Top tips - searching for journals

Here are two handy tips to use when searching for journal titles on the online catalogue:

1) Simple Search

When using this option you should enter only the keywords of the title. If you type in the full title including 'of' or 'the' the search will fail.

Examples
Journal of zoology
Type: journal zoology

International journal of primatology
Type: international journal primatology


2) Browse Search: Title

When the journal has a one word title such as 'Nature', 'Ecology', 'Evolution', or 'Ibis' it is better to search by title as a Browse Search. In this way the journal title will be at the top of the list of results and will save you the time it takes to look through the pages of results retrieved by a Simple Search.

ZSL Library Catalogue

Famous animals - Clarissa the Carp

Caught on rod and line with bread bait in a pond near Ross on Wye in Herefordshire, Clarissa was a female carp weighing 44lbs. This is the record for carp caught in Britain. She was caught by Richard Walker (who died in 1985) on 13 September 1952 and died at London Zoo in 1972.


Daily Mirror, 22 August 1972
Clarissa, Britain’s record-breaking 44lb carp, now sits in a 43in. by 22in. glass case in Chubbs tackle shop in London. She spent many years in London Zoo until her death earlier this year. Then at a cost of £80 she was stuffed.


Links


Sports active: Fishing lines: Clarissa, ruler of London's underworld
Independent on Sunday, 7 November 2004 by Keith Elliot

Carp Photo Gallery - Clarissa

International Biodiversity Day 2008

The UN Secretary-General
--
Message on the International Day for Biological Diversity 22 May 2008

This Day serves as a reminder of the importance of the Earth’s biodiversity, and as a wake-up call about the devastating loss we are experiencing as irreplaceable species become extinct at an unprecedented rate.

In any attempt to address this problem, agriculture should be viewed as a starting point. The crops and domesticated livestock of today are a reflection of human management. And the news is not good. About a fifth of domestic animal breeds are at risk of extinction, with an average of one lost each month. Of the 7,000 species of plants that have been domesticated over the 10,000-year history of agriculture, only 30 account for the vast majority of the food we eat every day. Relying on so few species for sustenance is a losing strategy.

Climate change is complicating the picture. Fluctuations in temperature and precipitation are wreaking havoc on crops. Experts say these factors may cost southern Africa up to 30 per cent of its maize crop by 2030. A diversity of crops and livestock is our best insurance in the face of these changes.

Livestock production is itself a major culprit in climate change, responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than transport. Biodiversity is directly threatened by this industry; about a fifth of terrestrial animal biomass goes to livestock – land that was once habitat for wildlife, and that can provide an important buffer against the impacts of climate change.

In a world where the population is projected to jump 50 per cent by the year 2050, these trends can spell widespread hunger and malnutrition, creating conditions where poverty, disease and even conflict can metastasize.

Preserving our planet’s precious biodiversity is essential to development and security. Not just livestock and crops raised in agricultural landscapes, but also the many thousands of plants and animals in forests, oceans and other ecosystems need protection to maintain the planet’s basic environmental balance.

We must rally behind attempts at a solution, such as the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources adopted last September at a meeting supported by the United Nations. Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity are meeting in May to work, with all other partners, to redouble efforts to reduce biodiversity loss as they seek to achieve the global target set for 2010.

We all have a stake in supporting functional ecosystems, diverse in species and genetic resources, to sustain life everywhere. It is too late to undo the damage the planet has suffered, but it is never too soon to start preserving all that we have left. May this International Day for Biological Diversity unite us in this mission.

Book sale

The following books for sale in the Reading Room are in excellent condition. If you would like to buy any of them please pop in to the Library and also see what other books are on offer.

Metacommunities : spatial dynamics and ecological communities

Marcel Holyoak

£10

Biotic interactions in the tropics : their role in the maintenance of species diversity David Burslem

£15

Food webs at the landscape level
Gary A. Polis

£15

Ecology of predator-prey interactions

Pedro Barbosa

£20

May's artefact of the month

This image is taken from May's artefact of the month which is the following book by Merian:

Dissertation sur la génération et les transformations des insectes de Surinam ... / par Marie Sibille Merian.

La Haye : Cosse, 1726.

Parallel texts Latin-French. French translation by Jean Rousset de Missy

To learn more about Merian and this volume see the entry on the Library's web pages:

Artefact of the month - May 2008

Links

Reproductions of these images can be purchased from ZSL Print Store

Some of Merian's original paintings can be viewed at the 'Amazing Rare Things' - Exhibition at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace from 14 March - 28 September 2008.

ZSL Library 2.0

As well as a blog we're also experimenting with other 'Web 2.0' applications. By trying out these facilities we hope to come up with resources that will be useful to a wide number of our users enabling them to find useful websites, keep up to date with news items and journal contents etc.

Please check out our sites at:

Pageflakes - ZSL Library startpage
This page pulls together various links and news feeds to enable you to keep up to date.

Bloglines - RSS journal feeds
This contains the details of current contents of journals to which we have an online subscription. If you are on site at London or Whipsnade you will be able to access all the articles listed.

Startaid - ZSL Library bookmarks
A collection of links to websites which may be of interest.

Welcome to the new ZSL Library blog

As well as, or may be instead of, sending everyone emails with all our news and updates we are trying out a new blog.

Over time we will be working on the layout and content to make it relevant to our users. Hopefully we will be able to put various features and spots on here for general interest as well - famous animals, FAQ answers etc.

We hope you like it and find it useful - but as always your feedback on this or any of our services is welcome.