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Whether sitting in a boat with a rod and reel trying to outwit a largemouth bass or watching bluntnose minnows dart among the rocks of a sparkling stream, many people are attracted to fish. Hundreds of species can be found in the ponds, lakes, rivers, and streams of the Upper Midwest, from the beautifully colored orangethroat darter to the prehistoric-looking shovelnose sturgeon. This much-needed addition to Iowa’s popular series of laminated guides—the twenty-eighth in the series—describes twenty-nine fish species, including some of the most sought after game fish like bluegill and largemouth bass, as well as less common species like logperch and the snakelike American eel.

Terry VanDeWalle includes a thorough description of each species, and covers the Upper Midwest states of Kansas, Illinois, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. 

The careful descriptions and habitat and diet information in Fish inYour Pocket—enhanced with superb photographs by underwater photographer Garold Sneegas—make it extremely useful for anglers and naturalists alike. 
 

The second edition of Fishes of Arkansas, in development for more than a decade, is an extensive revision and expansion of the first edition, including reclassifications, taxonomic changes, and descriptions of more than thirty new species.

An invaluable reference for anyone interested in the state’s fish population—from professional ichthyologists, fisheries biologists, and managers of aquatic resources, to amateur naturalists and anglers—this new edition provides updated taxonomic keys as well as detailed descriptions, photographs, and line drawings to aid identification of the state’s 243 fish species. There is also much information on the distribution and biology of each species, including descriptions of habitat, foods eaten, reproductive biology, and conservation status.

This project and the preparation of this publication was funded in part by a grant from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

 

Naturalists and recreational anglers will welcome the paperback edition of this comprehensive volume, first published in 1986, which describes every species in the lakes and streams of the Great Basin. Includes an updated checklist of established species, discussion of threatened and endangered species, glossary, bibliography, and index.

Fishes of the Minnesota Region was first published in 1982. 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.

From Northern Pike to the Walleye, this is the definitive guide to all of Minnesota's 149 kinds of fishes. Illustrated with over 80 color photographs, this book will appeal to enthusiastic anglers as well as curious naturalists.

Along with a guide to identification, the authors cover habitat, distribution, conservation, and even some recipes. If you catch a fish from one of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes you'll find a description of it in this book.

Between the surface of the sea and depths of two hundred meters lies a remarkable range of fish, generally known as pelagics, or open-ocean dwellers. These creatures are among the largest, fastest, highest-leaping, and most migratory fish on the entire planet. Beautifully adapted to their world, they range from tiny drift fish and plankton-straining whale sharks to more streamlined predators such as tuna, marlin, sailfish, and wahoo.

Fishes of the Open Ocean, from leading marine biologist and world authority on the subject Julian Pepperell, is the first book to comprehensively describe these fishes and explore the complex and often fragile world in which they live. In what will be the definitive book on the subject for years to come—and, with over three hundred color images, the most lavishly produced as well—Pepperell details the environment and biology of every major species of fish that inhabits the open ocean, an expanse that covers 330 million cubic miles and is the largest aquatic habitat on the Earth. The first section of the book introduces the various evolutionary forms these fish have taken, as well as the ways in which specific species interact and coevolve with others in the food web. A chapter on commercial and sport fisheries explores the human element in this realm and considers such issues as sustainability, catch-and-release initiatives, and the risks of extinction.

The second section of the book provides species accounts of open ocean dwellers organized by group, with overviews and general descriptions that are inclusive of range and distribution, unique physiological and morphological attributes, and the role of each species within its ecosystem. Global distribution maps, original illustrations from renowned artist and scientist Guy Harvey, and truly stunning images from some of the world’s leading underwater photographers round out this copiously illustrated volume.

Fishing Arkansas is a comprehensive guide to the angling opportunities that the Natural State offers to its 500,000–700,000 licensed fisherman as well as to visitors to the state. In addition to conveying the very drama and excitement of the fishing experience itself, the month-by-month organiziation of the book allows the reader a detailed look at the life histories of many Arkansas sport fish, the best lakes and streams in which to find them, and the most successful tactics and tackle to use.

