Swamplands : tundra beavers, quaking bogs, and the improbable world of peat
Record details
- ISBN: 9781642830804 (hardcover)
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Physical Description:
print
xiii, 297 pages : map, illustrations ; 24 cm - Publisher: Washington, DC : Island Press, [2021]
- Copyright: ©2021
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Formatted Contents Note: | Preface -- Introduction -- The Great Dismal Swamp -- Central Park -- Peat and endangered species -- Tropical peat -- Ash meadows, ancient bogs, and desert fens -- Sasquatches of the swamps -- Peat and reptiles -- Mountain peat -- Ring of fire : the Hudson Bay lowlands -- Pingos, polygons, and frozen peat -- Tundra beavers, saltwater trout, and barren-ground grizzly bears -- Portals to the Otherworld -- "Growing peat" -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index -- About the author. |
Search for related items by subject
Subject: | Swamp ecology Peatland ecology Bog ecology |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at University College of the North Libraries.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Other Formats and Editions
Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Pas Campus Library | QH 541.5 .B63 S77 2021 (Text) | 58500001153204 | Stacks | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Book News : Book News Reviews
This book describes different types of swamplands, including fens, bogs, swamps, and salt and freshwater marshes in North America and Europe. It details the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and North Carolina; the history of Central Park as a swamp; endangered species in swamps; tropical and mountain peat; Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, ancient bogs, and desert fens; swamp creatures, including reptiles; the Hudson Bay Lowlands in Canada; arctic peat and its animals; growing peat; and swamp restoration and protection. Annotation ©2022 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com) - Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2021 September #1
*Starred Review* Not many of us have heard of peatlands, let alone visited these unique ecosystems. How does one explore or write invitingly about an ambiguous landscape that is neither land nor water and which can be dangerous to visit? Peat is formed when partially decomposed plant material builds up over centuries in waterlogged, oxygen-starved conditions in which decay can't keep up with deposition from new growth. Fens, bogs, marshes, and swamps can all accumulate peat. In lyrical prose, Struzik (Firestorm, 2017) describes his often arduous journeys to the peatlands of the world, often in the company of scientists or his wife. From Virginia's Great Dismal Swamp (once a refuge for people escaping enslavement), New York's Central Park (which was created by draining a huge bog), and North Carolina's Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge (home of the last red wolves), the author moves on to Kauai's Alaka'i Swamp (full of rare plants) and bogs in Ontario's Georgian Bay region (where rattlesnakes hibernate in thick beds of peat). Struzik writes with immediacy and a sense of awe, bewitching readers with the unexpected beauty of peatlands. Copyright 2021 Booklist Reviews. - Choice Reviews : Choice Reviews 2022 May
Edward Struzik is a fellow at the Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy (Queens's University, Canada). In the book, he visits bogs and peatlands across the Arctic and North America, recounting their long history of human use and disturbance as well as their ecology. He also discusses the history and ecology of wetlands in the southeastern US (including the Everglades) as well as those in the Mojave Desert. Although the "swampland" narrative is frequently thrown off course by stories about humans who have lived in and studied these ecosystems, there is enough ecological detail for most readers to develop an understanding of how such ecosystems formed over tens of thousands of years and why they are so vulnerable to exploitation and climate change. Struzik does admirable work highlighting the diversity and uniqueness of the flora and fauna that depend on such ecosystems and explaining why restoring peatlands, bogs, fens, and wetlands is such an arduous task, rife with failure. Paired with a technical book on wetland ecosystems, Struzik's book would provide an excellent environmental history perspective for courses focused on wetlands, hydrology, and climate change. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates. General readers.
--A. L. Mayer, Michigan Technological University
Audrey L Mayer
Michigan Technological University
Audrey L Mayer Choice Reviews 59:09 May 2022 Copyright 2022 American Library Association. - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2021 October
In a series of 13 essays, Struzik (Inst. for Energy and Environmental Policy, Queen's Univ., Kingston, Ont.;
Copyright 2021 Library Journal.Firestorm: How Wildfire Will Shape Our Future ;Future Arctic: Field Notes from a World on the Edge ) takes readers on a global tour of peatlands, bogs, fens, swamps and marshes. One might think of these underappreciated ecosystems as dark, dank, dismal environs filled with biting creatures, but Struzik's informative book reveals that swamplands (peatlands is an interchangeable term) teem with a variety of wildlife and plants and have had a vital role in human histories. Swamplands cover approximately four percent of the planet and store twice as much carbon as the Earth's forests, but they are being destroyed at an alarming rate, Struzik writes. He points out swampy ecosystems in India, the United States (including Hawai'i, Louisiana, and Texas), and Canada and explains why each of them is so essential. The essays make connections between history and science, in Struzik's personalizing writing style that might motivate readers to save the swamps. The book includes photographs.VERDICT A powerful, impressive feat of popular science that is vitally needed in an era of climate change. Highly recommended for all libraries.âPatricia Ann Owens, formerly at Illinois Eastern Community Coll., Mt. Carmel