Nature and the natural world: general interest Books

Book SynopsisIf you are interested in birdwatching, wildlife viewing, orstargazing; flowers, geology, or water; nature centers, festivals, orphotography, a destination in Texas awaits you.From the desert gardens of Big Bend to hawk watching on theGulf Coast to caving and bat watching in the Hill Country, natureoriented travel in Texas also includes lesser known getaways, suchas a photo ranch, rare plant preserve, and bluebird trail.Organized by the seven official state travel regions, Explore Texas features descriptions of almost one hundred nature-orientedsites, including information about the best time to visit andwhy it’s worth going; location, fees, and other logistics; and a“learn” section on the observations and natural phenomena avisitor might expect to experience. Photographs by professionalphotographer Jeff Parker accompany the accounts, and handycolor-coded icons help guide readers to the activities of theirchoice. Perfect for planning the family’s next outing or vacation, this book also contains a message of how nature tourism helps to protect biodiversity, promote conservation, and sustain the state’s tourism economy.

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Book SynopsisIn this information-packed, month-to-month guide to the wildlife, plants, and natural events that define the seasonal cycles in Big Bend National Park, naturalists Lynne and Jim Weber offer a richly illustrated guide to the natural rhythms of this beautiful and remote region in far West Texas. If you're on the lookout for deer in January, tracking hummingbirds in August, photographing wildflowers in September, or listening to frog choruses after a summer rain—the authors provide “Where to Watch” suggestions on when and how to see these and many other park inhabitants, from beavers and bats to lizards and dragonflies. Each chapter features a weather and temperature chart, photographs, and eye-catching illustrations by Lynne Weber. Whether you are a casual tourist or a frequent visitor to Big Bend, the authors hope that knowing what to look for during your stay in one of the nation’s largest national parks will heighten your awareness, sharpen your observation skills, and enhance your overall experience in this iconic Texas landscape.Trade ReviewFew people know Big Bend National Park as well as Lynne and Jim Weber... and in Nature Watch they share that knowledge with readers"" - Roland ""Ro"" Wauer, author of Naturalist's Big Bend

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Book SynopsisThe Gulf of Mexico is one of the most important ecological regions in the world for birds. The mosaic of diverse habitats in the region provides numerous niches for birds. There are productive salt marshes, barrier islands, and sandy beaches for foraging and nesting; a direct pathway between North and Central and South America for migrating; and warm, tropical waters for wintering. Many species are residents all year around, some migrate through, and still others spend the winter along the shores. The Gulf Coast is home to a significant portion of the world’s population of Reddish Egret and Snowy Plover and a significant portion of the US breeding populations of certain birds, including the Sandwich Tern, Black Skimmer, and Laughing Gull. In total, there are more than 400 bird species that rely on the Gulf at some time during the year.Drawing on decades of fieldwork and data research, renowned ornithologist and behavioral ecologist Joanna Burger provides detailed descriptions of birdlife in the Gulf of Mexico. Burger records trends in bird population, behavior, and major threats and stressors affecting birds in the region, including the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. While some of this data exists in journal articles, research papers, and government reports, this is the first volume to weave together a comprehensive overview of the birds and related natural resources found in the Gulf of Mexico.Illustrated with over 900 color photographs, charts, and maps, this landmark reference volume will be immensely important for researchers, conservationists, land managers, birders, and wildlife lovers.

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Book SynopsisDama gazelles, the largest of the gazelles, were once a common sight in Northern Africa, with a habitat ranging from the Atlantic Ocean east almost to the Nile River. Today, these animals are critically endangered as their populations have dropped precipitously due to the effects of expanding agrarian practices, overhunting, violent human conflict, and climate change on their native habitats.Though they are perilously close to extinction in the wild, Texas ranches maintain over a thousand dama gazelles—more than the number currently in zoos and in the wild combined. The habitat on some of these ranches resembles their natural range along the Sahara Desert of Northern Africa, making them suitable living spaces for damas.In The Dama Gazelles, Elizabeth Cary Mungall brings together experts from around the world and offers a comprehensive reference book on these animals, including information on natural history and taxonomy; physical and behavioral traits; dama gazelles held in zoos and collections, parks and preserves, and on Texas ranches; and efforts to reintroduce populations into the wild. There is also a rare, firsthand account from Frans M. van den Brink, an animal dealer from the Netherlands, who in the 1960s successfully captured 35 dama gazelles in Northern Africa and transported them to zoos in the United States and Europe, losing only two animals in the harrowing process. Those 33 dama gazelles were the “founders” of all the dama gazelles in captivity today.Detailed appendixes and a glossary round out the volume with additional information to help researchers, zookeepers, and landowners better understand and conserve dama gazelles.

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Book SynopsisWinner, 2020 Al Lowman Memorial Prize for Best Book on Texas County or Local History There is a deep and abiding connection between humans and the land in Pinto Canyon—a remote and rugged place near the border with Mexico in the Texas Big Bend. Here the land assumes a certain primacy, defined not by the ephemera of plants and animals but by the very bedrock that rises far above the silvery flow of Pinto Creek— looming masses that break the horizon into a hundred different vistas. Yet, over time, people managed to survive and sometimes even thrive in this harsh environment.In the Shadow of the Chinatis combines the rich narratives of history, natural history, and archeology to tell the story of the landscape as well as the people who once inhabited it. Settling the land was difficult, staying on it even more so, but one family proved especially resilient. Rising above their meager origins, the Prietos eventually amassed a 12,000-acre ranch in the shadow of the Chinati Mountains to become the most successful of Pinto Canyon’s early settlers. But starting with the tense years of the Great Depression, the family faced a series of tragedies: one son was killed by a Texas Ranger, and another by the deranged son of Chico Cano, the Big Bend’s most notorious bandit. Ultimately, growing rifts in the family forced the sale of the ranch, marking the end of an era. Bearing the hallmarks of an epic tragedy, the departure of the Prieto family signaled a transition away from ranching towards a new style of landownership based on a completely different model. Today, Pinto Canyon’s scenic and scientific value increasingly overshadows the marginal economics of its past.In the Shadow of the Chinatis reveals a rich tapestry of interaction between humans and their environment, providing a unique examination of the Big Bend region and the people who call it home.Trade Review“A drive down Pinto Canyon road is now as much a part of the Big Bend visitor’s ritual as the drive along the River Road from Lajitas to Presidio. Pinto Canyon is a much more intimate experience, made more so by David Keller’s In the Shadow of the Chinati’s: A History of Pinto Canyon. The incredible geology and the great biodiversity are immediately visible, but what Keller provides is the rich, but mostly invisible human history of Pinto Canyon. The story he tells is an important one, especially that of the Hispanic culture and families, which often goes untold.” —Larry Francell, author of Fort Davis “A truly masterful Texas borderlands history, polished, precise, elegant, thoughtful, and intelligent.” —Thomas T. Smith, author of The Old Army in the Big Bend of Texas: The Last Cavalry Frontier, 1911-1921 “David Keller’s In the Shadow of the Chinatis is not merely a deeply-researched, fine-grained human history of a remote and beautiful canyon of the Big Bend country of far West Texas. Subjecting its real-life characters to novel-like treatment, this book is an original creation, unique in the literature of the desert Southwest. I sense the birth of a classic.” —Dan Flores, New York Times best-selling author of Coyote America “For any serious student of the Big Bend, this book is a treasure. With Keller’s book, the long silent rocks and ruins of Pinto Canyon have finally been given voice.”—San Antonio Express-News "Though his book is an academic work, Keller's attention to prose and style is evident... his portrayal of the families who lived there is touched with such care and heart, the reader only wants to see them succeed. Warning: The reader will be disappointed."—Texas Observer

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Book SynopsisThe Laguna Madre is the only hypersaline coastal lagoon on the North American continent and only one of five worldwide. The lagoon is renowned for its vast seagrass meadows, huge wintering redhead population, and bountiful fishing grounds. In 2000, the Nature Conservancy, whose mission is the conservation of biodiversity through protection of habitat, recognized the need to amass all known information about the Laguna Madre and implement a science-based conservation agenda. From those efforts came the first edition of this book. Now completely revised and updated, this second edition of The Laguna Madre of Texas and Tamaulipas is the culmination of two decades of additional research and continued conservation efforts in the region. Nearly 100 years of literature on the Laguna Madre and surrounding environments has been synthesized here. With 150 figures and illustrations, the book takes a broad and comprehensive look at both the Texan and Tamaulipan Laguna Madre. The value of this book for scientists, conservationists, resource managers, and policy makers involved in the future of the Texas and Mexico coasts is clear. Coastal residents, birders, anglers, and nature lovers who want to learn about and take care of the Laguna Madre will find this to be an indispensable guide.

