Showing 1–12 of 27 results
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Life in the Soil: A Guide for Naturalists and Gardeners
Artist/Author: Nardi, James B$57.00 Add to cartLeonardo da Vinci once mused that “we know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the soil underfoot,” an observation that is as apt today as it was five hundred years ago. The biological world under our toes is often unexplored and unappreciated, yet it teems with life. In one square meter of earth, there lives trillions of bacteria, millions of nematodes, hundreds of thousands of mites, thousands of insects and worms, and hundreds of snails and slugs. But because of their location and size, many of these creatures are as unfamiliar and bizarre to us as anything found at the bottom of the ocean.
Lavishly illustrated with nearly three hundred colour illustrations and masterfully-rendered black and white drawings throughout, Life in the Soil invites naturalists and gardeners alike to dig in and discover the diverse community of creatures living in the dirt below us. Biologist and acclaimed natural history artist James B. Nardi begins with an introduction to soil ecosystems, revealing the unseen labors of underground organisms maintaining the rich fertility of the earth as they recycle nutrients between the living and mineral worlds. He then introduces readers to a dazzling array of creatures: wolf spiders with glowing red eyes, snails with 120 rows of teeth, and 10,000-year-old fungi, among others. Organized by taxon, Life in the Soil covers everything from slime moulds and roundworms to woodlice and dung beetles, as well as vertebrates from salamanders to shrews. The book ultimately explores the crucial role of soil ecosystems in conserving the worlds above and below ground.
A unique and illustrative introduction to the many unheralded creatures that inhabit our soils and shape our environment above ground, Life in the Soil will inform and enrich the naturalist in all of us.
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Grasslands and Climate Change
Artist/Author: Gibson, David J, Jonathan A Newman (Editors)$65.00 Add to cartGrasslands are the most extensive terrestrial biome on Earth and are critically important for forage, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. This book brings together an international team of researchers to review scientific knowledge of the effects of climate change on world grasslands, a process we are only just starting to understand. Part I assesses how climate change will impact on the distribution of grasslands, as well as production, biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem services. Part II considers the consequences for the spread of invasive species, demographic change, trophic-level relationships, soil biota, and evolutionary change within grassland biodiversity. Part III proposes how ecologists can respond to climate change effects, focusing on grazing systems, cultural ecology, range management, and restoration. The concluding chapter sets grasslands in the context of the Anthropocene era and identifies the vital research and conservation needs for grassland ecosystems to remain environmentally sustainable under climate change.
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Vegetation of Australian Riverine Landscapes: Biology, Ecology and Management
Artist/Author: Capon, Samantha, Cassandra James, Michael Reid (Editors)$140.00 Add to cartVegetation communities in Australia’s riverine landscapes are ecologically, economically and culturally significant. They are also among the most threatened ecosystems on the continent and have been dramatically altered as a result of human activities and climate change. Vegetation of Australian Riverine Landscapes brings together, for the first time, the results of the substantial amount of research that has been conducted over the last few decades into the biology, ecology and management of these important plant communities in Australia.
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Grasslands and Climate Change
Artist/Author: Gibson, David J, Jonathan A. Newman (Editors)$128.00 Add to cartGrasslands are the most extensive terrestrial biome on Earth and are critically important for forage, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. Grasslands and Climate Change brings together an international team of researchers to review scientific knowledge of the effects of climate change on world grasslands, a process we are only just starting to understand. Part One assesses how climate change will impact on the distribution of grasslands, as well as production, biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem services. Part Two considers the consequences for the spread of invasive species, demographic change, trophic-level relationships, soil biota, and evolutionary change within grassland biodiversity. Part Three proposes how ecologists can respond to climate change effects, focusing on grazing systems, cultural ecology, range management, and restoration. The concluding chapter sets grasslands in the context of the Anthropocene era and identifies the vital research and conservation needs for grassland ecosystems to remain environmentally sustainable under climate change.
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Australian Vegetation (Third Edition)
Artist/Author: Keith, David A. (Editor), Richard A Groves (Foreword By)$119.00 Add to cartAustralian Vegetation has been an essential reference for students and researchers in botany, ecology and natural resource management for over twenty years. Fully updated and with a new team of authors, the third edition presents the latest insights on the patterns and processes that shaped the vegetation of Australia. The first part of Australian Vegetation provides a synthesis of ecological processes that influence vegetation traits throughout the continent, using a new classification of vegetation formations. New chapters examine the influences of climate, soils, fire regimes, herbivores and aboriginal people on vegetation, in addition to completely revised chapters on evolutionary biogeography, quaternary vegetation history and alien plants. The book’s second half presents detailed ecological portraits for each major vegetation type and offers data-rich perspectives and comparative analysis presented in tables, graphs, maps and colour illustrations. This authoritative book will inspire readers to learn and explore first-hand the vegetation of Australia.
