 47, 48, 49–51, 52, 57, 118, 134, 135, 209, 245–220, 246

Bali 78

ballpoint pen 196–197

Baltic Sea 144

bananas 143

Bancroft Library, University of California 90

Bangiomorpha pubescens 53

Barrande, Joachim 21

bassoon 34, 35

Bates, Henry 75–76, 79

Batesian mimicry 76

battery 168

Beagle 34, 105

beaver dams 128

beef 168–169

bees 130

bees, Asian rock 234

Beethoven, Ludwig van 168

beetles 38, 75

Bell, Thomas 78

Benton, Mike 70–71, 72

Beringia 106

Beringia land bridge 106

beta diversity 59

Beyond Burger 181

Bic Cristal pen 196

Biddulph, North Staffordshire 217

bilaterians 55, 56–57

biofilms, microbial 43, 51, 151

biogeochemistry 23

biomineralization 55

biosphere 19, 20, 21–22, 23, 49, 53, 57, 61, 62, 69, 124, 125, 127, 135, 139, 161, 164, 200–201, 204–205, 214, 246

Birmingham 217

Bíró, László 197

bison 9

Blade Runner 149, 150

The Blob 92

Blombos Cave, South Africa 8

Blue Mountains, Wallerawang 105

Bombus dahlbombii 93

Bombus ruderatus 93

Bombus terrestris 93

Bonaparte, Charles Lucien 78

bonobo 219

Bonpland, Aimé 18, 20, 80

book titles 198

‘boring billion’ 53

Borlaug, Norman 142, 143

Borneo 220, 229

Bosch, Carl 139–140

Bosch, Hieronymus 210–211

Brancolini, Poggio 17

Briggs, Derek 63

bristlecone pine 118

‘bristletail’ diplurans 35

British Geological Survey 102

BugLife 234

bumblebee, buff-tailed 93–94

bumblebee, large garden 93–94

bumblebee, Patagonian 93

Burger King 157–158

Burgess Shale, British Columbia 63–64

Burroughs, William S. 207–208

Butterfield, Nick 53–54, 57

C3 plants 180

C4 plants 180

calcium phosphate 55

Caledonian conifer forests 237

Callanish Standing Stones 165

Callisto 3

‘Cambrian explosion’ 43, 56, 57, 64, 67, 69

‘Cambrian fauna’ 67

Cambrian Period 43, 57–58, 61, 63, 65, 67, 126, 130

Camelops 106

Campo Laborde, Argentina 108

carbon cycle 53, 55, 56

carbon dioxide 26, 28, 31, 45, 148, 152, 153, 190, 220

Carboniferous Period 69–70, 71, 134

carbon isotopes 53

Caribbean Monk Seal 124

Carnivora 39

carp 174

Carrifran Valley, Scotland 237

Cartailhac, Emile de 10

Cassius Dio 13

cat Chinese Mountain 39

cat, domestic 39

cat, sand 39

Çatalhöyük, Anatolia 12

cattle, domesticated 158, 159–161, 168–169

Celtic broadleaf forest 236

Celtic rainforest 237

cement 152

Cenozoic Era 68–69

centipede 35

Central Park 167

chamomile 7

Chaptal, Jean Antoine Claude 139

Charles V of Spain 18

Chatelier, Henry Le 23

Chayma people 18

Cherrapunji region, Meghalaya, India 151

chert 43

Chesapeake Bay 242

chicken, domesticated (broiler) 162–164, 204, 205

Chicken-of-Tomorrow programme 162–163

Chilean Saltpeter 139

chimpanzee 219

Chinese crab 92

chlorine (poison) gas 141

chloroplasts 49–50

Chordata 39

Chromalveolata 47

Chu Ci 224

Chumash people 167

‘Church Hole’ 103

Churchill, Winston 181

Clara Immerwahr 141

Cloud Wood, Leicestershire 238

cnidarians 55

coal 134, 190, 191

coelacanth 67

cognitive fluidity 8, 136, 138

collared dove 84

Collumah California 90

Colosseum, Rome 13–15, 25

concrete 201

Conté, Nicholas-Jacques 197

contingency (biological) 64

Conway Morris, Simon 63, 65

Cooper, James Fenimore 167

corals 55

COVID-19, 96, 209, 233

crab 38

crayon 197

Creme Puff, Texan cat 118

Creswell Crags 103–104

Cretaceous Period 69, 120, 123, 124

Crossbill, Scottish 237