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Book SynopsisThe Boston Harbor Islands have been called Boston's "hidden shores." While some are ragged rocks teeming with coastal wildlife, such as oystercatchers and harbor seals, others resemble manicured parks or have the appearance of wooded hills rising gently out of the water. Largely ignored by historians and previously home to prisons, asylums, and sewage treatment plants, this surprisingly diverse ensemble of islands has existed quietly on the urban fringe over the last four centuries. Even their latest incarnation as a national park and recreational hub has emphasized their separation from, rather than their connection to, the city.In this book, Pavla Šimková reinterprets the Boston Harbor Islands as an urban archipelago, arguing that they have been an integral part of Boston since colonial days, transformed by the city's changing values and catering to its current needs. Drawing on archival sources, historic maps and photographs, and diaries from island residents, this absorbing study attests that the harbor islands' story is central to understanding the ways in which Boston has both shaped and been shaped by its environment over time.

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Book SynopsisA vital and volatile part of the New Orleans landscape and lifestyle, the Lake Pontchartrain Basin actually contains three major bodies of water--Lakes Borgne, Pontchartrain, and Maurepas. These make up the Pontchartrain estuary. Robert W. Hastings provides a thorough examination of the historical and environmental research on the basin, with emphasis on its environmental degradation and the efforts to restore and protect this estuarine system. He also explores the current biological condition of the lakes.Hastings begins with the geological formation of the lakes and the relationship between Native Americans and the water they referred to as Okwa'ta, the ""wide water."" From the historical period, he describes the forays of French explorer Pierre Le Moyne D'Iberville in 1699, and traces the environmental history of the basin through the development of the New Orleans metropolitan area. Using the lakes for transportation and then recreation, the surrounding population burgeoned, and this growth resulted in severe water pollution and other environmental problems. In the 1980s the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation led a concerted drive to restore the lakes, an ongoing effort that has proved significant.

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Book SynopsisTo escape the tough streets of Southeast Washington, D.C. in the late 1980s, young Rodney Stotts would ride the metro to the Smithsonian National Zoo. There, the bald eagles and other birds of prey captured his imagination for the first time. In Bird Brother, Rodney shares his unlikely journey to becoming a conservationist and one of America’s few Black master falconers. Rodney grew up during the crack epidemic, with guns, drugs, and the threat of incarceration an accepted part of daily life for nearly everyone he knew. To rent his own apartment, he needed a paycheck—something the money from dealing drugs didn’t provide. For that, he took a position in 1992 with a new nonprofit, the Earth Conservation Corps. Gradually, Rodney fell in love with the work to restore and conserve the polluted Anacostia River that flows through D.C. As conditions along the river improved, he helped to reintroduce bald eagles to the region and befriended an injured Eurasian Eagle Owl named Mr. Hoots, the first of many birds whose respect he would work hard to earn. Bird Brother is a story about pursuing dreams against all odds, and the importance of second chances. Rodney’s life was nearly upended when he was arrested on drug charges in 2002. The jail sentence sharpened his resolve to get out of the hustling life. With the fierceness of the raptors he had admired for so long, he began to train to become a master falconer and to develop his own raptor education program and sanctuary. Rodney’s son Mike, a D.C. firefighter, has also begun his journey to being a master falconer, with his own kids cheering him along the way. Eye-opening, witty, and moving, Bird Brother is a love letter to the raptors and humans who transformed what Rodney thought his life could be. It is an unflinching look at the uphill battle Black children face in pursuing stable, fulfilling lives, a testament to the healing power of nature, and a reminder that no matter how much heartbreak we’ve endured, we still have the capacity to give back to our communities and follow our wildest dreams.

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Book SynopsisDelightful tales of hunting and fishing, family, friends, dogs, and precious time well spent and cherished Nationally recognized and award-winning writer Jim Mize captures the true essence of sport and living life to the fullest in this collection of stories about his outdoor escapades. In tales spanning more than five decades, Mize invites readers into carefree days hiking through the Colorado Rockies with a fly rod and leisurely casting poppers to bluegill on small southern ponds. Cold days shivering in a duck blind or deer hunting trips lost in fog all make for fine memories. And then there are the dogs. Meet boot-eating Labs, setters with fine noses, and a Brittany Spaniel that loved to bounce through frosted kudzu. Mize's humorous stories entertain and remind readers of their own turkey hunting or creek fishing excursions. Black-and-white line drawings from artist Bob White illustrate stories filled with laughter, quiet contemplation, and wonder. Mize reminds the young and old that the pleasure of the pursuit matters most.Table of Contents Foreword by Jim Casada PrefaceAcross Generations First Pup Your Day Will Come Kids Do Say the Darndest Things The Jon Boat Years Another Letter to a Grandson A Letter to a Granddaughter Fishing with Others If a Tree Falls My Buddy's Fishing Hole The Seabee Jacket After Dark Fishing Directions Old Guys in a Boat A Lesson Twice Learned Fishing Odd Hatches Yellow Damn Jackets Carpy Diem Along Came a Spider Fishing the Mosquito Hatch A Whiff of Skunk Stir Crazy Low Expectations Jinxed Into the Backing Gone with the Wind Knot Fly Fishing for Suckers The Colorado Years Freedom Coldcocked Skinny-Dipping with Cutties The Fish of a Lifetime Pondering Deer Stuff Hunting with KP Hunting in the Haunted House The Deer Who Wore Camo Custer's Last Deer Stand Pondering Deer Stuff A Class in Ethics In Pursuit of Bearded Birds How to Name Your Turkey The Turkey Chainsaw Massacre Almost a Lion Story Growing Your Gobbler Of Ducks and Dogs Blurred Memories A Quack's Guide to Duck Calls Reasons for Owning a Dog My Steel Shot Rusted Upland Birds Hunting the Pole Kudzu Quail Hunting the Hurricane The Christmas Gift Winders An Old Red Shirt

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Book SynopsisMany people appreciate the stunning vistas of the Great Basin desert; understanding the region’s geological past can provide a deeper way to know and admire this landscape. In The Great Basin Seafloor, Frank DeCourten immerses readers in a time when the Basin was covered by a vast ocean in which volcanoes exploded and sea life flourished. Written for a nontechnical audience, this book interprets the rock record left by more than 500 million years of oceanic activity, when mud and sand accumulated and solidified to produce today’s Great Basin across parts of modern Utah, Nevada, and California. DeCourten deciphers clues within exposed slopes and canyons to reconstruct the vanished seafloor and its volcanic events and examines fossils to reveal once-thriving ancient marine communities. Supplemental material is available online to serve as a field guide for readers wishing to explore this ancient ocean themselves as they travel through the region.

