For award-winning science writer Margie Pitlak, exploring the unique nature of the Maine coast opens a door to deeper ties and insights. Watching a striped monarch caterpillar transform into a chartreuse pendant dabbed with gold, she realizes the limits of life and what passes between generations. She explores the violent geologic collisions that thrust up and fractured Maine’s mountains; digs into the latest scientific thinking on how animals navigate; reflects on the dizzy dance of plankton under the microscope and the dogfish heart that continued to beat while held in the palm of her hand. She looks at moose, fox, fishers, and the tides as well, and shares a chapter about cleaning up the Maine coast by kayak. These facets of the natural world speak a hidden language that is translated by scientific knowledge and reflection. Nature begins to speak about the nature of life.

"The reason I travel and explore the outdoors is simple," writes Johnny Molloy, "the world is a beautiful place!" And Molloy would know: he has backpacked more than 2,500 nights in forty states. It is this experience-much of it garnered in his home state of Tennessee-combined with his extensive production of guidebooks spanning activities from hiking and camping to paddling and bicycling, that enabled him to produce Backpacking Tennessee: Overnight Trail Adventures from the Mississippi River to the Appalachian Mountains. Complete with directions, distances, descriptions, and maps, Backpacking Tennessee is divided into four sections that together outline forty overnight hikes across West Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, the Cumberland Plateau, and East Tennessee and the Appalachian Mountains. The trails Molloy has chosen to highlight are a mix of well-known hikes and lesser-known areas, ranging in distance and difficulty for both novice hikers and experienced backpackers. Woven throughout the trail descriptions are comments on scenery, notes about safety, and historical information that help readers get a true feel for each hike. To round out his comprehensive guide, Molloy also includes ratings, 1-5, on the family- and dog-friendliness of each trail-an especially helpful feature for readers bringing loved ones along. From the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Cherokee National Forest to Big South Fork and Land Between the Lakes, Tennessee offers thousands of miles of trails for adventurers looking to explore. For budding outdoor enthusiasts and experienced backpackers alike, Backpacking Tennessee answers the timeless question: where do we go next?

This book presents both state-of-the art knowledge from Recent coral reefs (1.8 million to a few centuries old) gained since the eighties, and introduces geologists, oceanographers and environmentalists to sedimentological and paleoecological studies of an ecosystem encompassing some of the world's richest biodiversity. Scleractinian reefs first appeared about 300 million years ago. Today coral reef systems provide some of the most sensitive gauges of environmental change, expressing the complex interplay of chemical, physical, geological and biological factors. The topics covered will include the evolutionary history of reef systems and some of the main reef builders since the Cenozoic, the effects of biological and environmental forces on the zonation of reef systems and the distribution of reef organisms and on reef community dynamics through time, changes in the geometry, anatomy and stratigraphy of reef bodies and systems in relation to changes in sea level and tectonics, the distribution patterns of sedimentary (framework or detrital) facies in relation to those of biological communities, the modes and rates of reef accretion (progradation, aggradation versus backstepping; coral growth versus reef growth), the hydrodynamic forces controlling water circulation through reef structures and their relationship to early diagenetic processes, the major diagenetic processes affecting reef bodies through time (replacement and diddolution, dolomitization, phosphatogenesis), and the record of climate change by both individual coral colonies and reef systems over the Quaternary.
* state-of-the-art knowledge from Recent corals reefs
* introduction to sedimentological and paleoecological studies of an ecosystems encompassing some of the world's richest biodiversity.
* authors are internationally regarded authorities on the subject
* trustworthy information

The Most Important Animal of All is an award-winning picture book about seven super-animals - important keystone species - beautifully illustrated by Hannah Bailey and endorsed by The British Ecological Society. A class is learning all about animals and their teacher challenges them to decide which is the most important animal of all. Seven children champion a different animal for the top spot. Is it... BEES as master pollinators BATS as night-time predators and pollinators ELEPHANTS who shape their landscapes and spread seeds BEAVERS who create watery habitats TIGERS who keep their food web in balance SHARKS who keep our oceans healthy and increase biodiversity KRILL as food for many whales and sea creatures There is lots of information about each animals, as well as other keystone species, plus photographs to see them up close and in their habitats. This is a positive and gentle primer for young children from 5 years old about the issues of habitat loss, endangered species and climate change. "Only if we understand, will we care. Only if we care, will we help. Only if we help, shall all be saved" - Dr Jane Goodall.

Tennessee's geologic history has evolved in myriad ways since its initial formation more than a billion years ago, settling into its current place on the North American supercontinent between 300 and 250 million years ago. Throughout that long span of "deep time," Tennessee's landscape morphed into its present form.
"The Last Billion Years: A Geologic History of Tennessee" is the first general overview in more than thirty years to interpret the state's geological record. With minimal jargon, numerous illustrations and photographs, and a glossary of scientific terms, this volume provides the tools necessary for readers with little or no background in the subject to learn about the geologic formation of Tennessee, making it an excellent resource for high school students, college students, and interested general readers. Yet, because of the depth of its scholarship, the book is also an invaluable reference for professional geologists.
Recognizing that every reader is familiar with the roles of wind, water, gravity, and organisms in their everyday environment, author Don Byerly employs the Earth Systems Science approach, showing how the five interacting parts of the Earth--the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, and cryosphere--have worked together for eons to generate the rock compositions that make up Tennessee's geologic past.
All regions of the state are covered. Featuring a unique time chart that illustrates the state's geologic history from east to west, "The Last Billion Years" shows that while the geologic aspects of the state's three grand divisions are related in many ways, each division has a distinctly different background. The organization of the book further enhances its usability, allowing the reader to see and compare what was happening contemporaneously across the state during the key sequences of its geologic history. Written in a clear and engaging style, "The Last Billion Years" will have broad appeal to students, lay readers, and professionals.