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The Nature of Plant Communities
Artist/Author: Bastow Wilson, J. Andrew DQ Agnew, Stephen H Roxburgh$91.00 Add to cartMost people can readily identify a forest, or a grassland, or a wetland – these are the simple labels we give different plant communities. The aim of this book is to move beyond these simple descriptions to investigate the ‘hidden’ structure of vegetation, asking questions such as how do species in a community persist over time? What prevents the strongest species from taking over? And, are there rules that confer stability and produce repeatable patterns? Answers to these questions are fundamental to community ecology, and for the successful management of the world’s varied ecosystems, many of which are currently under threat. In addition to reviewing and synthesising our current knowledge of species interactions and community assembly, this book also seeks to offer a different viewpoint – to challenge the reader, and to stimulate ecologists to think differently about plant communities and the processes that shape them.
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Rainforest Dispatches from Earth’s Most Vital Frontlines
Artist/Author: Juniper, Tony$33.00 Add to cartRainforests are key to the health of our world – they maintain the water and air cycles, store carbon, and have yielded countless numbers of medical drugs. We have already destroyed half their area. We need urgently to save the half that’s left. This book explains why – and how.
Rainforests are the lungs of our planet – regulators of the earth’s temperature and weather. They are also home to 50 per cent of the world’s animals and plants – which for centuries have been the source of many of our key medicines. And yet we’ve all heard of their systematic destruction; the raising of trees to make way for plantations of oil palms or cattle, the disenfranchisement of indigenous peoples, and the corruption that leads to illegal logging and pollution.
But this is the full story you’ve never heard: an in depth, wide-ranging, first-hand narrative that not only looks at the state of the world’s tropical rainforests today and the implications arising from their continuing decline, but also at what is being done, and can be done in future, to protect the forests and the 1.6 billion people that depend upon them. It is inspirational, too, in its descriptions of the rainforest’s remarkable birds and plants … and its indigenous people.
Rainforest is a personal story, drawing on the author’s many years’ experience at the frontline of the fight to save the rainforests, explaining the science and history of the campaigns, and what it has felt like to be there, amid the conflicts and dilemmas.
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Effective Ecological Monitoring
Artist/Author: Lindenmayer, David, Gene Likens$50.00 Add to cartThe fully revised second edition of this highly acclaimed book.
Long-term monitoring programs are fundamental to understanding the natural environment and managing major environmental problems. Yet they are often done very poorly and ineffectively. This second edition of the highly acclaimed Effective Ecological Monitoring describes what makes monitoring programs successful and how to ensure that long-term monitoring studies persist.
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Mangroves of the Northern Territory, Australia: Identification and Traditional Use
Artist/Author: Wightman, Glenn (Author), Milton Andrews (Principal Illustrator)$31.00 Read moreThe mangrove communities of the Northern Territory are floristically diverse and contain 51 species; they cover over 4,000 kilometres of the NT coastline and river systems and comprise over one third of Australia’s total mangrove resource. They are the most pristine mangroves in Australia and probably the world.
This book will allow you to identify all the plant species that occur in the mangroves, and it also outlines the traditional use of these plants by coastal Aboriginal groups.
Mangroves play a critical role in marine and coastal ecosystems andtheir importance as breeding grounds for fish, as ecological indicators and as cultural resources for Aboriginal people are now widely recognixed.
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Understanding Flowers and Flowering: An Intergrated Approach (Second Edition)
Artist/Author: Glover, Beverley$85.00 Add to cartTo fully understand plant development (and why flowers differ in shape, structure and colour), it is necessary to understand why it is advantageous for them to look like they do. Conversely, in order to fully understand plant ecology, it is necessary to appreciate how floral structures have developed and evolved. This new edition has been completely revised and updated to reflect the latest advances in the field, especially an increased understanding of the evolution of floral traits. New chapters consider the genetic basis of the floral transition in diverse species, as well as the evolutionary lability of floral form. There is a new focus throughout on both phylogenetic position and morphological diversity across the angiosperm phylogeny. Understanding Flowers and Flowering continues to provide the first truly integrated study of the topic – one that discusses both the how and why of flowering plant reproductive biology.
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Economy and ecology of heathlands.
Artist/Author: Diemont, W. Herbert et al,$110.00 Add to cartLooks at the diversity and use of heathlands over the whole Atlantic area of Europe, from Portugal and Spain in the south to Norway in the north and from Germany in the east to Ireland in the west. This volume does show us both the diversity in use all over Europe combining this with the newest insights in ecology and the Natura 2000 status most of these heathlands now have. One of the central themes is how to cover the costs of maintenance of these heathlands. Is their future in new types of commons, or do other types of land ownership using the revenues of heathland ecosystem services give better opportunities. The editors combine a broad variance in knowledge of heathlands varying from all aspects of ecology, land use, as well as economy.
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Vegetation Survey and Assessment EnviroGuide
Artist/Author: Bayley, Darren, and David Brouwer.$39.00 Add to cartThis book is designed to help you investigate and assess the condition and habitat value of vegetation, describe plant communities, survey and assess vegetation, and collect and identify plants. It is useful for land managers, landholders, farmers, weeds and vegetation officers, consultants, land carers and students who want to know more about the vegetation on any site they are investigating.
This guide will help you develop knowledge and skills to:
• determine the need for survey and assessment
• describe plant communities
• choose vegetation survey and assessment methods
• collect and identify plants
• record field data
• map vegetation
• apply legislation and policy
• assess vegetation condition and habitat value
• develop quality vegetation survey reports.This guide will assist you in choosing the best survey method for your site and help you understand the value of the vegetation you are assessing.