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Book SynopsisDesignated in 2016 by President Obama and reduced to 85 percent of its original size one year later by President Trump, Bears Ears National Monument continues to be a flash point of conflict between ranchers, miners, environmental groups, states’ rights advocates, and Native American activists. In this volume, Andrew Gulliford synthesizes 11,000 years of the region’s history to illuminate what’s truly at stake in this conflict and distills this geography as a place of refuge and resistance for Native Americans who seek to preserve their ancestral homes, and for the descendants of Mormon families who arrived by wagon train in 1880. Gulliford’s engaging narrative explains prehistoric Pueblo villages and cliff dwellings, Navajo and Ute history, impacts of the Atomic Age, uranium mining, and the pothunting and looting of Native graves that inspired the passage of the Antiquities Act over a century ago. The book describes how the national monument came about and its deep significance to five native tribes. Bears Ears National Monument is a bellwether for public land issues in the American West. Its recognition will be a relevant topic for years to come.Trade Review“This is a significant contribution to a current controversy. It presents multiple sides of questions fairly. In the ongoing arguments over Bears Ears, Gulliford’s book will be a resource and a reference. It presents an excellent history of Bears Ears and surrounding southeastern Utah."—Steve Lekson, author of A Study of Southwestern Archaeology“Andrew Gulliford’s long experience with the lands and people of Utah’s San Juan County is apparent in this fair-minded, richly informative historical account. He shows how the Bears Ears National Monument became such a charged public issue and what can be learned from the ongoing struggle to protect it."—John D. Leshy, author of Our Common Ground: A New History of America’s Public LandsTable of Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: Bears Ears and a Deep Map of Place 1. Hunter- Gatherers and Deep Time: From Pleistocene Mammoths to Archaic Rock Art 2. From Basketmakers to Ancestral Puebloans, ad 50 to 1150 3. Into the Cliffs, 1150–1300 4. Navajos, Utes, and Canyon Exploration, 1300–1859 5. “The Fearing Time” and Mapping Ancient America, 1860–1875 6. “We Thank Thee, Oh God”: Mormons Settle Bluff and Cattle Come to the Canyons, 1876–1890 7. Cowboy Archaeology, a Lady Botanist, a Failed Indian Reservation, and the Antiquities Act, 1891–1906 8. The US Forest Service, Natural Bridges, and the Last Indian War, 1907–1923 9. Lost in Bears Ears, Murder in Johns Canyon, and a Failed New Deal National Monument, 1924–1944 10. Yellowcake, the Atomic Age, and a Golden Circle, 1945–1970 11. U-95, Nuclear Waste, Deadly Daughters, and Pothunting Raids, 1971–1986 12. Tribes Come Together for Bears Ears National Monument, 1987–2016 13. Resistance and Challenge to Bears Ears and the Antiquities Act 14. Tiny Tubers, Dark Skies, and the Future of a Sacred Native Landscape 15. Bears Ears Restored?: Coming Full Circle in Canyon Country Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIn eight brilliant essays, Fox explores many of the major playas of the American West , examining locations as diverse as Nellis Air Force Base and Frenchman Flat, where the federal government has tested experimental aircraft and atomic weaponry; the Great Salt Lake Desert, where land-speed records have been broken; and the Black Rock Desert of Northern Nevada, site of the colorful Burning Man arts festival. He analyzes the geological and climatological conditions that created the playas and the historical role that playas played in the exploration and settlement of the West. And he offers lucid and keenly perceptive discussions of the ways that artists have responded to the playas, from the ancient makers of geoglyphs to the work of contemporary artists who have found inspiration in these enigmatic spaces, including earthworks builder Michael Heizer, photographer Richard Misrach, and painter Michael Moore. The ensemble is a compelling combination of natural history, philosophy, and art criticism, a thoughtful meditation on humankind's aversion to and fascination with the void.Trade Review“If we are to increasingly inhabit the deserts of the world, we must better understand them, author William L. Fox argues. Fox takes readers on a literary odyssey that integrates scholarship and personal narrative in a rich exploration of the natural and unnatural histories of dry lakes. Fox is a master of writing technical information in a manner that makes matters clear and engaging for a non-technical reader in Playa Works: The Myth of the Empty. Fox tours the playas of California, Nevada, and Utah with artists and scientists, military personnel and defense contractors, piecing together the story of how we perceive the intimidating blank pages of the desert and inscribe our culture upon them.” —Encore: Sierra Arts Monthly, November 2002 “Fox’s prose was lovely to read, clean and delicate, his paragraphs well-balanced with information and narrative. He has a rare sensitivity to beauty, meaning, and language. His approach is soulful, his thinking solid and expansive, as hard and wide as the desert floor.” —Elizabeth White, Southwestern American Literature "William L. Fox’s new book is the most extraordinary and complex book yet written about the Big Empty, its myth and reality, and the works of art that it has spawned, full of the ironies of history and mysterious draw of its landscape. A playa lover’s dream, a dreamer’s vision in words, sculpture, and photographs, underlaid by fine scholarship and exuberance. All in all, a superb book that belongs in the library of everyone who loves the dry spans of the West.” —Ann Zwinger, author of The Mysterious Lands: A Naturalist Explores the Four Great Deserts of the SouthwestTable of Contents The Myth of the Empty An Introduction, 1 A Tour of the Playa, Part I The Mojave, 21 A Tour of the Playa, Part II The Nevada Test Site, 51 A Tour of the Playa, Part III Wendover,77 A Tour of the Playa, Coda Owens Dry Lake, 113 Painting the Playa Smoke Creek Desert, 125 Burning Man Black Rock Desert, 161 Rediscovery An Afterword, 193 Sources, 209

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Book SynopsisSucculents have become some of the most popular houseplants, and with good reason: they’re easy to grow…most of the time. But what happens when a plant outgrows its pot? Did you know succulents can get sunburned? How do you turn one plant into more plants? In Succulents at Home, expert gardener John Tullock addresses these questions and many more. Here, readers will learn to make the most of their plants from the how and why of soil and container choice to step-by-step instructions for repotting, propagating new succulents, and creating arrangements like terrariums and wreaths. The book is complete with a catalog of 75 species—flower-shaped echeverias, pointy haworthias, flowering kalanchoes, round mammillaria cacti, and more—which explains special care instructions for each variety. Tullock’s friendly voice and years of experience, and more than 100 color photographs, make this a must-have guide for fool-proof succulent gardening. And with a focus on growing succulents to enjoy indoors, this is a book for plant lovers in all regions and climates.

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Book SynopsisIn Writing the New World, Mauro Caraccioli examines the natural history writings of early Spanish missionaries, using these texts to argue that colonial Latin America was fundamental in the development of modern political thought. Revealing their narrative context, religious ideals, and political implications, Caraccioli shows how these sixteenth-century works promoted a distinct genre of philosophical wonder in service of an emerging colonial social order.Caraccioli discusses narrative techniques employed by well-known figures such as Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo and Bartolomé de Las Casas as well as less-studied authors including Bernardino de Sahagún, Francisco Hernández, and José de Acosta. More than mere catalogues of the natural wonders of the New World, these writings advocate mining and molding untapped landscapes, detailing the possibilities for extracting not just resources from the land but also new moral values from indigenous communities. Analyzing the intersections between politics, science, and faith that surface in these accounts, Caraccioli shows how the portrayal of nature served the ends of imperial domination.Integrating the fields of political theory, environmental history, Latin American literature, and religious studies, this book showcases Spain's role in the intellectual formation of modernity and Latin America's place as the crucible for the Scientific Revolution. Its insights are also relevant to debates about the interplay between politics and environmental studies in the Global South today.This book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem)—a collaboration of the Association of American Universities, the Association of University Presses, and the Association of Research Libraries—and the generous support of Virginia Tech.

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Book SynopsisIn Writing the New World, Mauro Caraccioli examines the natural history writings of early Spanish missionaries, using these texts to argue that colonial Latin America was fundamental in the development of modern political thought. Revealing their narrative context, religious ideals, and political implications, Caraccioli shows how these sixteenth-century works promoted a distinct genre of philosophical wonder in service of an emerging colonial social order.Caraccioli discusses narrative techniques employed by well-known figures such as Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo and Bartolomé de Las Casas as well as less-studied authors including Bernardino de Sahagún, Francisco Hernández, and José de Acosta. More than mere catalogues of the natural wonders of the New World, these writings advocate mining and molding untapped landscapes, detailing the possibilities for extracting not just resources from the land but also new moral values from indigenous communities. Analyzing the intersections between politics, science, and faith that surface in these accounts, Caraccioli shows how the portrayal of nature served the ends of imperial domination.Integrating the fields of political theory, environmental history, Latin American literature, and religious studies, this book showcases Spain's role in the intellectual formation of modernity and Latin America's place as the crucible for the Scientific Revolution. Its insights are also relevant to debates about the interplay between politics and environmental studies in the Global South today.This book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to TOME (Toward an Open Monograph Ecosystem)—a collaboration of the Association of American Universities, the Association of University Presses, and the Association of Research Libraries—and the generous support of Virginia Tech.

