Provides a thorough and accessible description of the climate, plant and animal life, origins and human impacts, and history of the scientific exploration of every major biome in the world. Chapters on the "human-dominated" biomes--urban areas and agricultural regions--illustrate how these frequently ignored communities are also an important part of the global environment.
Terrestrial biomes; tropical rainforests; tropical dry forests; tropical savannas; deserts; temperate grasslands; mediterranean woodland and scrub; temperate broadleaf deciduous forests; boreal forests; tundra; freshwater biomes; rivers and streams; lakes and ponds; marine biomes; coastal biome; continental shelf biome; the deep sea; human-dominated biomes; agroecosystems; urban ecosystems.
Susan L. Woodward is Professor of Geography at Radford University, where she teaches courses in biogeography, physical geography, and human ecology. Dr. Woodward received her Ph.D. in Geography from the University of California, and has studied biomes in North America, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Great Britain, Russia, and China.
?Most people today recognize the concept and names of the major terrestrial biomesdesert, tropical rainforest, and tundra. Woodwards book helps to fill in the details of the plants, animals, soils, climate, and other factors that create the realities behind those names....Woodwards book is obviously aimed primarily at a high school population, and it will be a valuable addition to high school and even middle-school libraries. Because of its readability, it will be useful to public and academic libraries, as well.?-E-Streams