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California and the Western States are rich in abundant and diverse species of mushrooms. Amateur mushroom collectors and mycologists alike will find over 300 species of the region's most common, distinctive, and ecologically important mushrooms profiled in this comprehensive field guide. It provides the most up-to-date science on the role of fungi in the natural world, methods to identify species, and locations of mushroom habitats. With excellent color illustrations showing top and side views of mushrooms of the Western States and a user-friendly text, it is informative but still light enough to be carried into the woods. When used to identify mushrooms, keys bring the reader to individual species, with a descriptive text providing cues for identifying additional species. Mushrooms common in urban landscapes are included, which is especially useful for the casual encounter with backyard fungi. The guide also provides a table of both old and new species names, and information on edibility and look-alikes, both dangerous and benign.A section on mushroom arts and crafts features mushroom photography, painting, philately, spore prints, dyes, and cultivation. The guide also offers a comprehensive list of resources including national field guides, general mushroom books and periodicals, club and society contact information, and web sites.* Primary descriptions and illustrations of 300 species of mushrooms plus text descriptions of many more.* Latest word in mushroom taxonomy and nomenclature. Clear discussion of DNA sequencing and new classifications. * Especially good coverage of southern California and Southwestern mushrooms often neglected in other field guides.

The characteristic look of California Chaparral-a soft bluish-green blanket of vegetation gently covering the hills-is known to millions who have seen it as the backdrop in movies and television productions. This complex ecological community of plants and animals is not just a feature of the hills around Hollywood, but is a quintessential part of the entire California landscape. It is a highly resilient community adapted to life with recurring fires and droughts. Written for a wide audience, this concise, engaging, and beautifully illustrated book describes an ancient and exquisitely balanced environment home to wondrous organisms: Fire Beetles that mate only on burning branches, lizards that shoot blood from their eyes when threatened, Kangaroo Rats that never drink water, and seeds that germinate only after a fire, even if that means waiting in the soil for a 100 years or more. Useful both as a field guide and an introductory overview of the ecology of chaparral, it also provides a better understanding of how we might live in harmony, safety, and appreciation of this unique ecological community.* Identifies chaparral's common plants, animals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects * Features 79 color illustrations, 56 black-and-white photographs, and 3 maps* Examines the role of humans and fire in chaparral, covering the placement and design of homes, landscaping, and public policy

Helps amateur and intermediate wildflower enthusiasts learn the names of the flowers located in some of California's accessible areas - from below the yellow pine belt in the Sierra Nevada westward to the coast. This guide includes 244 color photographs and 102 drawings.

Introduces California's mammals by describing techniques for recognizing their presence, and when possible, methods for watching them in their natural habitats. This guide includes 144 line drawings, 143 range maps, and 18 illustrated color plates. It gives overviews of mammal evolution, biology and anatomy, natural history, and conservation.

The Exclamation Damsel, Bison Snaketail, Powdered Dancer, Black Meadowhaw and Sedge Sprite are just a few of California's abundant dragonflies and damselflies. This reference is a complete guide to finding and identifying all 108 of the state's dragonfly and damselfly species.

A reference to the sharks, rays, and chimaeras found in California's waters - from the intertidal zone to 500 miles offshore. It includes information on the California marine environment, ecology and conservation, and shark biology.

The mild Mediterranean climate of the San Francisco Bay Region nurtures an enormous variety of trees. This guidebook, with easy-to-use keys, informative species accounts, and illustrations, should appeal to those who want an authoritative manual to carry into the field.

* Features detailed species accounts; gives information on horned lizard biology, ecology, and evolution; and describes the role of these fascinating reptiles in mythology, culture, and art * Covers the United States, Mexico, and Canada, and includes all species of horned lizards

California's varied landscape is characterized by a spectacular abundance of plant life, including a magnificent variety of trees and shrubs. This is the first book to combine the trees and shrubs of California in one accessible field guide. Trees and Shrubs of California identifies and describes native California tree species and most common shrub species. The text is complemented by more than 200 beautiful line drawings, 300 range maps, and 40 color photographs.In their introduction, the authors discuss the dominant vegetation types, climates, principal landforms, and elevations of California's ecological regions. They explain the classification system and nomenclature used in the book, which includes both scientific and common plant names and is based on the 1993 edition of The Jepson Manual. The authors also provide a step-by-step explanation of how to use the dichotomous keys to identify plants and distinguish between trees and shrubs.This user-friendly field guide minimizes technical terms and includes a checklist, making it an invaluable resource on California's profuse vegetation.

