Includes bibliographical references (p. 321) and index.
Contents:
Water flow and drainage -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 2. Geography of temperate forests -- What is a "temperate forest"? -- Why leaves change color in the fall -- Where are temperate forests to be found? -- How did temperate forests develop? -- 2. Geology of temperate forests -- Plate tectonics and tree distribution -- Alfred Lothar Wegener (1880-1930) and continents that move -- Soil formation and development -- Geologic timescale -- Weathering -- Soil classification -- Vasily Vasilyevich Dokuchayev (1840-1903) -- National and international soil classifications -- Soil orders and reference groups : orders of the U.S. soil taxonomy -- Forest soils -- FAO reference soil groups -- Water flow and drainage -- The Relicts and refugia -- Circulation of the atmosphere -- Seasons -- The great conveyor -- The northern annular mode -- Evaporation, condensation, and precipitation -- Potential temperature -- The naming of clouds -- Transpiration -- Air masses and fronts -- Specific heat capacity -- The Coriolis effect -- The polar front and jet streams -- Vorticity -- Weather systems -- Extreme weather : hurricanes, tornadoes, drought -- Conservation of angular momentum -- Supercells and mesocyclones -- Effect of severe weather on forests -- Beaufort wind scale -- Climatic regions -- Wladimir Peter KoĢppen (1846-1940) -- Continental and maritime climates -- Gyres and boundary currents -- Trees as climatic indicators -- Holocene recolonization -- Pliocene, pleistocene, and holocene glacials and interglacials -- Milankovitch cycles -- Relicts and refugia -- The Natural forest and plantation forest -- Evolution of trees -- Seed plants, conifers, and flowering plants -- How a tree works -- Tree reproduction -- How trees disperse -- How wood forms -- Photosynthesis -- Prokaryotes and eukaryotes -- Melvin Calvin (1911-1997) -- Nitrogen fixation and denitrification -- The nitrogen cycle -- 5. Ecology of temperate forests -- History of ecological ideas -- Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (1834-1919) -- Arthur George Tansley (1871-1955) -- Frederic Edward Clements (1874-1945) -- Food chains and food webs -- Ecological pyramids -- Charles Sutherland Elton (1900-1991) -- Decomposers -- Animals that recruit assistants -- Habitats and niches -- Tree adaptations to climate -- Primeval forest, ancient woodland, old-growth forest, and plantations -- Succession and climax -- Henry Allan Gleason (1882-1975) -- Fire climax -- The Yellowstone fire -- Arrested climax -- What are pests and weeds? -- Forest structure -- Spring flowers -- Forest communities -- Energy flow -- Energy, work, and heat -- Nutrient cycling -- Tree predators and parasites -- What is a fungus? -- Natural forest and plantation forest -- The Sustainable forest management -- What is biodiversity and why does it matter? -- The biodiversity convention -- Gymnosperm trees -- Angiosperm trees -- 7. History of temperate forests -- Forest clearance in prehistory -- Farming since Roman times -- Using pollen to study the past -- What is pollen? -- Forests in classical times -- European forests of the Middle Ages -- Forests in folklore and literature -- The Brothers Grimm -- History of forestry -- 8. Economics of temperate forests -- Renewable and nonrenewable resources -- Forests as sources of fuel -- Benjamin Franklin and his wood-burning stove -- Forest timber -- Small wood -- 9. Health of temperate forests -- Modern forests -- Acid rain -- Acidity and the pH scale -- Climatic effect of forest clearance -- Windchill -- Forests and the greenhouse effect -- Forest clearance and soil erosion -- Warm-temperate and Mediterranean-type forests -- Deciduous forests -- Boreal forests -- The taiga -- The need for conservation -- Sustainable forest management -- 10. Index. Traditional management -- Park woodland -- Plantation forestry -- Pest control -- Modern forestry -- Conclusion -- Tables -- Proportion of land area forested in selected countries -- Area of Northern Hemisphere temperate forest -- Roundwood production from temperate forests, 2000 -- SI units and conversions -- Glossary -- Bibliography and further reading -- Web sites -- Index.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.