Enhanced by Sutton's excellent photographs, the guide includes twelve sections on popular game fish, such as largemouth and smallmouth bass, crappie, catfish, bluegill, and trout. It also provides an introduction to often-overlooked species like bowfin, gar, carp, paddlefish, and pickerel. Hundreds of valuable fishing tips gleaned from decades of on-the-water experience and interviews with dozens of guides, biologists, and expert anglers enhance the engaging narraive. From the glistening trout in the cold tailwaters of the White River, to feisty catfish on the muddy bayou bottoms of the Delta region, Keith Sutton has served up a tempting array of the fish that can be sought and caught on hook and line in the teeming waters of Arkansas.

Fish bones in the caves of East Timor reveal that humans have systematically fished the seas for at least 42,000 years. But in recent centuries, our ancient, vital relationship with the oceans has changed faster than the tides. As boats and fishing technology have evolved, traditional fishermen have been challenged both at sea and in the marketplace by large-scale fishing companies whose lower overhead and greater efficiency guarantee lower prices. In Fishing Lessons, Kevin M. Bailey captains a voyage through the deep history and present course of this sea change—a change that has seen species depleted, ecosystems devastated, and artisanal fisheries transformed into a global industry afloat with hundreds of billions of dollars per year.

Bailey knows these waters, the artisanal fisheries, and their relationship with larger ocean ecology intimately. In a series of place-based portraits, he shares stories of decline and success as told by those at the ends of the long lines and hand lines, channeling us through the changing dynamics of small-scale fisheries and the sustainability issues they face—both fiscal and ecological. We encounter Paolo Vespoli and his tiny boat, the Giovanni Padre,in the Gulf of Naples; Wenche, a sea Sámi, one of the indigenous fisherwomen of Norway; and many more. From salmon to abalone, the Bay of Fundy to Monterey and the Amazon, Bailey’s catch is no fish tale. It is a global story, casting a net across waters as vast and distinct as Puget Sound and the Chilean coast. Sailing across the world, Bailey explores the fast-shifting current of how we gather food from the sea, what we gain and what we lose with these shifts, and potential solutions for the murky passage ahead.

As Perez states, "The catfish industry started out in Alabama as a do-it-yourself and figure-it out-yourself kind of enterprise." We hear how men who were mostly cattle farmers learned to nudge male and female fish into spawning in crudely constructed aquaria, how growers discovered the dissolved oxygen needs of their "herd" when big die-offs occurred, how Lenson Montz and Otis Breland designed the first paddle aerator to remedy the problem, how farmers eventually trained a bottomfeeding species to rise to the water surface to eat so their numbers could be better estimated. In one dramatic story, we learn how a man experimenting with the first skinning machine lost a piece of his hand in front of a crowd of horrified locals. (After it was retrieved from the skin basket, it was reattached by a town doctor and healed perfectly.) Ironically, the man was a representative of the engineering firm tasked with designing the machine; he had never before seen a catfish in his life. The machine was modified and became an essential component of modern fish processing.

In addition to telling the remarkable stories of individual contributions by farmers and researchers, Perez explains the positive effects played by improved public infrastructure, continued biological research, state legislation, and federal recognition of aquaculture as agriculture.

 

From Chapter Three:

"You're crazy," the bank officer declared with a friendly chuckle. "Why,

the Warrior River is full of catfish for anyone who wants them. There are

more in there than people will ever eat. And you think you're going to go

sell them when folks can go get them for nothing? That's just a bunch of

dreams!"

 

From Chapter Two:

“A crop duster's error, a visit by a curious feed company researcher, a

fluke of the weather, a coincidental encounter at a gas station. . . . How

could the three men, or anyone else for that matter, guess that these

chance circumstances would play into the birth of an industry that would

mushroom over the next forty or so years into one of the largest

contributors to the state's economy and that of the entire southeastern

United States?”

 

Leaping waterfalls, struggling through rocky shallows, only the strongest salmon survive to spawn a new generation. These remarkable fish seem to be pure nature, unfathomable, all instinct. But are they? For more than a century biologists have tried to unlock the mystery of salmon we know. For sociologist Rik Scarce, salmon represent an opportunity to probe the relationship of science, society, and nature.

