Giants

Giants PDF

Author: Audrey Grescoe

Publisher:

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13:

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They're all here - redwoods, Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, western red cedar, big-leaf maple, giant sequoia, grand fir, black cottonwood, western hemlock, Garry oak, and many others such as the arbutus and yew that are big in other ways. But author Audrey Grescoe doesn't just describe these monarchs of the forest; she tells their stories in terms of the people who have used, abused, discovered, studied, and protected them past and present. Highlighted by photographer Bob Herger's stunning fullcolor photographs, Giants is a compendium of big-tree lore. The reader will learn about urban forests in Vancouver and Portland, the medicinal qualities of the yew, the wonders of the red alder, forest friends and foes such as wildfire and insects, the mysteries of tree rings, and just where the West Coast's biggest trees can be found.

A Natural History of Conifers

A Natural History of Conifers PDF

Author: Aljos Farjon

Publisher: Timber Press

Published: 2008-01-01

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 0881928690

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A compelling account of the extraordinary relatives of ordinary garden conifers. Leading expert Aljos Farjon provides a compelling narrative that observes conifers from the standpoint of the curious naturalist. It starts with the basic question of what conifers are and continues to explore their evolution, taxonomy, ecology, distribution, human uses, and issues of conservation. As the story unfolds many popular misconceptions are dispelled, such as the false notion that all conifers have cones. The extraordinary diversity of conifers begins to dawn as Farjon describes the diminutive creeping shrub Microcachrys tetragona, whose strange seed cones resemble raspberries, and the prehistoric-looking Araucaria meulleri. The taxonomic diversity of conifers is huge and Farjon goes on to relate how, over the course of 300 million years, these trees and shrubs have adapted to survive geological upheavals, climatic extremes, and formidable competition from flowering plants. All who seek to learn more about the early history of life on our planet will cherish this book.

Forest Giants of the World, Past and Present

Forest Giants of the World, Past and Present PDF

Author: Al Carder

Publisher: Markham, Ont. : Fitzhenry & Whiteside

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13:

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Ever since the forest primeval, men and women have walked among the trees and admired their beauty and wondered at their size. How big are these magnificent things, anyway? We moderns are wont to measure, categorize and document, and so a book like this is born which is world-wide in scope and not only embraces space but also time. As the author, Al Carder, shows us in his study of forest giants the past is as important as the present. Many, many of our great trees have fallen and disappeared, some through fire and storm but more through the ravages of our own kind. Dr. Carder has not only traveled the world in search of the living giants, he has consulted the histories and records to identify those great trees that have been and gone, and his book is therefore an authoritative record of the world's super trees, past and present. Height is only one quality of greatness. Some trees are awesome in their ultimate form; their bole, their spread of canopy, their age. All these features are ardently noted by the author who describes more than 140 species. Forest Giants of the World will appeal to those who wonder about the location and the measurement of the Great Trees as well as to the specialist who requires more technical details about them.

Nature and Science on the Pacific Coast

Nature and Science on the Pacific Coast PDF

Author: American Association for the Advancement of Science. Pacific Coast Committee

Publisher:

Published: 1915

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13:

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"The Pacific Coast region of the United States contains many distinctive natural features and much unique material for scientific research. Many of the problems presented here are peculiar to the West, but in their larger aspects they have a significant bearing upon fundamental questions of world-wide concern both in the field of natural science and in the relation of these problems to the affairs of men. However interesting western materials may be, the traveler wishing to know of them has little time for study, and sources of information which might be used are frequently scattered and inaccessible. Recognizing the need for ready information on nature and science in the West, the Pacific Coast Committee of the American Association for the Advancement of Science has considered it desirable in this year of the two expositions celebrating the opening of the Panama Canal to bring together in hand-book form concise data upon matters of general interest for the use of travelers in this region. A special committee was appointed to assemble the material and to enlist the assistance of men well informed upon the subjects to be discussed. The descriptions contained in this book have been prepared with care by specialists, and the volume is addressed to all travelers in the West who wish to know the significant features of the land through which they pass."-- c taken from Introductory Note, page v.

Trees in Paradise

Trees in Paradise PDF

Author: Jared Farmer

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2013-10-28

Total Pages: 624

ISBN-13: 0393078027

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Describes how the first settlers in California changed the brown landscape there by creating groves, wooded suburbs and landscaped cities through planting eucalypts in the lowlands, citrus colonies in the south and palms in Los Angeles.

A Natural History of California

A Natural History of California PDF

Author: Allan A. Schoenherr

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2017-07-03

Total Pages: 632

ISBN-13: 0520290372

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In this comprehensive and abundantly illustrated book, Allan A. Schoenherr describes the natural history of California—a state with a greater range of landforms, a greater variety of habitats, and more kinds of plants and animals than any area of equivalent size in all of North America. A Natural History of California focuses on each distinctive region, addressing its climate, rocks, soil, plants, and animals. The second edition of this classic work features updated species names and taxa, new details about parks reclassified by federal and state agencies, new stories about modern human and animal interaction, and a new epilogue on the impacts of climate change.

Mountains in the Greenhouse

Mountains in the Greenhouse PDF

Author: Donald McKenzie

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-06-17

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 3030424324

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This book is written for general readers with an interest in science, and offers the tools and ideas for understanding how climate change will affect mountains of the American West. A major goal of the book is to provide material that will not become quickly outdated, and it does so by conveying its topics through constants in ecological science that will remain unchanged and scientifically sound. The book is timely in its potential to be a long-term contribution, and is designed to inform the public about climate change in mountains accessibly and intelligibly. The major themes of the book include: 1) mountains of the American West as natural experiments that can distinguish the effects of climate change because they have been relatively free from human-caused changes, 2) mountains as regions with unique sensitivities that may change more rapidly than the Earth as a whole and foreshadow the nature and magnitude of change elsewhere, and 3) different interacting components of ecosystems in the face of a changing climate, including forest growth and mortality, ecological disturbance, and mountain hydrology. Readers will learn how these changes and interactions in mountains illuminate the complexity of ecological changes in other contexts around the world.

DK Eyewitness Books: Tree

DK Eyewitness Books: Tree PDF

Author: David Burnie

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2015-09-01

Total Pages: 74

ISBN-13: 1465449051

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In this updated and revised edition of Tree, readers can see a seed grow into a sapling, the changing colors of fall leaves, and the tiny insects that live in rotting leaves on the forest floor, plus learn why deciduous trees lose their leaves in the fall, how a tree breathes, how bark defends trees from attack by animals, and more. Each revised DK Eyewitness book retains the stunning artwork and photography from the groundbreaking original series, but the text has been reduced and reworked to speak more clearly to younger readers. Still on every colorful page: vibrant annotated photographs and the integrated text-and-pictures approach that makes DK Eyewitness a perennial favorite of parents, teachers, and school-age kids.