Doubleday

By Elaine Pagels Doubleday: 336 pages, $30 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.

Lead scientist Dr Zoe Doubleday, from UniSA's Future Industries Institute, collaborated with researchers from Canada, Croatia and the UK to synthesise hundreds of studies that analyse chemical variations in the shells, teeth, and bones of weird and wonderful organisms.

"Many aquatic organisms -- like whales, seals, octopus and even algae -- harbour chemical fingerprints that can give us a record of the environment over time, from historical water temperatures, pollution levels, and ecosystem health," Dr Doubleday says.

"These findings are crucial, as data on aquatic environments is both scarce and challenging to gather, especially in remote regions like the polar seas or deep oceans, both of which are sensitive to climate change," Dr Doubleday says.

By Peter Ames Carlin Doubleday: 464 pages, $32 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.