Tundra-Taiga Biology: Human, Plant, and Animal Survival in the Arctic - Hardcover

Crawford, Robert M. M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199559406 ISBN 13: 9780199559404

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2013

Synopsis

The Arctic Tundra and adjacent Boreal Forest or Taiga support the most cold-adapted flora and fauna on Earth. The evolutionary capacity of both plants and animals to adapt to these thermally limiting conditions has always attracted biological investigation and is a central theme of this book. How the polar biota will adapt to a warmer world is creating significant and renewed interest in this habitat. The Arctic has always been subject to climatic fluctuation and the polar biota has successfully adapted to these changes throughout its evolutionary history. Whether or not climatic warming will allow the Boreal Forest to advance onto the treeless Tundra is one of the most tantalizing questions that can be asked today in relation to terrestrial polar biology.

Tundra-Taiga Biology provides a circum-polar perspective of adaptation to low temperatures and short growing seasons, together with a history of climatic variation as it has affected the evolution of terrestrial life in the Tundra and the adjacent forested Taiga. It will appeal to researchers new to the field and to the many students, professional ecologists and conservation practitioners requiring a concise but authoritative overview of the biome. Its accessibility also makes it suitable for undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in tundra, taiga, and arctic ecology.

About this title

Review:

Professor Emeritus R. M. M. Crawford has written an engaging, thorough, and current text ... The text is accessible, well written, and easy to understand ... This is an excellent book (Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research)

Tundra-Taiga Biology is an interesting and versatile summary that covers all the important knowledge that is needed in discussions on climatic warming ... Excellently documented research findings, good photographs, high-quality maps, diagrams, appropriate vocabulary and clear and distinct layout - all this is found in this book. (Luonnon Tutkija)

...this is just a lovely book. The breadth of information delivered here is just amazing and the illustrations are superb. (Ecology)

an extremely welcome up-to-date review about human, plant and animal survival in the Arctic. ... In my opinion, this book is a very high-quality text book and an informative picture book. Therefore I can highly recommend it not only for undergraduate and graduate students as well as professional lecturers, ecologists and conservation authorities, but also for all those who are interested in Arctic biology. This book is a very valuable and greatly enjoyable read in Arctic and tundra biology. (Minna T. Turunen, Polar Record)

This is an academic ecologist's perspective on the higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. I know of no comparable account. It is vast in its scope yet fascinating in the minuteness of its detail. Crawford's book is a major work of scholarship. (Biological Recording in Scotland Record News)

the book is an excellent text (Michael D. Doherty, Austral Ecology)

About the Author:

Robert Crawford is Emeritus Professor of Biology of the University of St Andrews. He was awarded a DSc (Liège) in 1960, and made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1973. He is a Fellow of the Linnaean Society (1999) and Associate Member of the Belgian Royal Academy (2001).

About this edition

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0199559406
• ISBN 13: 9780199559404
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 282