crow, New Caledonia 136, 193

Crutzen, Paul 97

Cruziana 195

Cryogenian Period 54, 57

cryosphere 29, 200

Cumaná, Venezuela 18

Curie, Marie 23

Cyanobacteria 47, 137, 141, 144

cytoplasm 42, 51

Dacians of Romania 13

Daisyworld 27

Daleks 184

Dale Peninsula, Wales 242

Damanzaihao 171

Dandora rubbish dump 211–214

Darwin Charles 19–20, 23, 34, 37, 40, 43, 56, 62, 75, 78, 105

Darwinian evolution 24, 49, 58, 64

‘Darwinian threshold’ 48

dead zones 144

Dean, James 156

Deccan region, India 124

deep biosphere 135

Demak Sultanate, Java 240–241

Democritus 17

Denisovans 6, 8

De rerum natura 17

‘Devil Weed’ 95

Devonian Period 68, 130, 171

Dia de Muertos 117

diatoms 38, 47, 126, 134

Dicksonia 82

dimethyl sulphide 28

dinoflagellates 47, 134

diphtheria 45

Diplichnites 195

Diprotodon 105

disparity (biological) 64

diversity (biological) 64

DNA 6, 8, 40, 41–42, 46

Döbereiner, Johann Wolfgang 139

dodo 112

Doedicurus 108

dog 39

Dolman, Bill 156

dolphins 136

Doomsday Book 238

Down House 34

Dr. Who 184–185, 193, 208

Dundreggan Estate, Scotland 237

Dunkleosteus 171

Earthrise 1

Earth System science 29

earthworms 34, 36, 62, 84

Ebro River 7

echinoderms 57

ecoregions 80, 229

Ediacaran biota 55, 120–121

Ediacaran Period 54–55, 56, 57

Edwards, William Henry 76

Eiffel Tower 8

elk 128, 159

‘embryos’, Ediacaran 55

emergent properties 29

enchytraeid worms 35

Enlightenment, European 17

Epicurus 17

Eremotherium 107

Euglena 47

eukaryote 44, 45, 47, 49, 50, 52–53–54, 55–56, 57

Euphrates/Tigris valleys 159

Europa 3

Excavata 47

extra-terrestrial civilizations 146

Fairmount, Indiana 156

‘famine weed’ 95

Felidae 39

Felis 39

fertilizer 139–140, 142–145, 152, 202

fibre-tip pen 197

Ficus elastica 151

First World War 141

fish 38

‘Fishing in the Past’ 244

flatworms 84

Food and Agriculture Organization 161

food waste 170

foraminifera 92, 118, 136

fountain pen 197

frikadelle 156

fungi 36, 44, 47, 52, 72, 134, 135, 245

Gaia 25, 27–29, 32, 246, 248–249

Galapagos sharks 115

Gallic Wars 159

gallium 148

gamma diversity 60

Garden of Earthly Delights 211

gastrotrichs 62

Gei Wai ponds, China 241

The Geographic Distribution of Animals 80

giant hogweed 83

giant short-faced bear 106

giant tortoises, Rodrigues Island 113

gibbon 219, 224–225

gibbon, Hainan black crested 225–226

gibbon, northern white-cheeked 225

Gibraltar 7

Gigantopithecus 221

gilthead bream 175

glycolate 179

glyptodonts 108

goats, domesticated 161

Göbekli Tepe, Anatolia 11–12

Goethe 17

gold 90

golden apple snail 94–95

Golding, William 27

Gondwana 85–86, 97

Google 198

gorilla 217, 219

Gould, Stephen Jay 64–65, 66, 69, 70

graptolites 21

Grassholm 235

Great African Rift Valley 226

Great American Interchange 85, 87

Great Barrier Reef 243

greenhouse effect, runaway 31

Green Revolution 142–143, 145

grey squirrel 84

grey wolf 128

ground sloth 106–107

Grypania 51

guano 139

Gulf of Mexico 123, 144

gut biota 245–246

Haber, Fritz 139–141

Haber-Bosch process 140–142, 144

Hadean Eon 179

Hadza people, Tanzania 246

Haff, Peter 200, 202–203, 205

Hallucigenia 64, 65

Hamburg 156

hamburgers 156–158, 169

Hanuman, Hindu god 227

Happisburgh, Norfolk 104

Harappan people, Indus Valley 162

Hart, Robert 81, 85, 232–233, 234

hedgehog 166