About Pacific salmon -- a game fish and food source that is protected and manages for economic and environmental  abundance -- Scarce writes, "What other living thing receives such extensive attention from science and society, is used in so many ways, yet retains so much of what we would like  to think is its 'wild' character?" He shows how political, bureaucratic, and economic forces have directed salmon science for their own purposes and how control remains a central feature in salmon biology.

Identifying a countertrend rooted in environmental activism, Scarce also argues that an ecocentric perspective is gaining ground even as pressures mount simultaneously to save endangered salmon populations and to bring every last salmon to market. Thus, while external forces control much of the biologists' work, a movement is underway to free biology from political and economic pressures. In rich, ethnographic detail, Scarce develops this portrait of a science struggling with nature and itself. The old-line "fisheries biologists" tell how they work under immense pressure to unravel the unknowns of salmon existence to fulfill objectives of politically-motivated funding agencies. In contrast, the new breed of "conservation biology" researchers struggles to maintain the genetic diversity of salmon populations while minimizing the ways humans determine the fate of the salmon.

Fishy Business provides new ways for regarding about human interactions with other species, from appealing ones like wolves, whales, and redwood tress to less popular ones like snail darters and kangaroo rats. Society struggles to decide what parts of nature matter and why. Ultimately, Scarce argues, nature is a social product: what shall we make of it?

In most cities today, fire has been reduced to a sporadic and isolated threat. But throughout history the constant risk of fire has left a deep and lasting imprint on almost every dimension of urban society. This volume, the first truly global study of urban conflagration, shows how fire has shaped cities throughout the modern world, from Europe to the imperial colonies, major trade entrepôts, and non-European capitals, right up to such present-day megacities as Lagos and Jakarta. Urban fire may hinder commerce or even spur it; it may break down or reinforce barriers of race, class, and ethnicity; it may serve as a pretext for state violence or provide an opportunity for displays of state benevolence. As this volume demonstrates, the many and varied attempts to master, marginalize, or manipulate fire can turn a natural and human hazard into a highly useful social and political tool.

The paths of different birds look like double helixes, flowing strands of hair, and migrating serpents, and they beckon with calls that have definite meanings. These mysterious creatures inspire growing numbers of birders in their passionate pursuit of new species, and writer John R. Nelson is no exception. In Flight Calls, he takes readers on explorations to watch, hear, and know Massachusetts's hummingbirds, hawks, and herons along the coasts and in the woodlands, meadows, and marshes of Cape Ann, Cape Cod, the Great Marsh, Mount Auburn Cemetery, the Quabbin wilderness, Mount Wachusett, and elsewhere.

With style, humor, and a sense of wonder, Nelson blends his field adventures with a history of the birding community; natural and cultural history; bird stories from authors such as Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, and Mary Oliver; current scientific research; and observations about the fascinating habits of birds and their admirers. These essays are capped off with a plea for bird conservation, in Massachusetts and beyond.

Hawks fly at very high altitudes, sometimes over water, and thus their flight behavior and migration patterns are extremely difficult to study. Now, based on nearly ten years of research, this book provides the most complete analysis to date of how hawks migrate. Paul Kerlinger has employed both direct observations and radar techniques to obtain a much more accurate understanding of the migratory behavior of hawks and the "decisions" they make in flight. And, he has integrated data on the flight behavior of raptors in general with information about their ecology, physiology, evolution, and nonmigratory behavior.

Kerlinger begins with an overview, discussing ecology and geography, research methods, natural history, and evolution, and atmospheric structure. He then addresses specific aspects of flight behavior: aerodynamics, morphology, mechanics, direction, altitude, flocking, water crossing, speed selection, daily distance traveled, and flight strategies. Kerlinger describes each aspect of behavior quantitatively, testing mechanistic hypotheses. In conclusion, he examines how migrants integrate these behavioral components. Throughout the text he draws comparisons between the migratory flight behavior of hawks and that of other taxa. By means of such comparisons, researchers can gain insight into the selective pressures that shape the behavior of migrant species.

