Showing 1–12 of 40 results
Our backyards form an important habitat for wildlife, providing food, shelter and a place to live and breed for countless species of birds, mammals, insects, reptiles and amphibians. This useful guide has many identification spreads on key species and families of wildlife likely to be encountered. It also looks at ways of improving and enhancing your garden so that it can offer the most opportunities for wildlife and therefore the greatest amount of enjoyment to its owners. All in all it is an essential read for anyone hoping to create a haven for nature on their doorstep.
Typical backyard ponds are a complicated mess of pipes, pumps, filters, and nasty chemicals designed to adjust pH and keep algae at bay. Hardly the bucolic, natural ecosystem beloved by dragonflies, frogs, and songbirds. The antidote is a natural pond, free of hassle, cost, and complexity and designed as a fully functional ecosystem, ideal for biodiversity, swimming, irrigation, and quiet contemplation.
Building Natural Ponds is the first step-by-step guide to designing and building natural ponds that use no pumps, filters, chemicals, or electricity and mimic native ponds in both aesthetics and functionality. Highly illustrated with how-to drawings and photographs, coverage includes:
• Understanding pond ecosystems and natural algae control
• Planning, design, siting, and pond aesthetics
• Step-by-step guidance for construction, plants and fish, and maintenance and trouble shooting
• Scaling up to large ponds, pools, bogs, and rain gardens.
Whether you’re a backyard gardener looking to add a small serene natural water feature or a homesteader with visions of a large pond for fish, swimming, and irrigation, Building Natural Ponds is the complete guide to building ponds in tune with nature, where plants, insects, and amphibians thrive in blissful serenity.
It’s the pesticide on our dinner plates, a chemical so pervasive it’s in the air we breathe, our water, our soil, and even found increasingly in our own bodies. Known as Monsanto’s Roundup by consumers, and as glyphosate by scientists, the world’s most popular weed killer is used everywhere from backyard gardens to golf courses to millions of acres of farmland. For decades it’s been touted as safe enough to drink, but a growing body of evidence indicates just the opposite, with research tying the chemical to cancers and a host of other health threats.
In Whitewash, veteran journalist Carey Gillam uncovers one of the most controversial stories in the history of food and agriculture, exposing new evidence of corporate influence. Gillam introduces readers to farm families devastated by cancers which they believe are caused by the chemical, and to scientists whose reputations have been smeared for publishing research that contradicted business interests. Readers learn about the arm-twisting of regulators who signed off on the chemical, echoing company assurances of safety even as they permitted higher residues of the pesticide in food and skipped compliance tests. And, in startling detail, Gillam reveals secret industry communications that pull back the curtain on corporate efforts to manipulate public perception.
“Whitewash reads like a mystery novel, as Gillam skilfully uncovers Monsanto’s secretive strategies to convince countries around the world that its Roundup products are safe. The book unravels a tapestry of pesticide industry tricks to manipulate the scientific truths about their products while placing profits above human health and the environment. As someone who has experienced similar actions by corporations firsthand in my work far too often, I am hopeful that Carey’s book will be a wake-up call for more transparency about the dangers surrounding many chemicals in the marketplace.” ~ Erin Brockovich
When you know where to look, each season Nature provides a generous spread of tasty treats ripe for the picking. Foraging can be an adventure for the entire family, and Food You Can Forage is packed with photos, illustrations and useful information to help you identify and find food in the wild, as well as delicious recipes to try with your finds.
In this book, Tiffany Francis explores a range of habitats, revealing why plants grow where they do and which other living things live there too. Tiffany offers tips to help make the most of time spent outdoors wherever you are, and her delightful text also explains everything from the birds to look out for along the coast to which bumblebees you’re most likely to spot on your local heathland.
Whether you prefer to avoid eating overly processed foods or just enjoy spending time outdoors with your family, knowing how to ethically source food for free in the wild is a valuable and fun skill that anyone can learn.
This great diversity is showcased and brought to life through fascinating examples, beautiful illustrations and clear, explanatory diagrams.
Anyone with an interest in plants, or with more ecological or pharmacological inclinations, will be fascinated and engaged by this book.
Identifies plant species and provides guidance on seed-based conservation and restoration for 103 taxa in the Pilbara and Australian Arid Zone.
The Pilbara region in Australia’s arid northwest is rich in flora that is suited to extreme temperatures and boom and bust cycles of moisture availability. It is also a region important for its natural resources. In places where mining activities have finished and the land is under management for ecological restoration, there is increasing demand for information about native plant communities and the biology of their seeds.
