The Sonoran Desert is a distinctive biotic region that fascinates scientist, students, and nature lovers. This book offers an accessible introduction to Sonoran Desert ecology. Eight original essays by Sonoran Desert specialists such as Paul Martin and Richard Felger provide an overview of the practice of ecology at landscape, community, and organismal scales.

The essays explore the rich diversity of plant life in the Sonoran Desert and the ecological patterns and processes that underlie it. They also reveal the history and scientific legacy of the Desert Laboratory in Tucson, which has conducted research on the Sonoran Desert since 1903. Coverage includes diversity and affinities of the flora, physical environments and vegetation, landscape complexity and ecological diversity, population dynamics of annual plants, form and function of cacti, and the relationship between plants and the animals that use them as feeding and breeding resources. The text also examines the ecological consequences of modern agricultural development, as well as the impact on the modern biota of 40,000 years of change in climate, vegetation, megafauna, and ancient cultures.

This comprehensive book covers a broad range of spatial and temporal scales to highlight the diversity of research being pursued in the Sonoran Desert. It is both a testament to these ongoing studies and an authoritative introduction to the diverse plant life in the region.
 

From the ridgetops of the north to the Pinelands of the south, New Jersey’s natural areas display an astonishing variety of plant life. This book--a completely revised edition of the classic Vegetation of New Jersey--enables readers to understand why the vegetation of New Jersey is what it is today and what it may become.

The book portrays New Jersey as an ecosystem--its geology, topography and soil, climate, plant-plant and plant-animal relationships, and the human impact on the environment. The authors describe in detail the twelve types of plant habitats distinguished in New Jersey and suggest places to observe good examples of them. 

The book is amply illustrated with photographs of plant communities and individual species and maps. The appendixes provide a cross reference between the common and scientific names of native plants of New Jersey, and hints for plant identification.

Scientifically accurate yet written in a lively style, Plant Communities of New Jersey belongs on the bookshelf of every New Jerseyan who cares about the environment.