When American explorers crossed the Texas Panhandle, they dubbed it part of the ""Great American Desert."" A ""sea of grass,"" the llano appeared empty, flat, and barely habitable. Contemporary developments - cell phone towers, oil rigs, and wind turbines - have only added to this stereotype. Yet in this lyrical ecomemoir, Shelley Armitage charts a unique rediscovery of the largely unknown land, a journey at once deeply personal and far-reaching in its exploration of the connections between memory, spirit, and place. Armitage begins her narrative with the intention to walk the llano from her family farm thirty meandering miles along the Middle Alamosa Creek to the Canadian River. Along the way, she seeks the connection between her father and one of the area's first settlers, Ysabel Gurule, who built his dugout on the banks of the Canadian. Armitage, who grew up nearby in the small town of Vega, finds this act of walking inseparable from the act of listening and writing. ""What does the land say to us?"" she asks as she witnesses human alterations to the landscape - perhaps most catastrophic the continued drainage of the land's most precious resource, the Ogallala Aquifer. Yet the llano's wonders persist: dynamic mesas and canyons, vast flora and fauna, diverse wildlife, rich histories. Armitage recovers the voices of ancient, Native, and Hispano peoples, their stories interwoven with her own: her father's legacy, her mother's decline, a brother's love. The llano holds not only the beauty of ecological surprises but a renewed realization of kinship in a world ever changing. Reminiscent of the work of Terry Tempest Williams and John McPhee, Walking the Llano is both a celebration of an oft-overlooked region and a soaring testimony to the power of the landscape to draw us into greater understanding of ourselves and others by experiencing a deeper connection with the places we inhabit.

Established in 1905, The Forest Service is steeped in history, conflict, strong personalities (including Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot), and the challenges of managing 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands. This unique federal agency is one that combines forest management with wildlife, fish, recreation, mining, grazing, and hundreds of other uses. It operates in the midst of controversy and change. The original intent was to protect the public forests, protect the water supplies, and, when appropriate, provide timber. Much has changed over the last 100 years including many new laws, but the fact that these lands are still fought over today shows the foresight of politicians, foresters, scientists, and communities. This work brings to light the many and varied activities of the agency that many people know little about in a world that is constantly changing. Written by a former Forest Service national historian, topics discussed in the work include wilderness and the Wilderness Act of 1964, recreation battles and interagency rivalry with the National Park Service, timber management including clearcutting, ecosystem management, roadless area and controversies over RARE and RARE II studies, fish and wildlife management including endangered species before and after the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and mining and the General Mining Act of 1872. It also discusses the future challenges: forest fires, water protection and restoration, recreation, involving the public, and fish and wildlife.

The Phytochemical Society of North America held its forty-fourth annual meeting in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada from July 24-28, 2004. This year's meeting was hosted by the University of Ottawa and the Canadian Forest Service, Great Lakes Forestry Centre and was held jointly with the International Society of Chemical Ecology. All of the chapters in this volume are based on papers presented in the symposium entitled "Chemical Ecology and Phytochemistry of Forest Ecosystems." The Symposium Committee, Mamdouh Abou-Zaid, John T. Arnason, Vincenzo deLuca, Constance Nozzolillo, and Bernard Philogene, assembled an international group of phytochemists and chemical ecologists working primarily in northern forest ecosystems. It was a unique interdisciplinary forum of scientists working on the cutting edge in their respective fields. While most of these scientists defy the traditional labels we are accustomed to, they brought to the symposium expertise in phytochemistry, insect biochemistry, molecular biology, genomics and proteomics, botany, entomology, microbiology, mathematics, and ecological modeling.
* A collection of papers presented at the 44th Annual meeting of the Phytochemical Society of North America
* Representation from a unique interdisciplinary forum of scientists
* Includes discussions on new genomics research in forest health

Over the last decade, the field of plant ecology has significantly developed and expanded, especially in research concerning the herb layer and ground vegetation of forests. This revised second edition of The Herbaceous Layer in Forests of Eastern North America accounts for that growth, presenting research that approaches the ecology of the herb layer of forests from a variety of disciplines and perspectives. The book synthesizes the research of top ecologists and biologists on herbaceous layer structure, composition, and dynamics of a variety of forest ecosystem types in eastern North America. The 2003 first edition of The Herbaceous Layer in Forests of Eastern North America was praised for containing the most extensive listing of herb-layer literature in existence. This second edition brings this material up to date, revised to include current research and data. The book incorporates quantitative data to support analyses that was previously unavailable during the publication of the first edition. Also featured are six entirely new chapters, focused on the response of the herbaceous layer to a wide variety of natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Building on the over 1,200 references and sources of the first edition, the second edition of The Herbaceous Layer in Forests of Eastern North America is an invaluable resource for plant ecologists, forest ecologists, and conservationists.