Helder, Marjoleyn 153

Hercynian Forest 159

Hero of Alexander 191

Herschel, Sir William 1

Heshof, Nanda 153

Heston Charlton 217

Highwood Hill 85

Hill, Andrew 5

Hobbes, Thomas 246–247

hobbit 6

Holocene Epoch 114, 188, 189

Hominidae 67, 196

Homo antecessor 104

Homo erectus 104, 196

Homo floresiensis 6

Homogenocene 97–98

Homo habilis 196

Homo heidelbergensis 67

Homo luzonensis 6

Homo neanderthalensis 6, 67, 137, 188, 196

Homo sapiens 6, 8, 32, 67, 104, 114, 135, 136, 137–138, 150, 186, 187, 188, 196

Horace 17

horizontal gene transfer 48

horse chestnut tree 84

‘hot Jupiter’ 3

How to Make a Forest Garden 81

Humboldt, Alexander von 17–20, 23, 80

hydrocarbons (fuels) 134, 202

Hydrogéologie 20

hydrosphere 22, 53, 200

hydrostatic skeleton 56

hyoid bone 7

hyolithids 67

indium 148

Indo-Malay region 80

Industrial Revolution 134, 162

insects 38, 126, 130–131, 234

International Union for Conservation of Nature 162

iridium 123

irrigation 145

Isicia Omentata 156

Isthmus of Panama 107

jaguars 39

Japanese knotweed 83

Java 78

Jekyll and Hyde species 93, 95

jellyfish 55, 144, 248

Jericho 12

Julius Caesar 159

Jupiter 40, 54

Jurassic Period 171

Kardashev, Nikolai Semenovich 146–147, 149

Karlsruhe 198

Khasi people 151

kinorhynchs 62

Koompassia excelsa 234

Kozo-Polyansky, Boris 49–50

Kruger National Park 127

Kure Atoll 243–244

La Biosphère 24, 26

laboratory-grown meat 181

Laetoli, Tanzania 5, 246

Lagerstätte 63

Lake Flixton 165

Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste 20–21, 24

Lami district, Porto Allegre, Brazil 228

La Moderna, Argentina 108

Lang, Fritz 149

Leakey, Mary 5

Leedsichthys 171

Leguat, François 112

Leicester 75–76, 234

Lemuria 85

lemurs 38, 85

Lenape people 167

Lesbos 16

lesser spotted woodpecker 166

Leviathan 246–249

Li, Emperor 174

Librarian 223

Lindsay, James Bowman 154

Linnean Society, London 78

Linneus, Carl 136, 138

lions 39

lithosphere 22, 53, 200

liverworts 62

Llanbadoc, Monmouthshire 75

Llŷn Peninsula, Wales 242

lobopods 65, 126

Loch Ness 145

logging 224

Lombok Strait 79

London 236

loriciferans 62

Los Angeles 149, 150

Lovelock, James 25–29, 248

LUCA (last universal common ancestor) 40, 41, 42, 47, 48

Lucretius 17, 21

Ma’ad al Mu’izz 197

Maastricht 101

Macchiavelli 17

Mackaye, Benton 231

macrofauna, soil 35

Maine 230, 231

maize 88, 142–143

The Mammals of Madagascar 85

mammoth steppes 110

mangrove forests 240–242

Manhattan Island 167, 168

Manila clam 92

Marabou stork 211

Margulis, Lynn 26, 50

Mars 3, 26, 40, 125, 209

Marshall, James Wilson 90

mass extinction events 68–69, 71, 120–121, 123–124, 125, 126, 235

McDonald, Richard and Maurice 156

McDonald’s restaurants 156, 157–158

megafauna, soil 35, 36

Megalodon 171

‘megapodes’ 106

Megatherium 108

Mercury 3

Mereschkovsky, Konstantin 49

mesofauna, soil 35

Mesolithic culture 165

‘Mesozoic fauna’ 68

Mesozoic Period 68–69, 110

meteorite 40, 123–124

methane 26

methane-generating microbes 45

Methuselah, bristlecone pine 118

Metropolis 149, 150

Mexico 142

Mexico City 117

‘microarthropods’ 35

microbes 37, 43, 44, 46, 48, 53, 72, 84, 134, 135, 151, 153, 248

microbial mats 53, 57

microliths 186

Mictecacihuatl 117, 120, 127

Mictlan underworld 117

minerals (natural and synthetic) 198