A fascinating natural history of an incredibly curious substance.

“Preternaturally hardened whale dung” is not the first image that comes to mind when we think of perfume, otherwise a symbol of glamour and allure. But the key ingredient that makes the sophisticated scent linger on the skin is precisely this bizarre digestive by-product—ambergris. Despite being one of the world’s most expensive substances (its value is nearly that of gold and has at times in history been triple it), ambergris is also one of the world’s least known. But with this unusual and highly alluring book, Christopher Kemp promises to change that by uncovering the unique history of ambergris.

A rare secretion produced only by sperm whales, which have a fondness for squid but an inability to digest their beaks, ambergris is expelled at sea and floats on ocean currents for years, slowly transforming, before it sometimes washes ashore looking like a nondescript waxy pebble. It can appear almost anywhere but is found so rarely, it might as well appear nowhere. Kemp’s journey begins with an encounter on a New Zealand beach with a giant lump of faux ambergris—determined after much excitement to nothing more exotic than lard—that inspires a comprehensive quest to seek out ambergris and its story. He takes us from the wild, rocky New Zealand coastline to Stewart Island, a remote, windswept island in the southern seas, to Boston and Cape Cod, and back again. Along the way, he tracks down the secretive collectors and traders who populate the clandestine modern-day ambergris trade.

Floating Gold is an entertaining and lively history that covers not only these precious gray lumps and those who covet them, but presents a highly informative account of the natural history of whales, squid, ocean ecology, and even a history of the perfume industry. Kemp’s obsessive curiosity is infectious, and eager readers will feel as though they have stumbled upon a precious bounty of this intriguing substance.

The Flora Zambesiaca series, published in over 200 parts, provides comprehensive descriptive accounts of the flowering plants and ferns native and naturalized in Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and the Caprivi Strip. Meticulous botanical illustrations illustrate an example of each genera. This is an essential tool for ecological surveys, as no other publication provides the depth and scope. 

The Flora Zambesiaca series, published in over 200 parts, provides comprehensive descriptive accounts of the flowering plants and ferns native and naturalized in Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and the Caprivi Strip. Meticulous botanical illustrations illustrate an example of each genera. This is an essential tool for ecological surveys, as no other publication provides the depth and scope. 

The Flora Zambesiaca series, published in more than two hundred parts, provides comprehensive descriptive accounts of the flowering plants and ferns native and naturalized in Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and the Caprivi Strip. Meticulous botanical illustrations illustrate an example of each genera. An essential tool for ecological surveys, as no other publication provides the depth and scope.
 
Published in paperback following a modified Bentham & Hooker system, as parts or as whole volumes as and when they are complete.
 

The Flora of Iraq is the only flora for this region in the Middle East. It enables anyone documenting, studying, or managing Iraq’s vast and rich flora to identify the vascular cryptograms and flowering plants. In addition to the detailed taxonomic information, a large amount of supplementary data of general biological interest and economic interest is provided, as well as notes on vernacular names. Nearing completion, it fills a major gap in the floral knowledge of Iraq. Volume 6 covers the Compositae in its entirety.

 A critical, illustrated look at the flora of Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, designed to treat phanerogams as well as cryptogams of the area. This edition covers the Sapindaceae family, and provides plant descriptions, distribution, and taxonomic keys.

The Gentianaceae family is wildly diverse, with members ranging from annual and perennial herbs, to shrubs, to tropical trees and woody lianes. Their wide range means that many species of Gentiana are popular in gardens, especially those cultivated as rock garden or herbaceous border perennials. Flora of the Guianas Gentianaceae takes a critical, illustrated look at this family as it appears in Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. The volume includes species descriptions, distribution, habitat, and vernacular names, as well as line drawings throughout.

In Florida, fire season is plural, and it is most often a verb. Something can always burn. Fires burn longleaf, slash, and sand pine. They burn wiregrass, sawgrass, and palmetto. The lush growth, the dry winters, the widely cast sparks—Florida is built to burn.