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Book SynopsisWoven Shades of Green is an annotated selection of literature by authors who focus on the natural world and the beauty of Ireland. It begins with the Irish monks and their largely anonymous nature poetry, written at a time when Ireland was heavily forested. A section follows devoted to the changing Irish landscape, through both deforestation and famine, including the nature poetry of William Allingham, and James Clarence Mangan, essays from Thomas Gainford and William Thackerary, and novel excerpts from William Carleton and Emily Lawless. The anthology then turns to the nature literature of the Irish Literary Revival, including Yeats and Synge, and an excerpt from George Moore’s novel The Lake. Part four shifts to modern Irish nature poetry, beginning with Patrick Kavanaugh, and continuing with the poetry of Seamus Heaney, Eavan Boland, and others. Finally, the anthology concludes with a section on various Irish naturalist writers, and the unique prose and philosophical nature writing of John Moriarty, followed by a comprehensive list of environmental organizations in Ireland, which seek to preserve the natural beauty of this unique country. Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.Trade Review"Irish literature’s ubiquitous relationship to the environment offers a vast reservoir of meditations on humanity’s relationship with non-human natures. This can often prove daunting to both established scholars and novice readers. For all those who are interested in the intersectional concerns that arise from Irish literature’s evocations of the environment, Tim Wenzell’s timely anthology will prove to be especially invaluable. The book brings into sharp focus the unique ways in which Irish history merges with national and geopolitical ecologies, and how geographical questions are always conflated with geological ones.” -- Dr. Malcolm Sen, University of Massachusetts, Amherst"Time has shaped a distinctive history of Irish nature literature in a deeply gathered, insightful anthology....Itself a generous treasury of Irish nature poetry and prose, the book is ordered by historical responses to religion, romanticism, colonisation, catastrophe, nationalism and material success." * Irish Times *"Wenzell's annotated selection is timely, looking as it does at a genre that doesn't seem to have bitten in Ireland quite as hard as it has in other publishing territories, a symptom perhaps of a more complicated - and at times harrowing - relationship with the natural world." * Sunday Independent *"This anthology emphasizes the importance of the natural world of Ireland and the breadth of writing that has embraced it during many centuries." * Gale Literature Book Review Index *"Readers familiar with Irish literature and ecocriticism will find this volume filled with familiar faces and materials, as well as a few more obscure and exciting ones. This anthology offers scholars a series of substantial pieces from which to expand and further consider Irish nature writing and Irish approaches to the natural world." * Irish Studies Review *"The Best of the University Presses: 100 Books to Escape the News As Recommended by the UP Community" https://lithub.com/the-best-of-the-university-presses-a-reading-list/ * LitHub *"Woven Shades of Green...shows the great variety and depth of editor Tim Wenzell’s knowledge and insight on the topic across history. He possesses a keen sense for choosing not only the key authors and texts, but also often underappreciated writers or lesser known works by famous ones." * James Joyce Literary Supplement *"A generous and inclusive anthology, focusing mainly on poetry but open also to significant pieces of prose....The engagement by these writers shows a valuable addition to the literature of the natural world." * New Hibernia Review *"Irish literature’s ubiquitous relationship to the environment offers a vast reservoir of meditations on humanity’s relationship with non-human natures. This can often prove daunting to both established scholars and novice readers. For all those who are interested in the intersectional concerns that arise from Irish literature’s evocations of the environment, Tim Wenzell’s timely anthology will prove to be especially invaluable. The book brings into sharp focus the unique ways in which Irish history merges with national and geopolitical ecologies, and how geographical questions are always conflated with geological ones.” -- Dr. Malcolm Sen, University of Massachusetts, Amherst"Time has shaped a distinctive history of Irish nature literature in a deeply gathered, insightful anthology....Itself a generous treasury of Irish nature poetry and prose, the book is ordered by historical responses to religion, romanticism, colonisation, catastrophe, nationalism and material success." * Irish Times *"Wenzell's annotated selection is timely, looking as it does at a genre that doesn't seem to have bitten in Ireland quite as hard as it has in other publishing territories, a symptom perhaps of a more complicated - and at times harrowing - relationship with the natural world." * Sunday Independent *"This anthology emphasizes the importance of the natural world of Ireland and the breadth of writing that has embraced it during many centuries." * Gale Literature Book Review Index *"Readers familiar with Irish literature and ecocriticism will find this volume filled with familiar faces and materials, as well as a few more obscure and exciting ones. This anthology offers scholars a series of substantial pieces from which to expand and further consider Irish nature writing and Irish approaches to the natural world." * Irish Studies Review *"The Best of the University Presses: 100 Books to Escape the News As Recommended by the UP Community" https://lithub.com/the-best-of-the-university-presses-a-reading-list/ * LitHub *"Woven Shades of Green...shows the great variety and depth of editor Tim Wenzell’s knowledge and insight on the topic across history. He possesses a keen sense for choosing not only the key authors and texts, but also often underappreciated writers or lesser known works by famous ones." * James Joyce Literary Supplement *"A generous and inclusive anthology, focusing mainly on poetry but open also to significant pieces of prose....The engagement by these writers shows a valuable addition to the literature of the natural world." * New Hibernia Review *Table of Contents Foreword by John Wilson Foster Preface Part I Early Irish Nature Poetry IntroductionThe MysteryDeer’s Cry St. Columcille of IonaColumcille Fecit Caelius SeduliusInvocation Anonymous Early Irish Nature PoetryThe Blackbird by Belfast LoughThe ScribeThe White LakeThe LarkThe Hermit’s SongKing and HermitSong of the SeaSummer Has ComeSong of SummerSummer is GoneA Song of WinterArranBuile Suibhne Part II Nature Writing and the Changing Irish Landscape Introduction Thomas Gainsford A Description of Ireland William AllinghamWishingThe FairiesThe Lover and BirdsAmong the HeatherIn a Spring GroveThe Ruined Chapel William Hamilton DrummondThe Giant’s Causeway, Book First James Clarence ManganThe Dawning of the DayThe Fair Hills of Eire, O!The Lovely Land: On a Landscape Painted by Maclise William Makepeace Thackeray From Irish Sketchbook William Carleton From The Black Prophet Emily Lawless From Hurrish: A Study Part III Nature and the Irish Literary Revival Introduction Katharine TynanThe Children of LirHigh SummerIndian SummerNymphsSt. Francis to the BirdsThe Birds’ BargainThe GardenThe Wind that Shakes the Barley AE (George Russell)By the Margin of the Great DeepOversoulThe Great BreathThe Voice of the WatersA New WorldA Vision of BeautyCarrowmoreCreationThe Winds of AngusThe Nuts of KnowledgeChildren of LirConnla’s Well From The Candle of Vision William Butler YeatsCoole Park, 1929Coole Park and Ballylee, 1931Who Goes with Fergus?Down by the Salley GardensIn the Seven WoodsThe Shadowy Waters (Introductory Lines)The Cat and the MoonThe Fairy PedantThe Lake Isle of InnisfreeThe Madness of King GollThe Song of Wandering Aengus ...The Stolen Child ...The Two Trees ...The White Birds ...The Wild Swans at Coole ... Eva Gore-BoothThe Dreamer ...Re-Incarnation ...Secret Waters ...The Little Waves of BreffnyThe Weaver John Millington SyngeIn KerryTo the Oaks of GlencreePreludeIn GlencullenOn an Island From The Aran Islands Riders to the Sea George Moore Preface and Chapter 1 from The Lake Padraic ColumA DroverA Cradle SongAcross the DoorThe Crane ...Dublin Roads ..River Mates ... Part IV Modern Irish Nature Poetry Introduction ... Patrick Kavanaugh ..PoplarsLilacs in the CityOctober Canal Bank WalkHaving to Live in the CountryInniskeen Road: July Evening On an Apple-Ripe September MorningPrimroseWet Evening in April Louis MacNeiceThe Sunlight on the Garden ..Wolves ...Tree Party Seamus Heaney ..Death of a NaturalistThe Salmon Fisher to the Fisherman LimboSt. Kevin and the Blackbird . Eavan BolandThe Lost LandThe RiverMountain TimeThis MomentOde to SuburbiaEscape ...A Sparrow Hawk in the Suburbs Moya CannonBees under SnowEavesdroppingTwo Ivory SwansWinter View from Binn BriocainPrimaveraThe Tube-Case MakersCrannogHazelnuts John MontagueAll Legendary ObstaclesThe Wild Dog RoseThe Trout Michael LongleyThe OspreyBadgerHedgehogKingfisherRobinOut of the SeaHer Mime of the Lame SeagullCarrigskeewaunSaint Francis to the Birds Derek MahonThe SeasonsAchillAphrodite’s PoolThe Mayo TaoPenhurst PlaceThe WoodsThe Dream Play “A Hermit”Leaves Sean LysaghtGolden EagleThe Clare Island SurveyGoldcrest From Bird Sweeney Desmond EganThe Great BlasketSunday EveningMeadowsweetSnow Snow Snow SnowA Pigeon DeadEnvoi Mary O’MalleyAbsentThe Man of AranPorpoisesThe Price of Silk is Paid in GoldThe StormLiaden with a Mortgage Briefly Tastes the Stars Rosemarie RowleyOsborn O h - Aimbirgin; A Cry from the Heart of a Poet—Morning in BearaThe Blackbird of Derry of the CairnIn Praise of the Hill Between of HowthBlind Seamus McCourt: Welcome to the Bird’Kitty Dwyer Part V The Literature of Irish Naturalists Introduction John Tyndall Belfast Address Robert Lloyd Praeger From The Way That I Went Michael Viney From A Year’s Turning From The Irish Times, “Another Life” Tim Robinson From Connemara: Listening to the Wind, “Preface” From Connemara: Listening to the Wind, “The Boneyard” John Moriarty From Invoking Ireland Appendix: Environmental Organizations in Ireland Acknowledgments Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIn Memory of a Banyan Tree is a collection of poems relating to nature, ecology, and ecopoetics, selected from the expanse of Rothenberg's writings over the past thirty-five years. Rothenberg's many years as a horticulturist and his engagement in the environmental movement inform his work. These poems are a watershed account of an intimate relationship with the outside world.

