Biomes of Earth: Terrestrial, Aquatic, and Human-Dominated

This book brings together in one volume descriptions of the natural vegetation and animal life in the terrestrial and aquatic biomes of Earth, based upon the most recent information generally accessible to American students. The inclusion of human-dominated biomes I a global scheme, as far as I know, has not been attempted before, and just what constitutes such biomes was admittedly, a judgment call. Perhaps their inclusion here will serve as a point of departure for finding other ways to define ecological regions that result from the management or transformation of natural ecosystems to such a degree that humans are clearly the dominant or keystone species. It can be argued that the whole Earth is human-dominated and, therefore, so are all conventional biomes, so this might be a timely exercise. The intended users of this information presented here are high school and undergraduate students in biology and geography, in particular, and any interested layperson, in general..... The book is divided into four parts, each with an introduction to explain some of the features that make a set of biomes distinct from those covered in other parts and to introduce some of the terms and concepts that are used throughout a given part. The four parts are Terrestrial Biomes, Freshwater Biomes (Acc#9737.1), Marine Biomes (Acc#9737.4), and Human-Dominated Biomes. The introduction to the book as a whole discusses the biome concept and its development. Within each part are separate chapters on each biome. Most users will probably be looking for information on a single biome, so each chapter can stand on its own, although it would be helpful to read the introduction to the respective part. .... Chapters begin with generalized overview followed by more specific information from the different regions of the world where the biome occurs, including examples of plant and animal species found there.