front cover of MACROFUNGI ASSOCIATED WITH OAKS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA
MACROFUNGI ASSOCIATED WITH OAKS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA
DENISE E. "BINION
West Virginia University Press, 2008

Macrofungi Associated with Oaks of Eastern North America, which was written as a companion to Field Guide to Oak Species of Eastern North America, represents the first major publication devoted exclusively to the macrofungi that occur in association with oak trees in the forests of eastern North America. The macrofungi covered in this volume include many of the more common examples of the three groups—mycorrhizal fungi, decomposers, and pathogens—that are ecologically important to the forest ecosystems in which oaks occur. More than 200 species of macrofungi are described and illustrated via vibrantly colored photographs. Information is given on edibility, medicinal properties, and other novel uses as well. This publication reflects the combined expertise of six mycologists on the macrofungi anyone would be likely to encounter in an oak forest.

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front cover of Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest
Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest
Bruce McCune
Oregon State University Press, 2023

A key component in healthy ecosystems, lichens can be found in almost any natural habitat in the Pacific Northwest. This comprehensive guide to the region’s macrolichens is intended for use by beginners as well as specialists: weekend naturalists will be able to identify specimens and recognize the great diversity of lichens, while lichenologists and mycologists will gain greater knowledge of the distribution and abundance of various species.

This updated third edition of Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest includes 95 additional species and an expanded introduction. It features keys to 109 genera and 681 species of Oregon and Washington macrolichens—all the macrolichens known or expected to occur in the two states. The keys also provide excellent coverage for lichens of Idaho and Montana, inland to the Continental Divide. Color photographs and detailed descriptions emphasize lichens prevalent in forested ecosystems.

The illustrated glossary and introductory material cover the terminology needed to identify macrolichens and provide information on collection and handling. The biology, ecology, and air-quality sensitivity of lichens are discussed; regional air-quality sensitivities are provided for nearly 200 species.

Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest will prove invaluable to anyone seeking to identify lichens or to better understand these organisms and their vital role in the natural world.

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front cover of Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest, Second Ed.
Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest, Second Ed.
Bruce McCune
Oregon State University Press, 2009

A key component in healthy ecosystems, lichens can be found in almost any natural habitat in the Pacific Northwest. This comprehensive guide to the region’s macrolichens is intended for use by beginners as well as specialists: weekend naturalists will be able to identify specimens and recognize the great diversity of lichens, while lichenologists and mycologists will gain greater knowledge of the distribution and abundance of various species.

This revised and expanded edition of Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest includes 116 new species and 176 additional illustrations and incorporates an understanding of macrolichens that has advanced tremendously in the past decade.

Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest includes keys to 113 genera and 586 species of Oregon and Washington macrolichens—all the macrolichens known or expected to occur in the two states. The keys also provide reasonable coverage for lichens of Idaho and Montana, inland to the Continental Divide. Color photographs and detailed descriptions are provided for 246 species, emphasizing lichens prevalent in forested ecosystems.

The illustrated glossary and introductory material cover the terminology needed to identify macrolichens and provide information on collection and handling. The biology, ecology, and air-quality sensitivity of lichens are discussed; regional air-quality sensitivities are provided for 184 species.

Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest will prove invaluable to anyone seeking to identify lichens or to better understand these organisms and their vital role in the natural world.

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front cover of Major Evolutionary Transitions in Flowering Plant Reproduction
Major Evolutionary Transitions in Flowering Plant Reproduction
Edited Spencer C. H. Barrett
University of Chicago Press, 2008
The first volume to address the study of evolutionary transitions in plants, Major Evolutionary Transitions in Flowering Plant Reproduction brings together compelling work from the three areas of significant innovation in plant biology: evolution and adaptation in flowers and pollination, mating patterns and gender strategies, and asexual reproduction and polyploidy. Spencer C. H. Barrett assembles here a distinguished group of authors who address evolutionary transitions using comparative and phylogenetic approaches, the tools of genomics, population genetics, and theoretical modeling, and through studies in development and field experiments in ecology. With special focus on evolutionary transitions and shifts in reproductive characters—key elements of biological diversification and research in evolutionary biology—Major Evolutionary Transitions in Flowering Plant Reproduction is the most up-to-date treatment of a fast-moving area of evolutionary biology and ecology.
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front cover of A Manual of Aquatic Plants
A Manual of Aquatic Plants
Norman C. Fassett; Revised Appendix by Eugene C. Ogden
University of Wisconsin Press, 2006

A Manual of Aquatic Plants can be said to be a classic; it made the identification of aquatic plants in sterile as well as in flowering or fruiting condition as simple as possible, and covers a region from Minnesota to Missouri and eastward to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Virgina.

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front cover of Manual of Grasses for North America
Manual of Grasses for North America
Mary E. Barkworth, Laurel K. Anderton Kathleen M. Capels, Sandy Long, and Michael B. Piep
Utah State University Press, 2007
Grasses are the world’s most important plants. They are the dominant species over large parts of the earth’s land surface, a fact that is reflected in the many different words that exist for grasslands, words such as prairie, veldt, palouse, and pampas to mention just a few. As a group, grasses are of major ecological importance, as soil binders and providers of shelter and food for wild animals, both large and small. Some grasses, such as wheat, rice, corn, barley, rye, tef, and sugar cane are major sources of calories for humans and their livestock; others, primarily bamboos, are used for construction, tools, paper, and fabric. More recently, the seed catalogs that tantalize gardeners each winter have borne witness to an increasing appreciation of the aesthetic value of grasses.