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Book SynopsisUnderstanding the relationships between humans and animals is essential to a full understanding of both our present and our shared past. Across the humanities and social sciences, researchers have embraced the 'animal turn,' a multispecies approach to scholarship, with historians at the forefront of new research in human-animal studies that blends traditional research methods with interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks that decenter humans in historical narratives. These exciting approaches come with core methodological challenges for scholars seeking to better understand the past from non-anthropocentric perspectives.Whether in a large public archive, a small private collection, or the oral histories of living memories, stories of animals are mediated by the humans who have inscribed the records and organized archival collections. In oral histories, the place of animals in the past are further refracted by the frailty of human memory and recollection. Only traces remain for researchers to read and interpret.Bringing together seventeen original essays by a leading group of international scholars, Traces of the Animal Past showcases the innovative methods historians use to unearth and explain how animals fit into our collective histories. Situating the historian within the narrative, bringing transparency to methodological processes, and reflecting on the processes and procedures of current research, this book presents new approaches and new directions for a maturing field of historical inquiry.

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Book SynopsisUnderstanding the relationships between humans and animals is essential to a full understanding of both our present and our shared past. Across the humanities and social sciences, researchers have embraced the 'animal turn,' a multispecies approach to scholarship, with historians at the forefront of new research in human-animal studies that blends traditional research methods with interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks that decenter humans in historical narratives. These exciting approaches come with core methodological challenges for scholars seeking to better understand the past from non-anthropocentric perspectives.Whether in a large public archive, a small private collection, or the oral histories of living memories, stories of animals are mediated by the humans who have inscribed the records and organized archival collections. In oral histories, the place of animals in the past are further refracted by the frailty of human memory and recollection. Only traces remain for researchers to read and interpret.Bringing together seventeen original essays by a leading group of international scholars, Traces of the Animal Past showcases the innovative methods historians use to unearth and explain how animals fit into our collective histories. Situating the historian within the narrative, bringing transparency to methodological processes, and reflecting on the processes and procedures of current research, this book presents new approaches and new directions for a maturing field of historical inquiry.

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Book SynopsisIn this sweeping history of more than 3 000 years, beginning with Ancient Egypt, scientist Marcus Byrne and writer, Helen Lunn capture the diversity of dung beetles and their unique behaviour patterns. Dung beetles’ fortunes have followed the shifts from a world dominated by a religion that symbolically incorporated them into some of its key concepts of rebirth, to a world in which science has largely separated itself from religion and alchemy. With over 6 000 species found throughout the world, these unassuming but remarkable creatures are fundamental to some of humanity’s most cherished beliefs and have been ever present in religion, art, literature, science and the environment. They are at the centre of current gene research, play an important role in keeping our planet healthy, and some nocturnal dung beetles have been found to navigate by the starry skies. Outlining the development of science from the point of view of the humble dung beetle is what makes this charming story of immense interest to general readers and entomologists alike.Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter One When the dung beetle wore golden shoes Chapter Two Crawling out of the darkness Chapter Three Joining the dots Chapter Four Colonising insects Chapter Five Of elephants and dung beetles Chapter Six Tribes with human attributes Chapter Seven Design construction first Conclusion: ‘What a wonderful world’ Appendices Select bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisCountry Writer s Craft: Writing for country, regional and rural publications, covers one of the widest marketplaces for writers in the English-speaking world especially in the UK, Australia and the USA. Here we have examples of previously published materials, together with writers exercises to help build up an impressive portfolio from Suzanne Ruthven, who has written on country topics for over 30 years, as well as being author of A Treasury of the Countryside, Hearth & Garden, Life-Writes and Signposts For Country Living.