In this important new collection of essays on the region, Stephen J. Pyne colorfully explores the ways the region has approached fire management. Florida has long resisted national models of fire suppression in favor of prescribed burning, for which it has ideal environmental conditions and a robust culture. Out of this heritage the fire community has created institutions to match. The Tallahassee region became the ignition point for the national fire revolution of the 1960s. Today, it remains the Silicon Valley of prescription burning. How and why this happened is the topic of a fire reconnaissance that begins in the panhandle and follows Floridian fire south to the Everglades.

Florida is the first book in a multivolume series describing the nation’s fire scene region by region. The volumes in To the Last Smoke will also cover California, the Northern Rockies, the Great Plains, the Southwest, and several other critical fire regions. The series serves as an important punctuation point to Pyne’s fifty-year career with wildland fire—both as a firefighter and a fire scholar. These unique surveys of regional pyrogeography are Pyne’s way of “keeping with it to the end,” encompassing the directive from his rookie season to stay with every fire “to the last smoke.”

The Schuylkill River-the name in Dutch means "hidden creek"-courses many miles, turning through Philadelphia before it yields to the Delaware. "I am this wide. I am this deep. A tad voluptuous, but only in places," writes Beth Kephart, capturing the voice of this natural resource in Flow.

An award-winning author, Kephart's elegant, impressionistic story of the Schuylkill navigates the beating heart of this magnificent water source. Readers are invited to flow through time-from the colonial era and Ben Franklin's death through episodes of Yellow Fever and the Winter of 1872, when the river froze over-to the present day. Readers will feel the silt of the Schuylkill's banks, swim with its perch and catfish, and cruise-or scull-downstream, from Reading to Valley Forge to the Water Works outside center city.

Flow's lush narrative is peppered with lovely, black and white photographs and illustrations depicting the river's history, its people, and its gorgeous vistas. Written with wisdom and with awe for one of the oldest friends of all Philadelphians, Flow is a perfect book for reading while the ice melts, and for slipping in your bag for your own visit to the Schuylkill.

First published in 1958, this compendium on the history of flowers has lost almost none of its bloom. With a flair for research and citation, E. Buckner Hollingsworth draws on folklore, poetry, annals of medicine, and gardening manuals to report essential historical information on the domestication of garden favorites before they were grown as ornamental plants. Organized by species, Flower Chronicles brims with literary and historical references, anecdotes, and digressions on the lives of merchants, housewives, perfumers, and surgeons. Though she writes with a light touch, Hollingsworth tackles Greek literature, Shakespeare, De Quincey, and Herrick.

A tremendously entertaining and charming book, not only for its richness of information but because Hollingsworth clearly enjoys her material, Flower Chronicles has an antiquarian feel about it-with line drawings, woodcuts, and translations from the Greek—but the text never feels dated. Out of print for nearly thirty years, Flower Chronicles reemerges as a garden literature classic.

"With humor and literary taste, Mrs. Hollingworth has compiled an astonishing amount of scholarly yet entertaining material from her studies in archaeology and mythology and her researches in ancient pharmacopeias, botanies, cookbooks, herbals, and stillroom books."-New Yorker

"Mrs. Hollingsworth writes gaily and quotes from old books, with a wonderful taste for the curious English of Elizabethan gardeners, and sharp notice of what poets and translators of talent have set down. To this she has added the excitement of discovery of forms not noticed by her predecessors."-New York Herald Tribune Book Review

Water—or the lack of it—has shaped the contours of the American West and continues to dominate the region's development. From the incursions of the Spanish conquistadores to the dams of the New Deal era, humans have sought water in these arid lands as the key to survival and success. And as the West becomes more urbanized, water is an issue as never before. This book sets contemporary and often bitter debates over water in their historical contexts by examining some of the most contentious issues that have confronted the region over five centuries.

Seventeen contributors—representing history, geography, ethnography, political science, law, and urban studies—provide an interdisciplinary perspective on the many dimensions of water in the West: Spanish colonial water law, Native American water rights, agricultural concerns, and dam building. A concluding essay looks toward the future by examining the impact of cities on water and of water marketing on the western economy.

