"For the past thirty years, professional ecologists have been murmuring about the phenomenon of unraveling ecosystems. Many of these scientists have become mesmerized by the phenomenon and, increasingly with time, worried" (Chapter I, pg. 11.)

"Biogeography is the study of the facts and the patterns of species distribution. It's the science concerned with where animals are, where plants are, and where they are not" (Chapter II, pg. 17.)

"Old versus young is just one crucial dichotomy that affects the biological richness of an island. Small versus large is another. Continental versus oceanic, in the sense that biogeographers use the terms, is a third" (Chapter II, pg. 52.)

"The patterns of species distribution have provided clues about the ways in which species originate, change and diverge, and the question how? has remained inseparable from the question where?" (Chapter III, pg. 117.)

"We notice a commotion just ahead in the brush. Then a very...