The World of Northern Evergreens
E. C. Pielou
Abstract
Global warming and human-driven impacts from logging, natural gas drilling, mining of oil sands, and the development of hydropower increasingly threaten North America's northern forests. These forests are far from being a uniform environment; close inspection reveals that the conifers that thrive there—pines, larches, spruces, hemlocks, firs, Douglas-firs, arborvitaes, false-cypresses, junipers, and yews—support a varied and complex ecosystem. This book introduces the biology of the northern forests and covers in detail this unique and threatened northern world and the species that make it the ... More
Global warming and human-driven impacts from logging, natural gas drilling, mining of oil sands, and the development of hydropower increasingly threaten North America's northern forests. These forests are far from being a uniform environment; close inspection reveals that the conifers that thrive there—pines, larches, spruces, hemlocks, firs, Douglas-firs, arborvitaes, false-cypresses, junipers, and yews—support a varied and complex ecosystem. This book introduces the biology of the northern forests and covers in detail this unique and threatened northern world and the species that make it their home. The book emphasizes how different these plants are both biologically and evolutionarily from the hardwoods we also call “trees.” Following an introduction to the essential conifers, the book expands to include the interactions of conifers with other plants, fungi, mammals, birds, and amphibians. The second edition, enriched by new illustrations of woodland features and creatures, updates the text with new topics including mycorrhizal fungi, soil, woodlice, bats, and invasive insects such as the hemlock woolly adelgid. Emphasis is given to the very real human-driven impacts that threaten the species that live in and depend on the vital and complex forest ecosystem. The book provides a rich understanding of the northern forests in th1is work praised for its nontechnical presentation, scientific objectivity, and original illustrations.
Keywords:
global warming,
North America,
northern forests,
conifers,
forest ecosystem,
fungi,
soil,
woodlice,
bats,
invasive insects
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2011 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780801477409 |
| Published to Cornell Scholarship Online: August 2016 |
DOI:10.7591/cornell/9780801477409.001.0001 |