As farmers and ranchers from Kansas to California compete for water with powerful urban economies, the West will continue to be reshaped by this scarce and precious resource. Fluid Arguments clearly shows that many of the current disputes over water take place without a real appreciation for the long history of the debate. By shedding new light on how water allocation is established—and who controls it—this book makes a vital contribution to our understanding of water and growth in the region.

CONTENTS

Divining the Past: An Introduction / Char Miller

Part 1. Land and Water on New Spain’s Frontiers
1. "Only Fit for Raising Stock": Spanish and Mexican Land and Water Rights in the Tamaulipan Cession / Jesús F. de la Teja
2. Water, the Gila River Pimas, and the Arrival of the Spanish / Shelly C. Dudley
3. "Between This River and That": Establishing Water Rights in the Chama Basin of New Mexico / Sandra K. Mathews-Lamb

Part 2. The Native American Struggle for Water
4. Maggot Creek and Other Tales: Kiowa Identity and Water, 1870-1920 / Bonnie Lynn-Sherow
5. The Dilemmas of Indian Water Policy, 1887-1928 / Donald J. Pisani
6. First in Time: Tribal Reserved Water Rights and General Adjudications in New Mexico / Alan S. Newell
7. Winters Comes Home to Roost / Daniel McCool

Part 3. Agricultural Conundrums
8. Water, Sun, and Cattle: The Chisholm Trail as an Ephemeral Ecosystem / James E. Sherow
9. Private Irrigation in Colorado’s Grand Valley / Brad F. Raley
10. A Rio Grande "Brew": Agriculture, Industry, and Water Quality in the Lower Rio Grande Valley / John P. Tiefenbacher
11. Specialization and Diversification in the Agricultural System of Southwestern Kansas, 1887-1980 / Thomas C. Schafer
12. John Wesley Powell Was Right: Resizing the Ogallala High Plains / John Opie

Part 4. Dam those Waters!
13. Private Initiative, Public Works: Ed Fletcher, the Santa Fe Railway, and Phoenix’s Cave Creek Flood Control Dam / Donald C. Jackson
14. The Changing Fortunes of the Big Dam Era in the American West / Mark Harvey
15. Building Dams and Damning People in the Texas-Mexico Border Region: Mexico’s El Cuchillo Dam Project / Raúl M. Sánchez

Part 5. The Coming Fight
16. Water and the Western Service Economy: A New Challenge / Hal K. Rothman

Unique among hiking trails is the one that forms a complete loop around the state of Ohio. That 1,200-mile trail is called the Buckeye Trail. Showing the way on tree trunks, rocks, and other natural signposts are the blue painted markings called “the blue blazes.” In Follow the Blue Blazes, the reader embarks on a journey to discover a part of Ohio largely unseen except along this great path.

Beginning with the startling rock formations and graceful waterfalls of Old Man’s Cave in southern Ohio, and leading clockwise around the state to visit expansive forests, lovely parks, ancient mounds, historic canals and battlefields, and scenic river trails, experienced trailsman Robert J. Pond provides a captivating look at each section of the trail.

Each chapter features an overview of a 100-mile section of the trail and three self-guided featured hikes. The overviews, with accompanying maps, may be read consecutively to acquaint the reader with the entire course of the blue blazes. But most readers will best enjoy the Buckeye Trail by taking the guide along on featured hikes. Each hike is supported by a detailed but easy-to-follow map and includes explicit directions to trailheads and approximate hiking times.

In addition to many outlying areas, the extensive Buckeye Trail is accessible in or near Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo, Cleveland, and Akron. Robert Pond has supplemented each description with interesting details about the geology and the diverse habitats of flora and fauna. Readers, too, can enjoy the beauty and wonders of Ohio if they Follow the Blue Blazes.

Many changes have taken place in the decade since Follow the Blue Blazes was first published, changes in the trails themselves and in the way we hike them. The Buckeye Trail still wends its way around the state of Ohio, following the course marked out by the characteristic blue blazes on trees and signposts along the way. In the intervening years, however, sections of the trail have changed their route, added amenities, or just grown more interesting. From the startling rock formations and graceful waterfalls of Old Man’s Cave, to Native American mounds, battlefields, and scenic rivers, Connie and Robert J. Pond provide a captivating guide to often-overlooked treasures around the state.

