Natural History of the Islands of California
Natural History of the Islands of California

Author: Allan A. Schoenherr

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2003-07-10

Total Pages: 504

ISBN-13: 0520239180

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A book on California's islands that deals with their natural history and geology as well as the history of human habitation.

Terrestrial Vegetation of California, 3rd Edition
Terrestrial Vegetation of California, 3rd Edition

Author: Michael Barbour

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2007-07-17

Total Pages: 732

ISBN-13: 0520249550

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"This completely new edition of Terrestrial Vegetation of California clearly documents the extraordinary complexity and richness of the plant communities and of the state and the forces that shape them. This volume is a storehouse of information of value to anyone concerned with meeting the challenge of understanding, managing or conserving these unique plant communities under the growing threats of climate change, biological invasions and development."—Harold Mooney, Professor of Environmental Biology, Stanford University "The plants of California are under threat like never before. Traditional pressures of development and invasive species have been joined by a newly-recognized threat: human-caused climate change. It is essential that we thoroughly understand current plant community dynamics in order to have a hope of conserving them. This book represents an important, well-timed advance in knowledge of the vegetation of this diverse state and is an essential resource for professionals, students, and the general public alike."—Brent Mishler, Director of the University & Jepson Herbaria and Professor of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley

California Prehistory
California Prehistory

Author: Terry L. Jones

Publisher: Rowman Altamira

Published: 2007-07-16

Total Pages: 410

ISBN-13: 0759113742

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Some forty scholars examine California's prehistory and archaeology, looking at marine and terrestrial palaeoenvironments, initial human colonization, linguistic prehistory, early forms of exchange, mitochondrial DNA studies, and rock art. This work is the most extensive study of California's prehistory undertaken in the past 20 years. An essential resource for any scholar of California prehistory and archaeology!

The Island Chumash
The Island Chumash

Author: Douglas J. Kennett

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2005-04-04

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 0520243021

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"Kennett explores trends in demography, dietary expansion, economic intensification, and increasing sociopolitical sophistication evident in the archaeological record. By combining empirical findings based on new archaeological and paleoclimatic work and a thorough synthesis of earlier studies, Kennett argues that the social and political complexity evident among the island Chumash historically was ultimately a product of individual responses to demographic expansion, human impact on marine habitats, and periods of rapid climatic change."--BOOK JACKET.

Encyclopedia of Islands
Encyclopedia of Islands

Author: Rosemary Gillespie

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2009-08-19

Total Pages: 1110

ISBN-13: 0520943724

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Islands have captured the imagination of scientists and the public for centuries—unique and rare environments, their isolation makes them natural laboratories for ecology and evolution. This authoritative, alphabetically arranged reference, featuring more than 200 succinct articles by leading scientists from around the world, provides broad coverage of all the island sciences. But what exactly is an island? The volume editors define it here as any discrete habitat isolated from other habitats by inhospitable surroundings. The Encyclopedia of Islands examines many such insular settings—oceanic and continental islands as well as places such as caves, mountaintops, and whale falls at the bottom of the ocean. This essential, one-stop resource, extensively illustrated with color photographs, clear maps, and graphics will introduce island science to a wide audience and spur further research on some of the planet's most fascinating habitats.

Foundations of Chumash Complexity
Foundations of Chumash Complexity

Author: Jeanne E. Arnold

Publisher: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press

Published: 2005-12-31

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 1938770196

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume highlights the latest research on the foundations of sociopolitical complexity in coastal California. The populous maritime societies of southern California, particularly the groups known collectively as the Chumash, have gone largely unrecognized as prototypical complex hunter-gatherers, only recently beginning to emerge from the shadow of their more celebrated counterparts on the Northwest Coast of North America. While Northwest cultures are renowned for such complex institutions as ceremonial potlatches, slavery, cedar plank-house villages, and rich artistic traditions, the Chumash are increasingly recognized as complex hunter-gatherers with a different set of organizational characteristics: ascribed chiefly leadership, a strong maritime economy based on oceangoing canoes, an integrative ceremonial system, and intensive and highly specialized craft production activities. Chumash sites provide some of the most robust data on these subjects available in the Americas. Contributors present stimulating new analyses of household and village organization, ceremonial specialists, craft specializations and settlement data, cultural transmission processes, bead manufacturing practices, watercraft, and the acquisition of prized marine species.