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Book SynopsisClimate change has been a central concern over recent years, with visible and highly publicized consequences such as melting Arctic ice and mountain glaciers, rising sea levels, and the submersion of low-lying coastal areas during mid-latitude and tropical cyclones. This book presents a review of the spatial impacts of contemporary climate change, with a focus on a systematic, multi-scalar approach. Beyond the facts – rises in temperature, changes in the spatial distribution of precipitation, melting of the marine and terrestrial cryosphere, changes in hydrological regimes at high and medium latitudes, etc. – it also analyzes the geopolitical consequences in the Arctic and Central Asia, changes to Mediterranean culture and to viticulture on a global scale, as well as impacts on the distribution of life, for example, in the Amazon rainforest, in large biomes on a global scale, and for birds.Table of ContentsIntroduction xiiiDenis MERCIER Chapter 1. Climate Change at Different Temporal and Spatial Scales 1Denis MERCIER 1.1. Contemporary global climate change 1 1.2. Contemporary Arctic-wide climate change 6 1.3. Future global climate change 9 1.4. Future Arctic-wide climate change 11 1.5. The causes of climate change 13 1.5.1. Solar radiation 13 1.5.2. Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions 14 1.5.3. Volcanism 16 1.5.4. Albedo and the radiation balance 17 1.6. Conclusion 19 1.7. References 19 Chapter 2. Climate Change and the Melting Cryosphere 21Denis MERCIER 2.1. Introduction 21 2.2. The sensitivity of the cryosphere to climate change 22 2.3. Melting of the marine cryosphere 24 2.3.1. The melting of the Arctic sea ice 24 2.3.2. Antarctic sea ice 27 2.4. Melting of the Earth’s cryosphere 28 2.4.1. Melting ice sheets 28 2.4.2. The melting of mountain glaciers 32 2.4.3. Decreasing permafrost 35 2.4.4. Melting snow 35 2.5. Consequences of the melting cryosphere 36 2.5.1. On a global scale: rising sea levels 36 2.5.2. Regionally: paraglacial risks 38 2.6. Conclusion 40 2.7. References 40 Chapter 3. Between Warming and Globalization: Rethinking the Arctic at the Heart of a Stakes System 43Éric CANOBBIO 3.1. Spatial impacts of climate change in the Arctic 43 3.1.1. Clarifying the terms of the subject in their polar contexts 44 3.2. The manufacture of polar issues, between global warming and globalization 52 3.2.1. Warming and space production, a decade of confusion off the Arctic coasts 53 3.2.2. Three interacting contexts 57 3.3. The production of polar doctrines: rhetoric and frameworks for action 59 3.3.1. Factors of convergence and consensus 60 3.3.2. Differentiation factors 61 3.3.3. The strategic dimensions of Arctic policies, the complex issue of polar militarization 62 3.4. Geography of a new system of stakeholder relations in the Arctic 65 3.5. Conclusion: polar metamorphisms 67 3.6. References 68 Chapter 4. Coastlines with Increased Vulnerability to Sea-level Rise 71Axel CREACH 4.1. Introduction 71 4.2. Coastlines under the influence of sea-level rise 72 4.2.1. The pressures of climate change on coastlines 72 4.2.2. Consequences of sea-level rise on coastlines 76 4.3. Increasingly attractive coastlines for societies 78 4.3.1. The coastalization process 78 4.3.2. A densification of activities on the coastlines 79 4.3.3. A closer approach to the sea 81 4.4. Towards the necessary adaptation of coastal areas 83 4.4.1. The coastline, an area at risk 83 4.4.2. Possible coping strategies 84 4.4.3. The example of the Netherlands 86 4.5. Which coastline for tomorrow? 87 4.6. References 89 Chapter 5. The Consequences of Climate Change on the Paraglacial Sedimentary Cascade 93Denis MERCIER and Étienne COSSART 5.1. The paraglacial sedimentary cascade: elements of definition 93 5.1.1. General principles of the concept of a paraglacial sedimentary cascade 93 5.1.2. Paraglacial spatial boundaries 98 5.1.3. The temporal limits of the paraglacial sedimentary cascade 99 5.2. Sediment inputs to the paraglacial sedimentary cascade 102 5.2.1. Landslides 102 5.2.2. Remobilization of slope deposits 105 5.3. Sediment fluxes within the paraglacial sedimentary cascade 108 5.3.1. The evolution of ice margins on a decadal scale 108 5.3.2. Paraglacial fluvial metamorphoses on a secular scale 109 5.4. Sedimentary stocks or the end of the paraglacial sedimentary cascade 110 5.4.1. Temporary storage areas on a secular scale 110 5.4.2. Interglacial-scale temporary storage areas 112 5.4.3. Final storage areas 115 5.5. Conclusion 115 5.6. References 116 Chapter 6. Spatial Impacts of Climate Change on Periglacial Environments 119Denis MERCIER and Étienne COSSART 6.1. Introduction 119 6.1.1. Definition of periglacial 120 6.1.2. Present and past spatial extent of periglacial environments 121 6.2. Melting permafrost and paraperiglacial geomorphological crises 125 6.2.1. Definition of paraperiglacial 125 6.2.2. Paraperiglacial processes and forms 127 6.3. Periglacial coastal environments in high latitudes in the face of climate change 129 6.4. Periglacial environments at high altitudes in the face of climate change 131 6.4.1. Gravity dynamics and permafrost wall degradation 132 6.4.2. Gravity dynamics and permafrost degradation in loose formations 134 6.4.3. The impact of global warming on high-mountain practices 136 6.5. Conclusion 137 6.6. References 138 Chapter 7. The Impacts of Climate Change on the Hydrological Dynamics of High Latitude Periglacial Environments 143Emmanuèle GAUTIER 7.1. Periglacial regions strongly affected by recent climate change 143 7.1.1. Much warmer winters 143 7.1.2. Permafrost and its sensitivity to air temperatures 144 7.2. The influence of permafrost on hydrological functioning 146 7.2.1. Numerous wetlands in periglacial environments 147 7.2.2. The knock-on effects of climate change on slope hydrology 148 7.3. The response of Arctic fluvial hydrosystems to ongoing climate change 150 7.3.1. River ice 153 7.3.2. Increasing winter low water levels 155 7.3.3. Spring flooding and breakup 157 7.3.4. The rapid evolution of water discharge 159 7.4. Conclusion 163 7.5. References 163 Chapter 8. The Impacts of Climate Change on Watercourses in Temperate Environments 167Gilles DROGUE 8.1. What is at stake? 167 8.1.1. Spatial dynamics of climate zoning and river regimes 167 8.1.2. Watercourses: resource, vector and living environment 169 8.1.3. The (dis)equilibrium between precipitation, evapotranspiration and flow in temperate environments 171 8.1.4. The study of past climate impacts 173 8.1.5. The study of future climate impacts 173 8.1.6. Summary 174 8.2. Hydrological changes already “observable” 176 8.2.1. The case of metropolitan France 176 8.2.2. Continental trends: Western Europe 179 8.3. Hydrological projections 180 8.3.1. For French rivers 180 8.3.2. For continental Europe 181 8.4. Conclusion 184 8.5. References 184 Chapter 9. Spatial Impacts of Melting Central Asian Glaciers: towards a “Water War”? 187Alain CARIOU 9.1. Societies and economies dependent on the cryosphere 187 9.1.1. The possibility of water scarcity and “water war”? 187 9.1.2. “Water tower” mountains for arid depressions 188 9.1.3. Tensions between riparian and rival states 194 9.2. The impact of climate change on water resources 198 9.2.1. Recession of the cryosphere 198 9.2.2. The consequences of cryosphere retreat on hydrology 200 9.2.3. Human societies facing the challenge of climate change 202 9.3. Conclusion 205 9.4. References 206 Chapter 10. Spatial Impact of Climate Change on Winter Droughts in the Mediterranean and Consequences on Agriculture 209Florian RAYMOND and Albin ULLMANN 10.1. Climate variability and change in the Mediterranean basin 209 10.2. Droughts during rainy seasons 211 10.2.1. Rainfall drought: the absence of rain in time and space 211 10.2.2. Detection of very long dry events in the Mediterranean Sea 212 10.2.3. Spatial and temporal characteristics of the main event patterns of very long dry spells 213 10.3. Rainfall droughts in the Mediterranean: impacts on Spanish agrosystems 216 10.4. Rainfall droughts in the Mediterranean: projections for the future 218 10.5. Conclusion 221 10.6. References 222 Chapter 11. The Spatial Impacts of Climate Change on Viticulture Around the World 225Hervé QUÉNOL and Renan LE ROUX 11.1. Introduction 225 11.2. Recent climatic trends in the world’s wine-growing regions 226 11.3. Climate zoning in viticulture 227 11.4. Impact of climate change: anticipating changes in the spatial distribution of vines 230 11.4.1. Towards climate change modeling in wine-growing regions 231 11.4.2. The need to take into account local factors 236 11.5. Conclusion 238 11.6. References 239 Chapter 12. Climate Change in the Amazon: A Multi-scalar Approach 243Vincent DUBREUIL, Damien ARVOR, Beatriz FUNATSU, Vincent NÉDÉLEC and Neli DE MELLO-THÉRY 12.1. Introduction 243 12.2. The Amazonian climate system 244 12.2.1. Heat, humidity and regional diversity 244 12.2.2. Radiation balance and general circulation 247 12.2.3. The forest-climate interaction issue 248 12.3. A changing system: deforestation, warming and drying? 250 12.3.1. Pioneering dynamics: rise and (provisory?) decline 250 12.3.2. Increase in temperature and decrease in rainfall 252 12.3.3. The dynamics of the start and end dates of the rainy season 252 12.3.4. Local effects of land-use changes 254 12.4. Uncertainties of future changes, perceptions and adaptations 257 12.4.1. Savanization and tipping points 257 12.4.2. An overall impact which is certain, but which remains to be specified 258 12.4.3. Perceptions and adaptations by local populations 259 12.5. Conclusion: a stake in the global negotiations 261 12.6. References 263 Chapter 13. The Impacts of Climate Change on the Distribution of Biomes 267Delphine GRAMOND 13.1. Biomes, a representation of life on a global scale 268 13.1.1. The biome, an indicator of climatic context: what are the realities? 269 13.1.2. From the roots of a globalizing concept to the emergence of an operational scale 270 13.2. Structural and functional impacts of climate change on terrestrial biomes 274 13.2.1. From bioclimatic bathing to modification of ecological processes 274 13.2.2. Identifying changes: from global diagnosis to biological responses 275 13.3. Spatializing change: biome modeling 279 13.3.1. Observed and projected global impacts 279 13.3.2. Observed and projected impacts for the Arctic region 282 13.4. Conclusion 284 13.5. References 286 Chapter 14. Spatial Impacts of Climate Change on Birds 289Laurent GODET 14.1. Introduction 289 14.2. Contemporary distributional changes 291 14.2.1. Latitudinal shifts 292 14.2.2. Altitudinal shifts 293 14.2.3. Spatial manifestations of range changes 295 14.3. Different responses for different species 297 14.3.1. Dispersion capabilities 297 14.3.2. Reproductive capacity 298 14.3.3. Generalist nature 299 14.4. Conservation implications 299 14.4.1. Ecological consequences 299 14.4.2. Conservation measures 300 14.5. Conclusion 302 14.6. References 303 List of Authors 311 Index 313

