[PDF] Introduction To California Chaparral eBook

Author : Ronald D. Quinn
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 345 pages
File Size : 14,28 MB
Release : 2006-09-20
Category : Nature
ISBN : 052093900X

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The characteristic look of California Chaparral—a soft bluish-green blanket of vegetation gently covering the hills—is known to millions who have seen it as the backdrop in movies and television productions. This complex ecological community of plants and animals is not just a feature of the hills around Hollywood, but is a quintessential part of the entire California landscape. It is a highly resilient community adapted to life with recurring fires and droughts. Written for a wide audience, this concise, engaging, and beautifully illustrated book describes an ancient and exquisitely balanced environment home to wondrous organisms: Fire Beetles that mate only on burning branches, lizards that shoot blood from their eyes when threatened, Kangaroo Rats that never drink water, and seeds that germinate only after a fire, even if that means waiting in the soil for a 100 years or more. Useful both as a field guide and an introductory overview of the ecology of chaparral, it also provides a better understanding of how we might live in harmony, safety, and appreciation of this unique ecological community. * Identifies chaparral’s common plants, animals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects * Features 79 color illustrations, 56 black-and-white photographs, and 3 maps * Examines the role of humans and fire in chaparral, covering the placement and design of homes, landscaping, and public policy

Author : Ronald D. Quinn
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 345 pages
File Size : 22,3 MB
Release : 2006-09-20
Category : History
ISBN : 0520245660

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This book will introduce general readers to the plants and animals associated with chaparral and review for biologists and land managers its natural history, ecology, and management challenges.

Author : Philip W. Rundel
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 325 pages
File Size : 12,3 MB
Release : 2005-04-29
Category : History
ISBN : 0520241991

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Rundel introduces readers to the plant communities of the Southern California coastal areas and foothills, including color photos of 250 species and additional color habitat photos.

Author : Arthur R. Kruckeberg
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 318 pages
File Size : 21,51 MB
Release : 2023-11-10
Category : Nature
ISBN : 0520936426

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Carnivorous pitcher plants, pygmy conifers, and the Tiburon jewel flower, restricted to a small patch of serpentine soil on Tiburon Peninsula in Marin County, are just a few of California's many amazing endemic plants—species that are unique to particular locales. California boasts an abundance of endemic plants precisely because it also boasts the richest geologic diversity of any place in North America, perhaps in the world. In lively prose, Arthur Kruckeberg gives a geologic travelogue of California's unusual soils and land forms and their associated plants—including serpentines, carbonate rocks, salt marshes, salt flats, and vernal pools—demonstrating along the way how geology shapes plant life. Adding a fascinating chapter to the story of California's remarkable biodiversity, this accessible book also draws our attention to the pressing need for conservation of the state's many rare and fascinating plants and habitats. *148 outstanding, accurate photographs, more than 100 incolor, illustrate California's diverse flora *Covers a wide range of locations including the Channel Islands, the Central Valley, wetlands, bristlecone pine forests, and bogs and fens *Provides selected trip itineraries for viewing the state's geobotanical wonders *Includes information on human influences on the California landscape from the early Spanish explores through the gold rush and to the present

Author : Robert Ornduff
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 366 pages
File Size : 38,60 MB
Release : 2003-07-24
Category : History
ISBN : 9780520237049

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California's remarkably diverse plants range in size from the stately coast redwoods to the minute belly plants of the southern deserts. This is the only concise overview of the state's unique flora, its plant communities, and the environmental factors that shape them. 156 illustrations.

Author : John David Stuart
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 502 pages
File Size : 23,14 MB
Release : 2001
Category : Gardening
ISBN : 9780520221093

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"Finally a guide to the woody plants of wildland California! The easy-to-follow vegetative keys, revealing drawings, crisp color photos, and handy range maps combine to make this a beautiful, reader-friendly resource to the novice and the expert alike. Each species has a page of text, including notes on habitat, morphology, and economic importance."--Michael Barbour, editor of California's Changing Landscapes "I love this book. It is warmly welcome as a guide for California's avid public, a public that includes natural history lovers, conservationists, consultants, agencies, and public and private land managers. It is useful, useable, packed with accurate information, and cannot help but assist us in the difficult job of preserving our natural heritage."--Jake Sigg, President, California Native Plant Society

Author : Harold Mooney
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 1008 pages
File Size : 50,27 MB
Release : 2016-01-19
Category : Nature
ISBN : 0520278801

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This long-anticipated reference and sourcebook for CaliforniaÕs remarkable ecological abundance provides an integrated assessment of each major ecosystem typeÑits distribution, structure, function, and management. A comprehensive synthesis of our knowledge about this biologically diverse state, Ecosystems of California covers the state from oceans to mountaintops using multiple lenses: past and present, flora and fauna, aquatic and terrestrial, natural and managed. Each chapter evaluates natural processes for a specific ecosystem, describes drivers of change, and discusses how that ecosystem may be altered in the future. This book also explores the drivers of CaliforniaÕs ecological patterns and the history of the stateÕs various ecosystems, outlining how the challenges of climate change and invasive species and opportunities for regulation and stewardship could potentially affect the stateÕs ecosystems. The text explicitly incorporates both human impacts and conservation and restoration efforts and shows how ecosystems support human well-being. Edited by two esteemed ecosystem ecologists and with overviews by leading experts on each ecosystem, this definitive work will be indispensable for natural resource management and conservation professionals as well as for undergraduate or graduate students of CaliforniaÕs environment and curious naturalists.

Author : Tim Palmer
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 351 pages
File Size : 30,8 MB
Release : 2012-04-30
Category : Nature
ISBN : 0520952197

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Award-winning author, naturalist, and conservationist Tim Palmer presents the world of California rivers in this practical and inspiring field guide. Loaded with tips on where to hike, fish, canoe, kayak, and raft, it offers an interpretive approach that reveals geology, plant and wild life, hydrologic processes, and other natural phenomena. Palmer reports on conservation with a perspective from decades of personal engagement. More than 150 streams are featured, 50 riparian species are illustrated, and 180 photos show the essence of California’s rivers. Palmer brings a natural history guide, a recreation guide, and an introduction to river ecology together in one illuminating volume; it belongs in every river lover’s book collection, boat, and backpack.

Author : David Carle
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 245 pages
File Size : 45,77 MB
Release : 2021-08-20
Category : History
ISBN : 0520379144

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"What is fire? How are wildfires ignited? How do California's weather and topography influence fire? How did the California Indians use fire? David Carle focuses on this fundamental element of the natural world, giving a fascinating and concise view of this complex topic. This clearly written, dramatically illustrated book will help Californians, including the millions who live near naturally flammable wildlands, better understand their own place in the state's landscape. Carle covers the basics of fire ecology; looks at the effects of fire on wildlife, soil, water, and air; discusses fire-fighting organizations and land management agencies; explains current policies, and explores many other topics, including the extreme and deadly fire events of 2020 and evidence that climate change is changing the wildfire story in California"--

Author : Allan A. Schoenherr
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 504 pages
File Size : 49,90 MB
Release : 2003-07-10
Category : History
ISBN : 0520239180

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