Each chapter features an overview of a 100-mile section of the trail and three self-guided featured hikes. The overviews and the accompanying maps may be read consecutively to acquaint the reader with the entire course of the trail. But most readers will best enjoy the trail by taking the guide along on one of the featured hikes. Each route is outlined on an easy-to-read map with GPS coordinates and waypoints to guide the hiker, as well as explicit directions from parking lot to trailhead.

The Buckeye Trail is readily accessible from Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo, Cleveland, and Akron. Even a short trip can lead to an adventure near your own backyard.

The seemingly inhospitable Sonoran Desert has provided sustenance to indigenous peoples for centuries. Although it is to all appearances a land bereft of useful plants, fully one-fifth of the desert's flora are edible.

This volume presents information on nearly 540 edible plants used by people of more than fifty traditional cultures of the Sonoran Desert and peripheral areas. Drawing on thirty years of research, Wendy Hodgson has synthesized the widely scattered literature and added her own experiences to create an exhaustive catalog of desert plants and their many and varied uses.

Food Plants of the Sonoran Desert includes not only plants such as gourds and legumes but also unexpected food sources such as palms, lilies, and cattails, all of which provided nutrition to desert peoples. Each species entry lists recorded names and describes indigenous uses, which often include nonfood therapeutic and commodity applications. The agave, for example, is cited for its use as food and for alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, syrup, fiber, cordage, clothing, sandals, nets, blankets, lances, fire hearths, musical instruments, hedgerows, soap, and medicine, and for ceremonial purposes. The agave entry includes information on harvesting, roasting, and consumption—and on distinguishing between edible and inedible varieties.

No other source provides such a vast amount of information on traditional plant uses for this region. Written to be easily accessible to general readers, the book is an invaluable compendium for anyone interested in the desert's hidden bounty.

Food webs are diagrams depicting which species interact or in other words, who eats whom. An understanding of the structure and function of food webs is crucial for any study of how an ecosystem works, including attempts to predict which communities might be more vulnerable to disturbance and therefore in more immediate need of conservation.

Although it was first published twenty years ago, Stuart Pimm's Food Webs remains the clearest introduction to the study of food webs. Reviewing various hypotheses in the light of theoretical and empirical evidence, Pimm shows that even the most complex food webs follow certain patterns and that those patterns are shaped by a limited number of biological processes, such as population dynamics and energy flow. Pimm provides a variety of mathematical tools for unravelling these patterns and processes, and demonstrates their application through concrete examples. For this edition, he has written a new foreword covering recent developments in the study of food webs and demonstrates their continuing importance to conservation biology.

The Confédération Paysanne, one of France's largest farmers' unions, has successfully fought against genetically modified organisms (GMOs), but unlike other allied movements, theirs has been led by producers rather than consumers. In Food, Farms, and Solidarity, Chaia Heller analyzes the group's complex strategies and campaigns, including a call for a Europe-wide ban on GM crops and hormone-treated beef, and a protest staged at a McDonald's. Her study of the Confédération Paysanne shows the challenges small farms face in a postindustrial agricultural world. Heller also reveals how the language the union uses to argue against GMOs encompasses more than the risks they pose; emphasizing solidarity has allowed farmers to focus on food as a cultural practice and align themselves with other workers. Heller's examination of the Confédération Paysanne's commitment to a vision of alter-globalization, the idea of substantive alternatives to neoliberal globalization, demonstrates how ecological and social justice can be restored in the world.

Inspired by a classic walking guidebook of the area, Foodloose in Washtenaw County takes readers on tours to discover food-related treasures throughout the county. What better way to get to know this place—or experience something new—than to bike, bus, carpool, walk, even kayak your way through food-filled Washtenaw County?

From centennial farms to trendy upscale restaurants, the self-guided tours of Foodloose offer an opportunity to explore where our food is grown, produced, distributed, and enjoyed in Washtenaw County. Within these pages lies a chance to celebrate the local food community, learn more about our unique food system, and maybe even find a new favorite place to dine.