Yearly millions of people visit the area of rugged California coastline and wild mountains known as Big Sur. This book presents both a natural history of this beautiful region and a guide to its extensive public lands. It introduces the area's geology, climate, flora, fauna, and human history. It describes selected sites, trails, and features.

From majestic Redwoods to ancient Western Bristlecone Pines, California's trees have long inspired artists, poets, naturalists - and real estate developers. Illustrated color photographs and detailed black-and-white drawings, this book introduces each of the state's dominant forest types. It also describes the unique characteristics of the trees.

A guide that describes patterns of village life, and covers such subjects as Indian tools and artifacts, hunting techniques, and food.

California has a vast number of insect species: estimates run 30,000-35,000 or more, and even in the better known groups, new species occasionally are discovered. This book summarizes knowledge of this rich insect fauna. It selects about 600 of the more characteristic kinds of insects to represent the huge variety known.

Both American Indians and the pioneers knew and used many different plant species - for food, fibers, medicine, tools, and other purposes. This book offers guidance to identify more than 220 such plants. It also tells the reader how to prepare, cook, and otherwise use them.

Presents the most important uses of plants by early inhabitants of California, as well as methods of preparing the plants for use. This title deals with the subjects such as the Indian method of leaching acorn meal so it could be eaten, the medicinal value of Yerba Mansa, the use of other plants for making baskets, rope, and clothing, and more.

Possibly no comparable area on earth displays as many varieties of weather simultaneously as the San Francisco Bay Region. This book provides the tools necessary for understanding the grand show of nature that takes place around the San Francisco Bay - from Napa Valley in the north to San Jose in the south.

Provides an ecological framework for the plants and their environments in the coast and foothill regions of Southern California, an area that boasts an extremely rich flora. This book introduces readers to Southern California's plant communities, their ecological dynamics, and the key plants that grow in them.

Award-winning author, naturalist, and conservationist Tim Palmer presents the world of California rivers in this practical and inspiring field guide. Loaded with tips on where to hike, fish, canoe, kayak, and raft, it offers an interpretive approach that reveals geology, plant and wild life, hydrologic processes, and other natural phenomena. Palmer reports on conservation with a perspective from decades of personal engagement. More than 150 streams are featured, 50 riparian species are illustrated, and 180 photos show the essence of California's rivers. Palmer brings a natural history guide, a recreation guide, and an introduction to river ecology together in one illuminating volume; it belongs in every river lover's book collection, boat, and backpack.

This user-friendly guide is the only complete resource that identifies and describes all the amphibians and reptiles-salamanders, frogs and toads, lizards, snakes, and tortoises and turtles-that live in California. The species are described in richly detailed accounts that include range maps, lifelike color paintings by Robert C. Stebbins, clear drawings of various life stages including eggs, notes on natural history, and conservation status. Easy-to-use keys for every order help identify species, and informative chapters cover more general topics including evolution, habitat loss, and photography. Throughout, anecdotes and observations reveal new insights into the lives of California's abundant but often hidden amphibians and reptiles.

This complete primer on San Francisco Bay is a multifaceted exploration of an extraordinary, and remarkably resilient, body of water. Bustling with oil tankers, laced with pollutants, and crowded with forty-six cities, the bay is still home to healthy eelgrass beds, young Dungeness crabs and sharks, and millions of waterbirds. Written in an entertaining style for a wide audience, Natural History of San Francisco Bay delves into an array of topics including fish and wildlife, ocean and climate cycles, endangered and invasive species, and the path from industrialization to environmental restoration. More than sixty scientists, activists, and resource managers share their views and describe their work-tracing mercury through the aquatic ecosystem, finding ways to convert salt ponds back to tidal wetlands, anticipating the repercussions of climate change, and more. Fully illustrated and packed with stories, quotes, and facts, the guide also tells how San Francisco Bay sparked an environmental movement that now reaches across the country.

With over 40,000 described species, spiders have adapted to nearly every terrestrial environment across the globe. Over half of the world's spider families live within the three contiguous Pacific Coast states-not surprising considering the wide variety of habitats, from mountain meadows and desert dunes to redwood forests and massive urban centers. This beautifully illustrated, accessible guide covers all of the families and many of the genera found along the Pacific Coast, including introduced species and common garden spiders. The author provides readers with tools for identifying many of the region's spiders to family, and when possible, genus and species. He discusses taxonomy, distribution, and natural history as well as what is known of the habits of the spiders, the characters of families, and references to taxonomic revisions of the pertinent genera. Full-color plates for each family bring to life the incredible diversity of this ancient arachnid order.