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Book SynopsisThe Nile, Congo, Niger, Chad and Zambezi are names that evoke watershed periods in Africa's history. Yet, until now, scholars have paid little attention to Africa's riverine environment or how it has shaped the continent's civilizations.African rivers are not only part of the ecosystem but also hold immense ecological, political, economic, and sociocultural significance. At the same time, there are numerous challenges to their exploitation and sustainability due to human activities, transboundary conflicts, and climate change. This book explores major thematic preoccupations with the study of African rivers. The first section discusses the epistemology of rivers in Africa, reviewing historical perspectives and identifying associations of rivers with identity and spirituality in Africa. The second section turns to the economy of African rivers, namely their commercial and economic benefits, political perspectives and dimensions, ecological and hydrological impacts, as well as their impacts on agricultural management and food security in the continent. In the third section, challenges associated with the exploitation, management, and sustainability of African rivers are discussed including geopolitics, dam construction, eco-tourism, transboundary disputes, and water scarcity. Beyond merely pointing out these challenges, however, the authors also propose solutions for the future of sustainable river resources in Africa. Ultimately, the book aims to promote knowledge of African rivers to help governments, corporations, and communities define and address their future needs

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Book SynopsisFor centuries, volcanic eruptions have captured our imaginations. Whether as signposts to an underworld, beacons to ancient mariners, or as an extraordinary manifestation of the natural world, volcanoes have intrigued many people, who have left records of their encounters in letters, reports and diaries and through sketches and illustrations. This book tells the stories of volcanic eruptions around the world, using original illustrations and first-hand accounts to explore how our understanding of volcanoes has evolved through time. Written accounts include Pliny’s description of the 79 CE eruption of Vesuvius, stories recounted by seventeenth-century sea-farers, and reports of expeditions made by eighteenth- and nineteenth-century natural historians, including Alexander von Humboldt and Charles Darwin. Illustrations range from fragments of scrolls, buried in the great eruption of Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii, to Athanasius Kircher’s extraordinarily detailed sketches, made in the seventeenth century, to the spectacular London sunsets caused by Krakatoa’s eruption in 1883. They also include the first photograph of a volcanic eruption and twenty-first-century imaging of Santorini. These varied and compelling accounts enrich our perspective on current studies of volcanoes and challenge us to think about how we might use our contemporary understanding of volcanology to prepare for the next big eruption.Trade Review'A beautifully illustrated historical tour of Earth’s most fascinating volcanoes. Pyle’s scientific expertise combines with the Bodleian Library’s collection of volcanic art to produce an engaging narrative of our fiery planet.' -- Alexandra Witze * co-author, Island on Fire: The extraordinary story of Laki (Profile Books, 2014) *'A journey into the volcanic sublime.' -- Barbara Kiser * Nature *'The highlight of this book are the numerous historical illustrations that were included in the exhibition and that are collected in this book. From woodcuts and paintings to old maps and the first photographs, this is a remarkable and beautiful collection. ... a must for anyone interested in volcanoes.' -- Leon Vlieger * NHBS *Table of ContentsContents Foreword Introduction Volcanoes and the heat of the Earth Plate tectonics Oceanic Ridges and Continental Rifts A Volcanic Arc: Chile Measuring Volcanoes Chapter 1 – Volcanoes in Early Manuscripts Hades Volcanoes of the Atlantic Ocean The Mediterranean The Sixteenth Century Athanasius Kircher Chapter 2 – Vesuvius awakes December 1631 Etna 1669 William Hamilton 1817 eruption 1834 eruption 1906 eruption Vesuvius and Popular Culture The first volcanic photograph Chapter 3 – The origins of lava Polygonal rocks. Melting Rocks Field Examples Chapter 4 – Europeans explore the world’s volcanoes Pirates and Burning Islands Eighteenth-century Explorers Nineteenth-century Natural Historians Hawaii Chapter 5 – World-changing eruptions Appearing and Disappearing Islands Jorullo and Parícutin Laki 1783 Tambora, 1815 Krakatoa, 1883 Chapter 6 – Living with Volcanoes Montserrat St Vincent May 1902 The destruction of St Pierre, Martinique Chapter 7 – Detecting the next volcanic eruption Santorini, Greece Why can’t we predict volcanic eruptions? What if.. there was a supervolcanic eruption? Gazetteer of eruptions Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisSince its foundation in 1860, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History’s world-renowned collections have become a key centre for scientific study and its much-loved building an important icon for visitors from around the world. The museum now holds over seven million scientific specimens including five million insects, half a million fossil specimens and half a million zoological specimens. It also holds an extensive collection of archival material relating to important naturalists such as Charles Darwin, William Smith, William Jones and James Charles Dale. This lavishly illustrated book features highlights from the collections ranging from the iconic Dodo (the only soft tissue specimen of the species in existence) and the giant tuna (brought back from Madeira on a perilous sea crossing in 1846) to crabs collected by Darwin during his voyage on the Beagle, David Livingstone’s tsetse fly specimens and Mary Anning’s ichthyosaur. Also featured are the first described dinosaur bones, found in a small Oxfordshire village, the Red Lady of Paviland (who was in fact a man who lived 29,000 years ago) and a meteorite from the planet Mars. Each item tells a unique story about natural history, about the history of science, about collecting, or about the museum itself. They give a unique insight into the extraordinary wealth of information and the fascinating tales that can be gleaned from these collections, both from the past and for the future.

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Book SynopsisFrom the first cave paintings to Britta Jaschinski's provocative animal photography, it seems we have been describing and portraying animals for as long as we have been human. This book provides a historical overview of our representations of animals, from prehistory to postmodernity.

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Book SynopsisTrail of Story, Traveller’s Path examines the meaning of landscape, drawn from Leslie Main Johnson’s rich experience with diverse environments and peoples, including the Gitksan and Witsuwit’en of northwestern British Columbia, the Kaska Dene of the southern Yukon, and the Gwich’in of the Mackenzie Delta.With passion and conviction, Johnson maintains that our response to our environment shapes our culture, determines our lifestyle, defines our identity, and sets the tone for our relationships and economies. She documents the landscape and contrasts the ecological relationships with land of First Nations peoples to those of non-indigenous scientists. The result is an absorbing study of local knowledge of place and a broad exploration of the meaning of landscape.Table of ContentsCHAPTER 1: Trails and Visions: Reflections on Ethnoecology,Landscape, and Knowing CHAPTER 2: Landscape Ethnoecology: Nexus of People, Land, andLifeways CHAPTER 3: Trail of Story: Gitksan Understanding of Land andPlace CHAPTER 4: Traveller’s Path: Witsuwit’en Knowledge ofthe Land CHAPTER 5: Of Berry Patches: What Makes a Kind of Place? CHAPTER 6: Lookouts, Moose Licks, and Fish Lakes: Considering KaskaUnderstanding of the Land CHAPTER 7: Envisioning Ethnoecology: Movement through Place andSeason CHAPTER 8: A Gwich’in Year on the Land CHAPTER 9: Of Nets and Nodes: Reflections on Dene Ethnoecology andLandscape CHAPTER 10: Of Named Places CHAPTER 11: Trails versus Polygons: Contrasting Visions of theLand CHAPTER 12: Implications: GIS and the Storied Landscape CHAPTER 13: The Ecology of Knowing the Land

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Book SynopsisWhen English naturalist Joseph Banks (1743–1820) accompanied Captain James Cook (1728–1779) on his historic mission into the Pacific, the Endeavour voyage of 1768–71, he took with him a team of collectors and illustrators. Banks and his team returned from the voyage with unprecedented collections of artefacts and specimens of stunning birds, fish and other animals as well as thousands of plants, most seen for the first time in Europe. They produced, too, remarkable landscape and figure drawings of the peoples encountered on the voyage along with detailed journals and descriptions of the places visited, which, with the first detailed maps of these lands (Tahiti, New Zealand and the East Coast of Australia), were afterwards used to create lavishly illustrated accounts of the mission. These caused a storm of interest in Europe where plays, poems and satirical caricatures were also produced to celebrate and examine the voyage, its personnel and many ‘new’ discoveries. Along with contemporary portraits of key personalities aboard the ship, scale models and plans of the ship itself, scientific instruments taken on the voyage, commemorative medals and sketches, the objects (over 140) featured in this new book will tell the story of the Endeavour voyage and its impact ahead of the 250th anniversary in 2018 of the launch of this seminal mission. Artwork made both during and after the voyage will be seen alongside actual specimens. And by comparing the voyage originals with the often stylized engravings later produced in London for the official account, the book will investigate how knowledge gained on the mission was gathered, revised and later received in Europe. Items separated in some cases for more than two centuries will be brought together to reveal their fascinating history not only during but since that mission. Original voyage specimens will feature together with illustrations and descriptions of them, showing a rich diversity of newly discovered species and how Banks organized this material, planning but ultimately failing to publish it. In fact, many of the objects in the book have never been published before. The book will focus on the contribution of Banks’s often neglected artists Sydney Parkinson, Herman Diedrich Spöring, Alexander Buchan as well as the priest and Pacific voyager Tupaia, who joined Endeavour in the Society Islands, none of whom survived the mission. These men illustrated island scenes of bays, dwellings, canoes as well as the dress, faces and possessions of Pacific peoples. Burial ceremonies, important religious sites and historic encounters were all depicted. Of particular interest, and only recently recognised as by him, are the original artworks of Tupaia, who produced as part of this mission the first charts and illustrations on paper by any Polynesian. The surviving Endeavour voyage illustrations are the most important body of images produced since Europeans entered this region, matching the truly historic value of the plant specimens and artefacts that will be seen alongside them.Trade Review“Handsome volume … a work of fine scholarship.” * International Journal of Maritime History *Beautifully presented and detailed … an authoritative and high-quality book which will be enjoyed by many readers. * Journal of Historical Geography *Endeavouring Banks is beautifully illustrated: 143 objects heavy with the weight of provenance. More powerful perhaps are the underlying resonances … it was a different world that the Endeavour had sailed into, in more than the physical sense." * World of Interiors *A lavishly illustrated account of the expedition." * Australian Geographic *In this fascinating publication, specimens collected by naturalist Joseph Banks on his HMS Endeavour voyage, along with scientific drawings, maps of the ship, and profiles of his travelling companions, including James Cook, give insight into what it might have been like to explore the uncharted South Pacific. * Gardening Australia *

