Showing titles in Ecosystems & Habitats

Mark Seth Lender’s home is on the edge of a salt marsh. From his front porch and back yard he is witness to an astonishing array of wildlife, but nothing he sees is more beautiful and inspiring than the birds that fill the air, perch on trees and wade in shallow water. His reports on the sighting of birds like great horned owls, little blue herons and snowy egrets are featured in the segment "Salt Marsh Diary" heard on NPR’s Living on Earth. For the first time, he has chronicled the marsh’s life in a book penned from his perch.

There are more than 180 exotic species in the Great Lakes. Some, such as the Asian tapeworm, have had little or no impact so far. But a handful of others - sea lamprey, alewife, spiny water flea, rusty crayfish, and more - have conducted an all-out assault on the Great Lakes and are winning the battle. Here, William Rapai focuses on the impact of these invasives. Rapai begins with a brief biological and geological history of the Great Lakes. He examines new policies and the tradeoffs that must be weighed, and ends with an inspired call for action.

Dirty, Sacred Rivers explores South Asia's increasingly urgent water crisis, taking readers on a journey through North India, Nepal and Bangladesh, from the Himalaya to the Bay of Bengal. The book shows how rivers, traditionally revered by the people of the Indian subcontinent, have in recent decades deteriorated dramatically due to economic progress and gross mismanagement.

Jungle tells the remarkable story of the world's tropical forests, from the arrival of the first plants millions of years ago to the role of tropical forests in the evolution of the world's atmosphere, the dinosaurs, the first mammals and even our own species and ancestors. Highlighting provocative new evidence garnered from cutting-edge research, Dr Roberts shows, for example, that our view of humans as 'savannah specialists' is wildly wrong, and that the 'Anthropocene' began not with the Industrial Revolution, but potentially as early as 6,000 years ago in the tropics.

Der Wald ist so viel mehr als Bäume! In ihrem ersten gemeinsamen Werk, das umfassend wie nie in die Geheimnisse des Waldes einführt, vereinen Deutschlands berühmtester Förster Peter Wohlleben und der renommierte Biologe Pierre L. Ibisch ihre herausragende Expertise und die neuesten Erkenntnisse der internationalen Wissenschaft. Sie bringen Licht ins Dickicht eines hoch komplexen Ökosystems. Anhand faszinierender Beispiele aus der Natur zeigen sie das ungeahnte Zusammenspiel der Pflanzen, Tiere, Mikroben, Viren, Pilze auf – eine Welt, in der kein Element ohne das andere existieren kann.

When Guy Stagg decided to walk from Canterbury to Jerusalem, he spent the next 10 months following medieval pilgrim paths across 5,500 km. He began the journey after suffering several years of mental illness, hoping the ritual would heal him. Travelling alone and without support, he had to rely each night on the charity of strangers.

The ocean has shaped and sustained life on Earth from the beginning of time. Its vast waters are alive with meaning, and connect every living thing on Earth. Deep Water is a hymn to the beauty, mystery and wonder of the ocean. Weaving together science, history and personal experience, it offers vital new ways of understanding not just humanity's relationship with the planet, but our past - and perhaps most importantly, our future.

Imminent Domains: Reckoning with the Anthropocene invites listeners to join a contemplation of survival—our own, and that of the elements that surround us. Using research, lyric prose, and first-hand experiences, Alessandra Naccarato addresses fundamental questions about our modern relationship to nature amidst depictions of landscapes undergoing dramatic transformation. Naccarato offers not blanket answers about our future, but rather myriad ways to find our own, individual response to an imminent question.

Tropische Wälder in der Antarktis. Ein Wasserfall von unvorstellbarer Größe, der das trockene Mittelmeerbecken mit Leben füllt. Eine Python, die in der kenianischen Savanne frühe Verwandte des Menschen auf Bäume jagt. Die Vergangenheit ist lebendig – und sie hinterlässt Spuren. Der Paläontologe Thomas Halliday entziffert sie origineller denn je. Anschaulich lässt er verlorene Welten wiederaufleben, erklärt, wie Ökosysteme entstehen und verschwinden, wie alte Spezies durch neue verdrängt werden, wie Lebewesen wandern, sich anpassen und entwickeln.

Iceland, Greenland, Northern Norway, and the Faroe Islands lie on the edges of Western Europe, in an area long portrayed by travelers as remote and exotic - its nature harsh, its people reclusive. Since the middle of the 18th century, however, this marginalized region has gradually become part of modern Europe, a transformation that is narrated in Karen Oslund's Iceland Imagined. This cultural and environmental history sweeps across the dramatic North Atlantic landscape, exploring its unusual geography, saga narratives, language, culture, and politics, and analyzing its emergence as a distinctive and symbolic part of Europe.

