Plants of the Chicago Region

Plants of the Chicago Region
Author: Floyd Swink
Publisher:
Total Pages: 942
Release: 1994
Genre: Nature
ISBN:

An annotated checklist of the Vascular Flora of the Chicago Region with keys, this book contains notes on local distribution, ecology and taxonomy; a system for the qualitative evaluation of plant communities; a natural divisions' map; and a description of natural plant communities. This comprehensive and detailed treatment employs the revolutionary Coefficient of Conservatism (C values) and Floristic Quality Assessment methodology. "The Swink and Wilhelm tome is one of the very few where I know it will pay to check every species against my [Michigan Flora] manuscript."—Edward Voss

From Coastal Wilderness to Fruited Plain

From Coastal Wilderness to Fruited Plain
Author: Gordon G. Whitney
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 492
Release: 1996-08-29
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780521576581

From Coastal Wilderness to Fruited Plain is an account of the making of a large part of the American landscape following European settlement. Drawing upon land survey records and early travellers' accounts, Dr Whitney reconstructs the 'virgin' forests and grasslands of the north-eastern and central United States during the pre-settlement period. He then documents successively the clearance and fragmentation of the region's woodlands, the harvest of the forest and its game, the ploughing of the prairies, and the draining of wetlands. The degree to which these activities altered the soil, climate, plant and animal communities, and water cycle are evaluated, and the sustainability of present-day ecosystems is brought into question in this account.

Regional Silviculture of the United States

Regional Silviculture of the United States
Author: John W. Barrett
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 662
Release: 1995-02-28
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 9780471598176

A valuable working resource for professionals. An excellent text for advanced forestry students . . . This unique book provides students and professionals with a broad-based knowledge of contemporary silviculture theory and practice.Throughout, the authors emphasize fundamental questions of edaphic,physiographic, and climatic site factors, as well as ecologicalrelationships and silvical characteristics of major tree species.Updated and expanded to reflect the many scientific, socioeconomic,and public policy trends that have had a profound impact onsilviculture over the past decade, this Third Edition of RegionalSilviculture of the United States: * Brings together the knowledge and expertise of fourteen leadingexperts from around the nation * Provides a rational framework with which to critically assessforest data and to develop innovative silvicultural solutions * Features region-by-region coverage of the eleven major foresttypes in the continental U.S. and Alaska * Offers a detailed look at practices that promote a wide range offorest resources--from wood production and outdoor recreation, towildlife habitat and range forage production * Now includes more in-depth coverage of such crucial themes asbiodiversity, endangered species, habitat fragmentation, foresthealth, landscape management, neotropical migrants, and more "...silviculture is not reducible to a series of rules; it must beflexible and adaptable to a variety of conditions. Much of it is anart as well as a synthesis of ecology and economics. There is nosingle best answer to how a stand should be managed. Andinstitutional and societal constraints must be considered." --fromthe Preface by John W. Barrett Regional Silviculture of the United States, Third Edition is not a"cookbook,"offering pat recipes for solving "typical" silviculturalproblems. Instead, it arms those responsible for the developmentand care of forests with something far more valuable--a rationalframework for the analysis of forest data and the development ofinnovative solutions tailored to specific forest types and theshifting politicoeconomic constraints under which silviculturalistsmust work. One way in which this book achieves that goal is by providingreaders with a broad-based knowledge of contemporary silviculturetheory and practice. In chapters organized according to the elevenmajor forest regions of the continental U.S., fourteen recognizedexperts from around the nation--each of them a specialist in aparticular region of operation--offer their valuable insights andobservations on silviculture in general and on varioussilvicultural practices with which they are familiar. Throughout,the authors are attentive to fundamental considerations of edaphic,physiographic, and climatic site factors, as well as ecologicalrelationships and silvical characteristics of major treespecies. This Third Edition of John W. Barrett's classic has been revisedand expanded to encompass a number of important themes which haverisen to prominence within silviculture over the past decade,including biodiversity, endangered species, habitat fragmentation,forest health, landscape management, and neotropicalmigrants. Timely, authoritative, and comprehensive in scope, RegionalSilviculture of the United States, Third Edition is a valuableresource for foresters, forestry students, ecologists,environmental scientists, and all those concerned with development,management, and preservation of our most valuable nationaltreasure.