The Surprising Lives of Bark Beetles
The Surprising Lives of Bark Beetles

Author: Jiri Hulcr

Publisher: University of Florida Press

Published: 2022-09-06

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 9781683402633

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A loving look at one of the world's most maligned, misunderstood, and fascinating insects Famous foe of forestry professionals and despised spreader of Dutch elm disease, bark beetles have a bad reputation: the World's Worst Forest Pests. They chew through timber profits and kill healthy trees, turning forests from carbon sinks into carbon sources. But entomologist Jiri Hulcr sees more to these evil weevils than meets the eye, and offers you a closer look--literally. With science journalist Marc Abrahams, Hulcr offers a funny and informative introduction to these under-studied and underappreciated insects.  This lively book turns cutting-edge research into an enjoyable tour through the miniature world of a charming critter. Vivid macrophotography captures every aspect of bark beetle life in stunning detail, from their dramatic family stories and curiously endearing looks to their mating strategies, and the secret fungus farms where they cultivate their own "ambrosia." You'll learn how much we don't know about bark beetles--and what that means for science's attempts to control them as climate change alters their habitats. Whether you're a scientist seeking up-to-date pest management strategies or you're just wondering if your backyard trees are at risk, this book will help you better understand the latest discoveries in beetle symbioses, molecular biology, and ecology. But be warned: at the end of this read you may be filled with affection for these adorable and astonishing beetles.

The Surprising Lives of Bark Beetles
The Surprising Lives of Bark Beetles

Author: Jiri Hulcr

Publisher: University Press of Florida

Published: 2022-09-06

Total Pages: 159

ISBN-13: 168340274X

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A loving look at one of the world’s most maligned, misunderstood, and fascinating insects Famous foe of forestry professionals and despised spreader of Dutch elm disease, bark beetles have a bad reputation: the World’s Worst Forest Pests. They chew through timber profits and kill healthy trees, turning forests from carbon sinks into carbon sources. But entomologist Jiri Hulcr sees more to these evil weevils than meets the eye, and offers you a closer look—literally. With science journalist Marc Abrahams, Hulcr offers a funny and informative introduction to these under-studied and underappreciated insects.  This lively book turns cutting-edge research into an enjoyable tour through the miniature world of a charming critter. Vivid macrophotography captures every aspect of bark beetle life in stunning detail, from their dramatic family stories and curiously endearing looks to their mating strategies, and the secret fungus farms where they cultivate their own “ambrosia.” You’ll learn how much we don’t know about bark beetles—and what that means for science’s attempts to control them as climate change alters their habitats. Whether you’re a scientist seeking up-to-date pest management strategies or you’re just wondering if your backyard trees are at risk, this book will help you better understand the latest discoveries in beetle symbioses, molecular biology, and ecology. But be warned: at the end of this read you may be filled with affection for these adorable and astonishing beetles.

The Windward Road
The Windward Road

Author: Archie Carr

Publisher: Knopf

Published: 2013-06-26

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 0307832112

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The Windward Road, published in 1956, made history. When Archie Carr began to rove the Caribbean to write about sea turtles, he saw that their numbers were dwindling. Out of this appeal to save them grew the first ventures in international sea turtle conservation and the establishment of the Caribbean Conservation Corporation. In addition to sea turtle biology, Carr recorded his general impressions, producing a natural history sprinkled with colorful stories.

Empire of the Beetle
Empire of the Beetle

Author: Andrew Nikiforuk

Publisher: Greystone Books Ltd

Published: 2011-07-22

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1553658949

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Beginning in the late 1980s, a series of improbable bark beetle outbreaks unsettled iconic forests and communities across western North America. An insect the size of a rice kernel eventually killed more than 30 billion pine and spruce trees from Alaska to New Mexico. Often appearing in masses larger than schools of killer whales, the beetles engineered one of the world's greatest forest die-offs since the deforestation of Europe by peasants between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. The beetle didn't act alone. Misguided science, out-of-control logging, bad public policy, and a hundred years of fire suppression created a volatile geography that released the world's oldest forest manager from all natural constraints. Like most human empires, the beetles exploded wildly and then crashed, leaving in their wake grieving landowners, humbled scientists, hungry animals, and altered watersheds. Although climate change triggered this complex event, human arrogance assuredly set the table. With little warning, an ancient insect pointedly exposed the frailty of seemingly stable manmade landscapes. Drawing on first-hand accounts from entomologists, botanists, foresters, and rural residents, award-winning journalist Andrew Nikiforuk, investigates this unprecedented beetle plague, its startling implications, and the lessons it holds.