Deep in the jungles of the Venezuelan Rainforest, a dying phytopharmacologist has begun a search that could change the fate of humanity forever. Joining depraved scientists and ruthless mercenaries, he seeks to overcome humanity's one common enemy: Mortality. Meanwhile, plans have been laid by an eco-revolutionary group, led by rebel Faye Moanna, to put an end to the illegal deforestation taking place in the Amazon. But her true motives may compromise much more than their sociopolitical agenda.

Twilit and sinister, oozing with ague, bad airs, boggarts and other spirits: in the mind’s eye marshes, bogs and swamps are dangerous, crepuscular—and only partly of this world. For centuries, wetlands, have been the object of our distrust: we’ve drained away their demons, encroached upon and denuded them, ripping away not only their fragile beauty, botany and birdlife but also the carefully calibrated lives of those that have come to understand and thrive in them. In Swamp Songs, Tom Blass takes us on a journey through these strange lands and waterscapes.

In this gripping first-hand account, four seasoned adventurers navigate a sophisticated, high-tech rowboat across the Northwest Passage. One of the "last firsts" remaining in the adventure world, this journey is only possible because of the dramatic impacts of global warming in the high Arctic, which provide an ironic opportunity to draw attention to the growing urgency of climate change. Along the way, the team repeatedly face life-threatening danger from storms unparalleled in their ferocity and unpredictability and bears witness to unprecedented changes in the Arctic habitat and inhabitants.

Norwegian adventurer, philosopher and acclaimed author Erling Kagge ventured to the North Pole in 1990. Blending memoir from that intrepid journey, along with history, philosophy and a stark warning about melting ice, comes a profound meditation about nature and our place within it. The North Pole is for anyone who’s gazed out at the horizon – and wondered what happens if you keep walking.

Seit Jahrzehnten steigende Temperaturen sind eine unabweisbare Tatsache: Der Klimawandel kommt nicht - wir sind bereits mittendrin. Bernhard Kegel geht in seinem Hörbuch der Frage nach, wie sich unsere Umwelt in den nächsten Jahren verändern wird. Welche Migration von Flora und Fauna wird es geben - und was bedeutet dies für unser Leben? Was passiert, wenn natürliche Zyklen kollabieren, wenn etwa Fische schlüpfen, weil die Wassertemperatur ansteigt, aber kein Futter vorhanden ist, weil sich Phytoplankton erst vermehrt, wenn die Tage länger werden?

Traveling in a canoe along the Yukon River with the migrating salmon, a three-month journey through untrammeled wilderness, Adam Weymouth traces the profound interconnectedness of the people and the Chinook through searing portraits of the individuals he encounters. He offers a powerful, nuanced glimpse into the erosion of indigenous culture and into our ever-complicated relationship with the natural world. Weaving in the history of the salmon run and their mysterious life cycle, Kings of the Yukon is extraordinary adventure and nature writing and social history at its most compelling.

At the heart of Is a River Alive? is a single, transformative idea: that rivers are not mere matter for human use, but living beings, who should be recognized as such in both imagination and law. Macfarlane takes the reader on a mind-expanding global journey into the history, futures, people and places of the ancient, urgent concept. Around the world, rivers are dying from pollution, drought and damming. But a powerful movement is also underway to recognize the lives and the rights of rivers, and to re-animate our relationships with these vast, mysterious presences whose landscapes we share.

Using a question-and-answer format, this entertaining book addresses over 100 general interest questions about the sea, sea life, seabirds and man s relationship with the sea. Why is the sea salty? Does anything eat jellyfish? Why do whales sing? How do flying fish fly? Who owns the oceans? Inspired by questions raised while the author was a guest lecturer on cruise ships, this fascinating and informative book is a lighthearted, surprising, and entertaining read for anyone interested in the sea in its many forms.

Genius Ideas for Planetary Healing is about envisioning a healthier planet for all. It’s a survey of the innovations and transformations that can support a world where humanity and nature both prosper. Building off of foundational concepts, we explore the challenges we face and the inspired responses that we are starting to take.

Well-known nature and conservation writer Ted Williams is an avid fisherman who has devoted many years to writing about the sport and advocating the preservation of bodies of water and species of fish. Here, he brings together his love of angling with his profound sense of responsibility for the environment.