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Book SynopsisIn this often-surprising book of essays, Krista Eastman explores the myths we make about who we are and where we’re from. The Painted Forest uncovers strange and little-known "home places" —not only the picturesque hills and valleys of the author's childhood in rural Wisconsin, but also tourist towns, the "under-imagined and overly caricatured" Midwest, and a far-flung station in Antarctica where the filmmaker Werner Herzog makes an unexpected appearance.The Painted Forest upends easy narratives of place, embracing tentativeness and erasing boundaries. But it is Eastman's willingness to play—to follow her curiosity down every odd path, to exude a skeptical wonder—that gives this book depth and distinction. An unlikely array of people, places, and texts meet for close conversation, and tension is diffused with art, imagination, and a strong sense of there being some other way forward. Eastman offers a smart and contemporary take on how we wander and how we belong.Trade ReviewThe Painted Forest is a surprising and tender book in which a reader might be reminded of the considered natural observations of Annie Dillard, the unrelenting gaze of Lia Purpura, or the masterful storytelling of Jo Ann Beard. Eastman is interested in interrogating the history and ethos of several specific places, including her own home state of Wisconsin, as well as elegantly demonstrating the ways in which landscapes shift and morph through generations and recall.”- Caryl Pagel, author of Twice Told “In this shimmering collection, Krista Eastman blends imagined scene with researched fact to bring us fresh visions of places we thought we knew. From examinations of home to 'laughter from nowhere,' from the Wisconsin Dells to Antarctica’s McMurdo Station, from an itinerant painter’s elliptical masterwork to gestation’s feral undertow, Eastman casts a spell that renders us 'still captive to the mystery in distance, still loyal to the pledge found in story.”- Joni Tevis, author of The World Is On Fire: Scrap, Treasure, and Songs of ApocalypseTable of Contents Scrap Metal (A Prologue) Insider’s Almanac Wonder Spot Middle West The Painted Forest Everybody Comes Round Here Animals My Youth Layers of Ice Notes Acknowledgments

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Book SynopsisThema des vorliegenden Buches ist der Umgang mit dem Wasser an der niedersächsischen Küste (hier: die Entwässerung der niedrig liegenden Landschaft), eine fundamentale Angelegenheit für die Menschen, die hier leben und arbeiten. Für ein junges Zielpublikum wird unterhaltsam erläutert, wohin das Wasser fließt und welche Anstrengungen unsere Vorfahren unternommen hatten, damit wir in dieser Landschaft (über)leben können. Darüber hinaus werden Veränderungen, die z. B. über den Klimawandel auf diese Landschaft einwirken, in die Entdeckungsreise der vier Protagonisten eingebunden.Table of ContentsDie Markierung an der Brücke.- Der Wasserverband.- Höhen und Tiefen.- Erkundungstour in der Leke.- Der kleine Canyon in der Südender Leke.- Wanderung im Tal der Nordender Leke.- Die Kanoutour von der Jade zum Schweiburger Siel.

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Book SynopsisCui bono? – Wem nutzt die Entwicklung humanoider Maschinen oder Automaten? Dieses Buch erörtert die Details dieses Spannungsfelds und die Herausforderung gesellschaftlicher Weiterentwicklung. Als technisch-elektronische Handhabungsgeräte können sie den Menschen zuträglich sein, sie von körperlich belastenden Arbeiten oder sogenannten Routinearbeiten befreien. Der Autor versucht die Fragen zu beleuchten: Was erwartet die Menschheit durch die Entwicklung einer künstlichen Intelligenz in einer menschähnlichen Maschine? Was aber, wenn der selbstbestimmende Mensch an der Schwelle steht, sich selbst durch intelligente selbstorganisierte Produkte und Prozesse eine humanoide Konkurrenz zu schaffen, die er möglicherweise nicht mehr kontrollieren kann?Table of ContentsDie Optimierung und die Gesellschaft.- Macht des kurzfristigen Genusses - Ohnmacht der nachhaltigen Veränderung.- Arbeiten und Arbeiten lassen - Arbeitskampf um die "Semantische Lücke".- Freizeitaktivität und/oder konditionierte Ertüchtigung.- Muße und Entschleunigung.

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Book SynopsisDieses Buch beleuchtet die unterschiedlichen Facetten einer Mobilität mit selbstfahrenden (autonomen) Fahrzeugen. Angefangen bei der Elektromobilität, werden die Parkplatzproblematik, Carsharing und Haftungsfragen unter dem Aspekt einer zunehmenden Verbreitung autonomer Fahrzeuge betrachtet. Auch ökonomische und umweltpolitische Fragen sind aufgeworfen (Ressourcenknappheit, Klimawandel, automatisierte Logistik) und versucht zu beantworten. Können Maschinen moralisch handeln, wie steht es um die Cybersicherheit und den Technikmissbrauch, sind weitere Fragen, die in diesem Buch thematisiert werden.Trade Review“… Für einen allgemeinverständlichen Überblick ist das Buch sehr zu empfehlen, Technikinteressierte müssen sich anderweitig zusätzlich informieren.” (Gerhard Grosch, in: Technik in Bayern, Januar - Februar 2019)Table of ContentsDieses Buch ergründet, was es für unseren Alltag, unsere Arbeit und unsere Gesellschaft bedeutet, wenn Programm das Steuer übernehmen. Wenn wir uns der Konsequenzen des autonomen Verkehrs bewusst sind, können wir uns auf diese Zukunft einstellen und sie mitgestalten. Anschaulich illustriert und verständlich geschrieben sind Techniken und Hintergründe zu neuen Arten der Mobilität erklärt. Sie werden interdisziplinär mit den Themen einer fahrerlosen Gesellschaft, automatisierter Logistik und möglichen Folgeinnovationen verknüpft. Die Einflusssphären zu einigen sogenannten Megatrends sind angesprochen und regen zum Weiterdenken an. Dieses Buch schärft den Blick für selbstfahrende Fahrzeuge und deren mögliche Folgen. Dabei stellt Nachhaltigkeit für den Themenkomplex Elektromobilität und autonomes Fahren den roten Faden dar und beleuchtet die Technikfolgen für individuelle Mobilität, Logistik, Umwelt und Gesellschaft. Aus dem Inhalt · Sterben unsere Autos aus? · Was bremst den Erfolg elektrischer Fahrzeuge? · Autonome Fahrzeuge und Folgeinnovationen · Autonomes Carsharing – Das Ende vom Privatauto? · Die fahrerlose Gesellschaft · Ökonomische und Rechtliche Überlegungen · Megatrends und Mobilitätswende Die Zielgruppen · Technisch, politisch und wirtschaftlich interessierte Personen · Entscheider und Gestalter im Verkehrssektor · Im Verkehrswesen Beschäftigte Der Autor Johannes Ritz ist Softwareentwickler für eingebettete Systeme und hat Erfahrung als Entwicklungsingenieur für Elektronik.

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