Marjorie Harris Carr
Marjorie Harris Carr

Author: Peggy Macdonald

Publisher: University Press of Florida

Published: 2014-03-18

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 0813047552

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Marjorie Harris Carr (1915-1997) is best known for leading the fight against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Cross Florida Barge Canal. In this first full-length biography, Peggy Macdonald corrects many long-held misapprehensions about the self-described “housewife from Micanopy,” who struggled to balance career and family with her husband, Archie Carr, a pioneering conservation biologist. Born in Boston, Carr grew up in southwest Florida, exploring marshes and waterways and observing firsthand the impact of unchecked development on the state’s flora and fauna. Macdonald’s work depicts a determined woman and Phi Beta Kappa scholar who earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in zoology only to see her career thwarted by institutionalized gender discrimination. Carr launched her conservation career in the 1950s while raising five children and eventually became one of the century’s leading environmental activists. A series of ecological catastrophes in the 1960s placed Florida in the vanguard of the burgeoning environmental revolution as the nation’s developing eco-consciousness ushered in a wave of revolutionary legislation. With Carr serving as one of the most effective leaders of a powerful contingent of citizen activists who opposed dredging a canal across the state, “Free the Ocklawaha” became a rallying cry for environmentalists throughout the country. Marjorie Harris Carr is an intimate look at this remarkable woman who dedicated her life to conserving Florida’s wildlife and wild places. It is also a revelation of how the grassroots battle to save a small but vitally important river in central Florida transformed the modern environmental movement.

Bark Beetles
Bark Beetles

Author: Fernando E. Vega

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2014-12-29

Total Pages: 641

ISBN-13: 0124171737

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Bark Beetles: Biology and Ecology of Native and Invasive Species provides a thorough discussion of these economically important pests of coniferous and broadleaf trees and their importance in agriculture. It is the first book in the market solely dedicated to this important group of insects, and contains 15 chapters on natural history and ecology, morphology, taxonomy and phylogenetics, evolution and diversity, population dynamics, resistance, symbiotic associations, natural enemies, climate change, management strategies, economics, and politics, with some chapters exclusively devoted to some of the most economically important bark beetle genera, including Dendroctonus, Ips, Tomicus, Hypothenemus, and Scolytus. This text is ideal for entomology and forestry courses, and is aimed at scientists, faculty members, forest managers, practitioners of biological control of insect pests, mycologists interested in bark beetle-fungal associations, and students in the disciplines of entomology, ecology, and forestry. - Provides the only synthesis of the literature on bark beetles - Features chapters exclusively devoted to some of the most economically important bark beetle genera, such as Dendroctonus, Ips, Tomicus, Hypothenemus, and Scolytus - Includes copious color illustrations and photographs that further enhance the content

Manatee Insanity
Manatee Insanity

Author: Craig Pittman

Publisher: University Press of Florida

Published: 2010-05-09

Total Pages: 643

ISBN-13: 0813047072

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The quiet manatee has long been a flash point of frequent environmental debates. It is Florida's most famous endangered species, as well as its most controversial. Manatees appear on hundreds of license plates, attract hordes of tourists, and expose the uneasy relationships between science and the law and between freedom and responsibility like no other animal.  As passions have flared and resentments have grown, the battle over manatee protection has evolved into a war, and no reporter has followed the story more closely than Craig Pittman, the first environmental writer to explore the complex history, culture, and science of the controversies and concerns surrounding this remarkable creature.  With an abiding interest in the uncertain fate of this unique species, Manatee Insanity provides the first in-depth history of the attempts to provide legal protection for the manatee. Pittman follows Florida’s gentle giants through time and space, detailing interactions with a variety of human actors, from Jacques-Yves Cousteau to Jeb Bush to Jimmy Buffett, from a popular children's book author to a federal lawman who dressed in a gorilla suit for the ultimate undercover assignment.

Wild Capital
Wild Capital

Author: Barbara K. Jones

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 9781683401049

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In Wild Capital, Barbara Jones demonstrates that looking at nature through the lens of the marketplace is a surprisingly effective approach to protecting the environment. Showing that policy-makers and developers rarely associate wild places with monetary values, Jones argues that nature can and should be viewed as a capital asset like any other in order for environmental preservation to be a competitive alternative to development. Jones describes how the ecosystem services model, a tool that connects human well-being with the services nature provides, can play a critical role in assigning species and their habitats measurable values. She uses five highly recognizable animal species--moose, manatees, sharks, wolves, and bald eagles--as examples to show how highly valued charismatic fauna can serve as symbolic representations of entire ecosystems at risk. Through an emphasis on branding, incentives, and ecotourism, Jones advocates for channeling the social and economic power of these and other faces of nature to inspire greater environmental awareness and stewardship. Contending that many people don't realize how fiscally pragmatic environmental initiatives can be, Jones is optimistic that by recognizing the costs of habitat destruction and diminished biodiversity, we will make better choices regarding conservation and development. In doing so, we can more readily move toward co-existence with nature and a sustainable future.