Ming, Atlantic mollusc 118

Miocene Epoch 118

Mississippi River 144

mites 35–36

Mithen, Steve 8

mitochondria 49–51, 52

mitochondrial DNA 159

Mohican people 167

mole 35

molluscs 57

Mona Lisa 8

monkeys 38, 227–228

monkeys, Gelada 226–227

monoplacophorans 67–68

Moon 1–3

morphospecies, 118

Mortillet, Gabriel de 10

mosasaur 101

mosses 62, 122

Mueller’s Bornean Gibbon 219

Nairobi National Park 211

Nairobi River 211

Napoleon Bonaparte 101, 197

NASA 1, 26

Natufians 11

Natural History Museum, Paris 101

Natural History Museum, Washington DC 102

naval shipworm 91–92

Neanderthals 6–8, 10, 222

Nearctic region 80

nematode worms 35, 62, 134, 135

Neolithic culture 165, 186

Neoproterozoic Era 57

Neotropic region 80

New Andalusia 18

Newcomen, Thomas 191

New Forest 236

Nile crocodile 118

nitrogen 139–140, 144, 145, 152, 188, 202

nitrous oxide 145

Nobel Prize 140–141, 143

North Atlantic moist mixed forests 237

Nottingham 102

nucleus, cell 49, 51

oil and gas 134, 192, 210

oil palm 219–220, 225, 228

On the Origin of Species 78

onychophorans 65

Oostvardersplassen 129

Opabina 64, 65

Opisthokonta 47

orangutan 219, 221, 223–224

Orangutan, Bornean 38, 221, 222

Orangutan, Sumatran 38, 221, 222

Orangutan, Tapanuli 221, 222

Orangutan Foundation 223

Ordovician Period 68, 121–123

Osram lightbulb 196

Owen, Jennifer 234

oxen 8, 9, 11

oxygen 26, 30–31

ozone layer 145

Pacific oyster 92

Pacific shipworm 91

Palearctic region 80

Paleozoic Era 57, 68, 69, 71

‘Paleozoic Fauna’ 68

palm oil 220, 224

Papahānaumokuākea 243

parakeet, green-feathered Carolina 230, 231

Parthenium hysterophorus 95

Patagonian hare 108

pauropods 35

pencil 197

Pepys, Samuel 197

Pérez, Modesto Cubillas 9

perkadel 156

Permian Period 68, 71, 124

Phanerozoic Eon 57, 61, 121, 124, 125

Philippines 142

phlogiston 21

phosphorus 139, 144, 152, 188

photosynthesis 30–31, 133, 141, 168, 179, 242

piano 34, 35

Piera, Juan Vilanova y 10

pigs, domesticated 161

pine 88

Planet of the Apes 217

plastics 201, 243–244

plate tectonics 31, 85

platypus 105

Pleistocene Epoch 118, 186, 221

Pliocene Epoch 118

pondweed 45

poriferans 55

potatoes 143

Pratchett, Terry 223, 224

Precambrian 39, 43, 58, 61, 121, 141

pressure flaking 186

primates 38

‘Prince Charming’ 36

Procoptodon 105

prokaryotes 44, 49, 51, 52–53–54, 56, 57

Propleus 105

proteins 42

Proterozoic Eon 53, 54, 57

protists 57, 134

protozoans 35, 44

proturans 35

pseudoscorpions 35

Pù Mát National Park, Vietnam 225

Quaternary Ice Age 114

quelea, red-billed 164

quorum sensing 51

rabbit, Annamite striped 225

rabbit, common 84, 235

Ramsey Island 235

red alga 53

red jungle fowl 162

‘reef gap’ 122, 124

reefs, coral 37, 72, 124

Rejosari Senik, Java 240

Renaissance, European 17

rewilding 129, 229, 245

rhododendron 82, 83

ribosomes 42

rice 142–143, 180

Rio Negro 77

Rise of the Planet of the Apes 217

RNA 42, 45–46

RNA world 42

Robigalia 142

Robigus 142

Robin Hood’s Cave 103

Rodrigues day gecko 113

Rodrigues Island 112, 113, 115, 124

Rodrigues Solitaire 112

Rodrigues starling 113

Roman Empire 13

Roman Ninth Legion 237

Romans 142, 175

Rome 13, 15, 17

Rossignol, Robert Le 139–141

rotifers 35–36, 62

Royal Horticultural Society 83

rubisco 179

Rusophycus 195

‘rust’ parasitic fungus 142

