Synopses & Reviews
This comprehensive field guide includes all the flora and fauna you're most likely to see in the forests of California and the Pacific Northwest. With 53 color plates and 80 color photos illustrating trees, birds, mammals, wildflowers, mushrooms, reptiles, amphibians, butterflies, moths, and other insects.
About the Author
Gordon Morrison is a well-known naturalist whose work has been praised by Roger Tory Peterson as "Marvelous, beautiful, excellent . . . Morrison's work is so inspiring that I wish such clear material was available when I was slowly learning ecology. . . . We owe a debt of gratitude to Gordon for his interpretive skills as an artist. He is a superb teacher who uses visual methods." Robert Bateman likened his work to that of Albrecht Durer and Andrew Wyeth. Gordon Morrison makes his home in Massachusetts.Roger Tory Peterson, one of the world's greatest naturalists, received every major award for ornithology, natural science, and conservation as well as numerous honorary degrees, medals, and citations, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Peterson Identification System has been called the greatest invention since binoculars. These editions include updated material by Michael O'Brien, Paul Lehman, Bill Thompson III, Michael DiGiorgio, Larry Rosche, and Jeffrey A. Gordon.
John Kricher's works include the Peterson Field Guides toandnbsp;Eastern Forests, Rocky Mountain and Southwestern Forests, and California and Pacific Northwest Forests.
John Kricher's works include the Peterson Field Guides toandnbsp;Eastern Forests, Rocky Mountain and Southwestern Forests, and California and Pacific Northwest Forests.
Table of Contents
Editor's Note v
Acknowledgments vii
Preface ix
1. How To Use This Book 1
2. Forest Ecology 15
Essay: Plant-Herbivore Wars 37
3. Life Zones 50
4. Widespread Western Mammals and Birds 60
Essay: Elk and Sexual Selection 61
Essay: Pale Rump Patches 66
Essay: Antlers and Horns 68
Essay: The Selfish Herd and the Solitary
Hunter 75
Essay: Old World and New World Vultures: A
Convergence 78
Plate 1. Widespread Western Mammals 92
Plate 2. Widespread Birds of Open Areas 94
Plate 3. Widespread Forest Birds 96
5. Sierra Nevada Forests 98
Mid-elevation Pine Forest 103
Giant Sequoia Grove 111
Essay: Why So Many Kinds of Chipmunks? 121
Montane Fir Forest 124
Essay: Bird Space 131
Subalpine Forest 132
Sagebrush-Pinyon Forest 144
Essay: From Sierra to Cordillera 149
Plate 4. Sierra Nevada Mid-elevation Pine Forest 152
Plate 5. Giant Sequoia Grove 154
Plate 6. Sierra Nevada/Montane Fir Forests 156
Plate 7. Sierra Nevada Subalpine Forest 158
Plate 8. Animals of Timberline-Alpine Tundra 160
6. California Forests 162
California Oak-Pine Woodland and Savanna 164
Essay: California's Cooperative Woodpecker
174
California Chaparral 176
California Coastal Forest and Scrub 185
Essay: California's Unique Flora 197
California Riparian Forest 199
Redwood Forest 207
Southern California Desert Scrub 214
Essay: Ancient Western Forests and the Sands
of Time 218
Mojave Desert Joshuatree Forest 221
Plate 9. California Oak-Pine Woodland and Savanna 224
Plate 10. California Chaparral 226
Plate 11. California Coastal Forest and Scrub 228
Plate 12. California Riparian Forest 230
Plate 13. Redwood Forest 232
7. Pacific Northwest Forests 234
Northwest Oak-Pine Forest 237
Temperate Rain Forest 243
Essay: Temperate Rain Forest, Tropical Rain
Forest,
and Biodiversity 260
Douglas-fir Forest 261
Essay: The Logging Controversy 270
Northwest Riparian Forest 276
Subalpine Evergreen Forest 285
Northwest Subalpine Meadows 293
Essay: Succession on Mount St. Helens 301
Plate 14. Northwest Oak-Pine Forest 304
Plate 15. Temperate Rain Forest I 306
Plate 16. Temperate Rain Forest II 308
Plate 17. Douglas-fir Forest 310
Plate 18. Northwest Riparian Forest I 312
Plate 19. Northwest Riparian Forest II 314
Plate 20. Subalpine Evergreen Forest 316
Plate 21. Northwest Subalpine Meadows 318
8. Boreal Forests of Canada and Alaska 320
Boreal Spruce-Fir Forest 322
Boreal Bog 331
Timberline-Arctic Tundra 336
Plate 22. Boreal Spruce-Fir Forest I 342
Plate 23. Boreal Spruce-Fir Forest II 344
References 349
Index 352