A Natural History of the New World: The Ecology and Evolution of Plants in the Americas
By Alan Graham
()
About this ebook
The paleoecological history of the Americas is as complex as the region is broad: stretching from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego, the New World features some of the most extraordinary vegetation on the planet. But until now it has lacked a complete natural history. Alan Graham remedies that with A Natural History of the New World. With plants as his scientific muse, Graham traces the evolution of ecosystems, beginning in the Late Cretaceous period (about 100 million years ago) and ending in the present, charting their responses to changes in geology and climate.
By highlighting plant communities’ roles in the environmental history of the Americas, Graham offers an overdue balance to natural histories that focus exclusively on animals. Plants are important in evolution’s splendid drama. Not only are they conspicuous and conveniently stationary components of the Earth’s ecosystems, but their extensive fossil record allows for a thorough reconstruction of the planet’s paleoenvironments. What’s more, plants provide oxygen, function as food and fuel, and provide habitat and shelter; in short, theirs is a history that can speak to many other areas of evolution.
A Natural History of the New World is an ambitious and unprecedented synthesis written by one of the world’s leading scholars of botany and geology.
Alan Graham
Alan Graham is the president, CEO, and founder of Mobile Loaves & Fishes, a social profit enterprise that delivers meals and provides homes to homeless people on the streets of Austin, San Antonio, New Orleans, Nashville, Minneapolis, Providence, and New Bedford. Alan was born in Houston in 1955. He grew up in Alvin, Texas and attended the College of Mainland and later the University of Texas. In 1978 he left UT to begin a career in real estate. He was a partner in many of Central Texas’ most successful real estate development projects. In the mid-1990s, Alan co-founded the Lynxs Group, which built the air cargo facility at Austin’s new airport in 1997, and went on to build similar facilities at airports around the country. Alan left the Lynxs Group in 1997 and managed Austin’s cargo port as the new airport was opening. At the same time, Alan had the seed of the idea for Mobile Loaves & Fishes. He and the other founders started by making sack lunches and serving them from the back of a green minivan. His focus now is the development and building of the Community First! Village, a 27-acre master-planned community that provides affordable, sustainable housing and a supportive community for the disabled and chronically homeless in Austin. Visit: http://mlf.org
Read more from Alan Graham
Welcome Homeless: One Man's Journey of Discovering the Meaning of Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Land Bridges: Ancient Environments, Plant Migrations, and New World Connections Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Today's P.I.T.S! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to A Natural History of the New World
Related ebooks
Alien Species and Evolution: The Evolutionary Ecology of Exotic Plants, Animals, Microbes, and Interacting Native Species Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGreen Versus Gold: Sources In California's Environmental History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Chain of Life in Geological Time: A Sketch of the Origin and Succession of Animals and Plants Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSerendipity: An Ecologist's Quest to Understand Nature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Re-Origin of Species: a second chance for extinct animals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Restoring Disturbed Landscapes: Putting Principles into Practice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Field Guide to the Plants and Animals of the Middle Rio Grande Bosque Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsScience, Conservation, and National Parks Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWildlife-Habitat Relationships: Concepts and Applications Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWildlife and Habitats in Managed Landscapes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPollination: The Enduring Relationship between Plant and Pollinator Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistory Within: The Science, Culture, and Politics of Bones, Organisms, and Molecules Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Kangaroo: Portrait of an Extraordinary Marsupial Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Living Shore: Rediscovering a Lost World Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Historical Ecology Handbook: A Restorationist's Guide to Reference Ecosystems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNew Models for Ecosystem Dynamics and Restoration Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Marine World: A Natural History of Ocean Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSurviving Sudden Environmental Change: Answers From Archaeology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Birding the Hudson Valley Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEssay on the Geography of Plants Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Plant Reintroduction in a Changing Climate: Promises and Perils Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Most Perfect Thing: Inside (and Outside) a Bird’s Egg Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Arctic Archives: Ice, Memory and Entropy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMarine Conservation Biology: The Science of Maintaining the Sea's Biodiversity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Foundations of Macroecology: Classic Papers with Commentaries Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Natural History of Shells Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ornaments of Life: Coevolution and Conservation in the Tropics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Introduction to Paleobotany Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Guide to Pennsylvanian Carboniferous-Age Plant Fossils of Southwest Virginia. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMore Tree Talk: The People, Politics, and Economics of Timber Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Latin America History For You
Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life (Revised Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5MS-13: The Making of America's Most Notorious Gang Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEl Narco: Inside Mexico's Criminal Insurgency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cuba (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize): An American History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Forgotten Continent: A History of the New Latin America Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Have Black Lives Ever Mattered? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mexicanos, Third Edition: A History of Mexicans in the United States Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Last Days of the Incas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Memory of Fire Trilogy: Genesis, Faces and Masks, and Century of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mayan Civilization: A History From Beginning to End Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Turning the Tide: U.S. Intervention in Central America and the Struggle for Peace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Genesis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Narco History: How the United States and Mexico Jointly Created the "Mexican Drug War" Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A new Compact History of Mexico Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn Power and Ideology: The Managua Lectures Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Chicano Bakes: Recipes for Mexican Pan Dulce, Tamales, and My Favorite Desserts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mexican Revolution: A Short History, 1910-1920 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba…and Then Lost It to the Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sacred Mysteries Among the Mayas and the Kʼicheʼs: Illustrated Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRiver of Darkness: Francisco Orellana and the Deadly First Voyage through the Amazon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Aztec Herbal: The Classic Codex of 1552 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maya Mythology: Myths and Folklore of the Mayan Civilization Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Conquest of New Spain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Popol Vuh Illustrated Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Puerto Rican Nation on the Move: Identities on the Island and in the United States Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related categories
Reviews for A Natural History of the New World
0 ratings0 reviews