"A forester's fascinating stories, supported by the latest scientific research, reveal the extraordinary world of forests and illustrate how trees communicate and care for each other"--

"The oceans have always shaped human lives," writes marine biologist Helen Scales in her vibrant new book The Brilliant Abyss, but the surface and the very edges have so far mattered the most. "However, one way or another, the future ocean is the deep ocean." A golden era of deep-sea discovery is underway. Revolutionary studies in the deep are rewriting the very notion of life on Earth and the rules of what is possible. In the process, the abyss is...

This book provides information on ways to strengthen and cultivate the soil food web to grow healthy plants without the use of chemicals. Smart gardeners know that soil is anything but an inert substance. Healthy soil is teeming with life, not just earthworms and insects, but a staggering multitude of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms. When we use chemical fertilizers, we injure the microbial life that sustains healthy plants and become increasingly...

"In a world filled with breathtaking beauty, we have often overlooked the elusive charm and magic of certain landscapes. A cloudy river flows into a verdant Arctic wetland where sandhill cranes and muskoxen dwell. Further south, cypress branches hang low over dismal swamps. Places like these-collectively known as swamplands or peatlands-often go unnoticed for their ecological splendor. They are as globally significant as rainforests, and function...

"Marine biologist Brent Hughes discovered a surprising connection between sea otters and sea grass at an estuary in northern California. Follow science in action as Hughes conducts the research that led to this major discovery."--

Examines small portions of a sandy East Coast beach and a rocky West Coast shore and describes the life they support.

"In the pages of Being Salmon, Being Human, Martin Lee Mueller confronts Western culture's tragic alienation from nature by focusing on the relationship between people and salmon--weaving together key narratives about the Norwegian salmon industry as well as wild salmon in indigenous cultures of the Pacific Northwest. Mueller uses this lens to articulate a critique of human exceptionalism, challenging the four-century-old notion that other animals...

Inside each rock pool tucked into one of the infinite crevices of the tidal coastline lies a rippling, silent, unknowable universe. Below the stillness of the surface course the ebb and flow of the tide, the steady forward propulsion of the passage of time, and the tiny lifetimes of the rock pool's creatures, all of which coalesce into the grand narrative of evolution. Nicolson shows us that the world of the rock pools is infinite and as intricate...

As human activity and environmental change come to be increasingly recognized as intertwined phenomena on a rapidly urbanizing planet, the field of urban ecology has risen to offer useful ways of thinking about coupled human and natural systems. Marina Alberti innovative work offers a conceptual framework for uncovering fundamental laws that govern the complexity and resilience of cities, which she sees as key to understanding and responding to planetary...

A poetic introduction to coastal life at the ocean and how creatures in and near the water behave.