The Manual of Grasses for North America is designed as a successor to the classic volume by Hitchcock and Chase. It reflects current taxonomic thought and includes keys, illustrations, and distribution maps for the nearly 900 native and 400 introduced species that have been found in North America north of Mexico. In addition, it presents keys and illustrations for several species that are known only in cultivation or are of major agricultural significance, either as progenitors of bread wheat and corn or as a major threat to North American agriculture because of their ability to hybridize with crop species. The Manual is a major reference work for grasses that will retain its value for many years.
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front cover of Meetings with Remarkable Mushrooms
Meetings with Remarkable Mushrooms
Forays with Fungi across Hemispheres
Alison Pouliot
University of Chicago Press, 2023

A whirlwind journey through fungus frontiers that underscores how appreciating fungi is key to understanding our planet’s power and fragility.

What can we learn from the lives of fungi? Splitting time between the northern and southern hemispheres, ecologist Alison Pouliot ensures that she experiences two autumns per year in the pursuit of fungi—from Australia’s deserts to Iceland’s glaciers to America’s Cascade Mountains. In Meetings with Remarkable Mushrooms, we journey alongside Pouliot, magnifiers in hand, as she travels the world.

With Pouliot as our guide, we smell fire-loving truffles that transform their scent after burning to lure mammals who eat them and, ultimately, spread their spores. We spot the eerie glow of the ghost fungus, a deceptive entity that looks like an edible oyster mushroom but will soon heave back out—along with everything else in your stomach—if you take a bite. And we crawl alongside vegetable caterpillars, which are neither vegetable nor caterpillar but a fungus that devours insects from the inside out.

Featuring stunning color photographs of these mycological miracles, Meetings with Remarkable Mushrooms shows that understanding fungi is fundamental for harmonizing with the natural world.

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front cover of Michigan Shrubs and Vines
Michigan Shrubs and Vines
A Guide to Species of the Great Lakes Region
Burton V. Barnes, Christopher W. Dick, and Melanie E. Gunn
University of Michigan Press, 2016
Shrubs and vines are some of the most diverse and widespread plants in the Great Lakes Region. Michigan Shrubs and Vines is the must-have book for anyone who wishes to identify and learn about these fascinating plants. Presented in the same attractive, easy-to-use format as the classic Michigan Trees, the book gives detailed descriptions of 132 species, providing concise information on key characters, habitat, distribution, and growth pattern. Precise line drawings accompany each species description and illustrate arrangement and characteristics of leaves, flowers, and fruits in addition to stem structure to assist with reliable year-round identification. A thorough introduction covers the features and forms of shrubs and vines as well as their natural history, their role in landscape ecosystems, and their occurrence in regional ecosystems of North America and plant communities of the Great Lakes. This long awaited companion to Michigan Trees will appeal to botanists, ecologists, students, and amateur naturalists alike.

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A Monograph on the Genus Heuchera
Carl Rosendahl
University of Minnesota Press, 1936
A Monograph on the Genus Heuchera was first published in 1936. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.Volume II in the Minnesota Studies in Plant Science seriesThis taxonomic review discusses a number of topics related to the genus heuchera, including: its taxonomic and geographic position; its generic unity; its hybritidy; and its synoptical treatment. The study also offers a detailed description of the genus with an evaluation of various taxonomic characters.
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front cover of Morphologic Encyclopedia of Palynology
Morphologic Encyclopedia of Palynology
An International Collection of Definitions and Illustrations of Spores and Pollens
Gerhard Kremp
University of Arizona Press
This encyclopedia is designed to serve scholars in palynology as a standard text in questions concerning spore morphology and as a source of information for understanding the descriptive literature in palynology. Of particular value to petroleum geologists as well as to palynologists and plant scientists.
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front cover of Moss and Lichen
Moss and Lichen
Elizabeth Lawson
Reaktion Books, 2024
A fascinating guide to the natural and cultural significance of mosses and lichens.
 
Moss and Lichen is a celebration of the extraordinary biology, beauty, and resilience of two unassuming organisms. Endowed with unique abilities to thrive in extreme habitats, mosses and lichens defy easy categorization. Mosses, which are integral to the plant kingdom, and lichens, which are a kingdom unto themselves, colonize a variety of landscapes from rainforests to deserts to urban streets. Long neglected for lacking flowers, these organisms are now beloved for their significant role in maintaining the health of our world’s ecosystem.
 
Elizabeth Lawson describes how mosses and lichens shape landscapes, prevent erosion, and sequester carbon, but she also offers a wide-ranging introduction to the biologists, artists, and writers inspired by their beauty. Moss and Lichen will inspire a newfound appreciation for these unsung heroes of the natural world.
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front cover of Multiplicity in Unity
Multiplicity in Unity
Plant Subindividual Variation and Interactions with Animals
Carlos M. Herrera
University of Chicago Press, 2009

Plants produce a considerable number of structures of one kind, like leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds, and this reiteration is a quintessential feature of the body plan of higher plants. But since not all structures of the same kind produced by a plant are identical—for instance, different branches on a plant may be male or female, leaf sizes in the sun differ from those in the shade, and fruit sizes can vary depending on patterns of physiological allocation among branches—a single plant genotype generally produces a multiplicity of phenotypic versions of the same organ.

Multiplicity in Unity uses this subindividual variation to deepen our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary factors involved in plant-animal interactions. On one hand, phenotypic variation at the subindividual scale has diverse ecological implications for animals that eat plants. On the other hand, by choosing which plants to consume, these animals may constrain or modify plant ontogenetic patterns, developmental stability, and the extent to which feasible phenotypic variants are expressed by individuals.

An innovative study of the ecology, morphology, and evolution of modular organisms, Multiplicity in Unity addresses a topic central to our understanding of the diversity of life and the ways in which organisms have coevolved to cope with variable environments.

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