Tree of Life: The Incredible Biodiversity of Life on Earth

Here is a worthy, and originally Canadian, attempt to show the whole of Life on Earth, Kingdom by Kingdom, and demonstrate the interdependent importance of each to each. There are five Kingdoms (each a major branch of the Tree) – bacteria, fungi, protoctista, plants and animals, and we examine each. The first four get one spread each (432,000 species so far) and then it’s over to the animals (1,318,000 species). The animal kingdom is then subdivided. Picturesque examples of each Kingdom and sub-Kingdom are given, like Salvadori’s fig parrot and the Dorid nudibranch (sea slug to you and me) and the whole concept of biodiversity is treated as a revered revelation. This takes me back to the books of my youth when authors like Eileen Mayo and Dr Ellison Hawkes explained exactly the same thing in pretty much the same way, but without the dreary pictures provided here (‘breathtaking’ according to the authorial acknowledgement, and I know what she means, I had to take several deep ones).

The outcome is a tedious taxonomic plod and, in the state of current bio-awareness and info-savvy almost what Ranganathan (and who remembers him?) would term an ‘unsought heading’. Not really worth seeking.