Rutherford, Daniel 139

Rutherford, Lord 23

Sagan, Carl 35, 125

Sagan, Lynn 50

Sakura 82

Samways, Andrew 97

San Francisco 90, 149

San Francisco Bay 90–93

SARS-CoV-2, 96

Saturn 40, 54

Sautuola, Marcelino Sanz de 9–10

Sautuola, Maria Justina de 9, 10

Savery, Thomas 191

Schimper, Andreas 49

Sclater, Philip Lutley 79–80, 85, 97

Scott, Ridley 149

Seabirdwatch 244

seagrass meadows 242

seamounts 115

Sepkoski, Jack 66–70, 71

Serengeti-Mara, East Africa 95

sex 53

Shakespeare 8

sheep, domesticated 161

S-Hertogenbosch 210

shrew 35

Siamang 219

silicate weathering 28

Singapore 234

Skokholm island 235–236

slimehead (‘orange roughy’) 173–174

slime moulds 47

Smil, Vaclav 161

Smith, John Maynard 66

snail 35

‘Snowball Earth’ 54–55

The Soft Machine 207

Soft Machine 208, 209

solar panels 147–149

Solar System 2, 40

Spanish Armada 246

Spectre 117

sponges 55, 57

spotted flycatcher 166

springtails 35–36

Star Carr 165

Star Trek 149

Statue of Liberty 217

steam engine 191

Stoke-on-Trent 34

Stonehenge 165

stratosphere 31

stromatolites 43, 151

Suess, Eduard 21–22, 23

‘super-Earth’ 3

‘supramolecular aggregates’ 48

Swan lightbulb 196

sycamore 84

symbiogenesis 49

symphylids 35

Tang Dynasty 174

tardigrades 62

Tardis 184

tarsiers 38

taxonomy 38

technofossils 209

technospecies (technological species) 193, 196, 198

technosphere 200–204, 201, 205, 207, 209, 214–215, 219, 225, 226, 247

Terminator 219

termites 130

‘terror birds’ 86–87

Theia 2

Thiomargarita namibiensis 51

tibiotarsus 162, 163

tiger 39

tiger, Indochinese 225

Titan 3

Titus, emperor 13

tobacco plants 209

Tokyo 150, 168, 217

Tolkien, JRR 6

trace fossils 195

Trajan, emperor 13

trawling, seabed 172, 174

Triassic Period 69, 71, 124

Triceratops 101

Trilobatus sacculifer 118

trilobites 57, 63, 67, 122, 195

Ts’myseen people, British Columbia 239

Tyrannosaurus rex 67, 101, 117

unicorn, Asian 225

Vegetable Mould and Earthworms 34

velvet worms 65, 125, 126–127

Venus 3, 31, 40, 125

Vernadsky, Vladimir 22–25, 139

vertebrates 57

Vespasian, emperor 13

Vienna Burgtheater 168

Vikings 235

Virgil 17

viruses 35, 48

vivaria (for fish) 175

Vladivostok 2000 171

volcanoes 31

Volta, Alessandro 168

Wallace, Alfred Russel 20, 75–79, 97

‘Wallace Line’ 78–79, 80, 94, 97

Wallin, Ivan 49

Walters Shoals 115–116

Watson, Andrew 27

Watson, Margie and David 99

Watt, James 191

Wedgwood, Josiah (grandfather of Charles Darwin) 75

Wedgwood, Josiah (uncle of Charles Darwin) 34

Wells, H.G. 34

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire 81, 85

whale shark 173

wheat 142–143

Whitefield, Patrick 81

White Mountains, California 118

white rhino 127–128

Whittington, Harry 63–65

wildcat 166

Wildlife of a Garden: A Thirty-Year Study 234

will o’ the wisp 82, 84

willow 128

Wilson, E.O. 228

Wimmer Nugget 90

Wimmer, Peter L. 90

Wiwaxia 65

Woese, Carl 44, 45–46, 48–49, 52

Woesearcheota 47

wolves 226–227

Wonderful Life 64

wood grouse 237

Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) 236

Wuhan, China 96

Wychwood, Oxfordshire 236

xenobots 205–207

Xenopus laevis 206

Yangtze Dolphin 124

Yangtze River 224

yeast 45

Yellowstone National Park 128

Zaglossus 105

zebu cattle 160

Ziggy Stardust 8

The Zoologist 75

Zostera marina, common eelgrass 242