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

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"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


Riparian Areas

Riparian Areas

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2002-10-10

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 0309082951

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The Clean Water Act (CWA) requires that wetlands be protected from degradation because of their important ecological functions including maintenance of high water quality and provision of fish and wildlife habitat. However, this protection generally does not encompass riparian areasâ€"the lands bordering rivers and lakesâ€"even though they often provide the same functions as wetlands. Growing recognition of the similarities in wetland and riparian area functioning and the differences in their legal protection led the NRC in 1999 to undertake a study of riparian areas, which has culminated in Riparian Areas: Functioning and Strategies for Management. The report is intended to heighten awareness of riparian areas commensurate with their ecological and societal values. The primary conclusion is that, because riparian areas perform a disproportionate number of biological and physical functions on a unit area basis, restoration of riparian functions along America's waterbodies should be a national goal.


Plant Geography

Plant Geography

Author: Rexford Daubenmire

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2012-12-02

Total Pages: 347

ISBN-13: 032315493X

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Plant Geography: With Special Reference to North America covers main concepts of the two major approaches to plant geography, namely, the floristic plant geography and the ecologic plant geography. Floristic plant geography primarily studies evolutionary divergence, migration, and decline of taxa, as influenced by past events of the earth's history. Ecologic plant geography is an alternative approach to plant geography, which takes plant communities as units having ranges to be interpreted, dominated by sociologic and physiologic, rather than phylogenetic and historic considerations. Under the floristic plant geography part, topics covered include interrelations among floristic plant geography, taxonomy, and geology; the relation between plant dissemination and migration; evidence of the dynamic character of plant ranges; and migratory route. After a brief introduction to the evolution of North and South America vegetation, the book discusses the ecologic plant geography section that focuses on various vegetation regions in North America, including Tundra, subarctic-subalpine forest, temperate mesophytic, xerophytic forest, and chaparral and steppe regions and temperate affinity forests in Middle America. Other regions examined include the desert and marine regions, as well as the microphyllous woodland, tropical savanna, rain forest, and tropical alpine. With great information on geologic history of each vegetation unit and paleontology, this book will be helpful to paleobotanists, historical geologists, and taxonomists.


Forest Ecosystems

Forest Ecosystems

Author: Richard H. Waring

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13: 9780127354439

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Cycles, water, carbon.