Pollination Power is a visually spectacular insight into the hidden secrets of plant pollination, unravelling the deceit, tricks and rewards that plant bestow upon their pollinators. Throughout the book, full page colour photographs are accompanied with extended captions, telling the stories of the different pollination methods used by plants.
Presents a succinct yet comprehensive overview of medicinal and poisonous plants including those used for their mind-altering effects. Details approximately 350 species from Aloe vera and Ephedra sinica to Cannabis sativa and Coffea arabicadetailing their botanical, geographical, pharmacological, and toxicological data as well as the chemical structures of the active compounds in each. Full of colour photographs, this volume provides easy reference and quick answers, and will be an invaluable reference not only for those in the health care field but also for those growing their own medicinal herb gardens, as well as anyone who needs a quick answer to whether a plant is a panacea or a poison.
This quirky guide explains the chemistry and botanical history of over 150 plants, trees, flowers and fruits, showing how they form the bases of cocktails. Amy Stewart offers gardeners growing tips and provides cocktail enthusiasts with 50 drink recipes, as well as a rounded knowledge of the processes and plants which go into popular concoctions.
Tree-ring dating (dendrochronology) is a method of scientific dating based on the analysis of tree-ring growth patterns. As author James Speer notes, trees are remarkable bioindicators. Although there are other scientific means of dating climatic and environmental events, dendrochronology provides the most reliable of all paleorecords. Dendrochronology can be applied to very old trees to provide long-term records of past temperature, rainfall, fire, insect outbreaks, landslides, hurricanes, and ice storms–to name only a few events.This comprehensive text addresses all of the subjects that a reader who is new to the field will need to know and will be a welcome reference for practitioners at all levels. It includes a history of the discipline, biological and ecological background, principles of the field, basic scientific information on the structure and growth of trees, the complete range of dendrochronology methods, and a full description of each of the relevant subdisciplines.Individual chapters address the composition of wood, methods of field and laboratory study, dendroarchaeology, dendroclimatology, dendroecology, dendrogeomorphology, and dendrochemistry. The book also provides thorough introductions to common computer programs and methods of statistical analysis. In the final chapter, the author describes “frontiers in dendrochronology,” with an eye toward future directions in the field. He concludes with several useful appendixes, including a listing of tree and shrub species that have been used successfully by dendrochronologists. Throughout, photographs and illustrations visually represent the state of knowledge in the field. Also available in hardcover [stock id 34331].
About half of all species under threat of extinction in the world today are plants. The loss of plant biodiversity is disturbing for many reasons, but especially because it is a reflection of the growing disconnect between humans and nature. Plants have been used for millennia in traditional systems of healing and have held a significant place in drug development for Western medicine as well. Despite the recent dominance of synthetic drug production, natural product discovery remains the backbone of drug development. As the diversity of life on Earth is depleted and increasing numbers of species become lost to extinction, we continue to lose opportunities to achieve advances in medicine.
Through stories of drug revelation in nature and forays into botany, human behavior, and conservation, Kara Rogers sheds light on the multiple ways in which humans, medicine, and plants are interconnected. With accessible and engaging writing, she explores the relationships between humans and plants, relating the stories of plant hunters of centuries past and examining the impact of human activities on the environment and the world’s biodiversity. Rogers also highlights the role that plant-based products can play in encouraging conservation and protecting the heritage and knowledge of indigenous peoples.
“Out of Nature “provides a fresh perspective on modern drug innovation and its relationship with nature. The book delves into the complexity of biophilia–the innate human attraction to life in the natural world–and suggests that the reawakening of this drive is fundamental to expanding conservation efforts and improving medicine. Rogers’s examination of plants, humans, and drug discovery also conveys a passionate optimism for the future of biodiversity and medicine. Including a collection of hand-drawn maps and plant illustrations created by the author, this well-researched narrative will inspire as well as inform.
This volume provides a contemporary overview of new strategies for traditional medicine development. It looks at the importance of cataloguing ethnomedical information, of determining the active principles, and of examining the genetic diversity and range of actions of traditional medicines. It discusses the challenges of using traditional medicines for diseases where access to modern medicine is limited, and the research areas needed to improve quality, safety and efficacy for enhancing healthcare. The book affirms the importance of traditional medicines as an essential and integral component of healthcare systems, and the vast opportunities that exist for their evidence-based development.