This engaging and easy-to-use natural history guidebook provides a thorough overview of native and honey bee biology and offers tools for identifying the most common bees of California and the Western United States. Full-color illustrations introduce readers to more than 30 genera of native bees, noting each one's needs and habits and placing them in their wider context. The author highlights bees' ties to our own lives, the food we eat, and the habitat we provide, and suggests ways to support bees in our own backyards. In addition to helping readers understand and distinguish among major groups of bees, this guide reveals how bees are an essential part of healthy ecosystem and how many plants, including important crop plants, depend on the pollination they provide. As growing evidence points to declining bee populations, this book offers critical information about the bond between plants and pollinators, and between humans and nature. Thoroughly researched and full of new insights into the ancient process of pollination, Field Guide to the Common Bees of California; Including Bees of the Western United States is invaluable for the window it opens onto the biodiversity, adaptive range, and complexity of invertebrate communities.

From gray whales giving birth in the lagoons of Baja California to sea otters nestled in kelp beds off California to killer whales living around Vancouver Island-this spectacular stretch of the Pacific Coast boasts one of the most abundant populations of sea mammals on earth. This handy interpretive field guide describes the 45 whales, dolphins, seals, and otters that are resident in, migrate through, or forage from Baja in Mexico to British Columbia in Canada. The guide's rich species accounts provide details on identification, natural history, distribution, and conservation. They also tell where and how these fascinating animals can best be viewed. Introductory chapters give general information on the ecology, evolution, and taxonomy of marine mammals; on the Pacific Coast's unique environment; and on the relationship between marine mammals and humans from native cultures to today. Featuring many color illustrations, photographs, drawings, and maps, this up-to-date guide illuminates a fascinating group of animals and reveals much about their mysterious lives in the ocean.

An illustrated field guide that gathers information about agriculture and its environmental context, and answers the perennial question posed by California travelers: 'What is that, and why is it growing here?'. It explores the full range of the state's agriculture, balancing agribusiness triumphalism with the pride of boutique producers.

Offers a geologic travelogue of California's unusual soils and land forms and their associated plants - including serpentines, carbonate rocks, salt marshes, salt flats, and vernal pools - demonstrating along the way how geology shapes plant life.

California's unique plants range in size from the stately Coast Redwoods to the minute belly plants of the southern deserts. This book features photographs that illustrate plants and typical plant communities around the state, and chapters containing discussions of the evolution of the California landscape, changes in California's flora, and more.

Some of the most spectacular and famous spring wildflower displays in California occur in the state's deserts. This guide identifies more than 240 wildflowers in informative species accounts. It covers such popular destinations as Death Valley, Palm Springs, and Joshua Tree National Park.

Spotting an animal's fresh footprints in the wild can conjure a world for the hiker: Why did the deer tracks disappear? Where did the cougar turn off the trail? What does it mean when two sets of footprints seem to coincide? This beautifully illustrated field guide, the first devoted to the tracks and signs of California animals-including birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates like spiders and beetles-blends meticulous science with field experience to provide an engaging companion for both armchair exploration and easy field identification. Filled with useful tools for the wildlife expert, and essential background and visual aids for the novice, including in-depth information about the ecology of each species, this book goes beyond basic recognition of types to interpret what animals leave behind as a way of "e;seeing"e; how they move through the world.

Grasses and grasslands are of increasing interest to conservationists, biologists, and gardeners. Organized alphabetically, this book covers common native and naturalized grasses and, to help identify them, also features over 180 color illustrations.

Capturing the vitality of California's unique indigenous cultures, this major new introduction incorporates the extensive research of the past thirty years into an illuminating, comprehensive synthesis for a wide audience. Based in part on new archaeological findings, it tells how the California Indians lived in vibrant polities, each boasting a rich village life including chiefs, religious specialists, master craftspeople, dances, feasts, and ceremonies. Throughout, the book emphasizes how these diverse communities interacted with the state's varied landscape, enhancing its already bountiful natural resources through various practices centered around prescribed burning. A handy reference section, illustrated with more than one hundred color photographs, describes the plants, animals, and minerals the California Indians used for food, basketry and cordage, medicine, and more. At a time when we are grappling with the problems of maintaining habitat diversity and sustainable economies, we find that these native peoples and their traditions have much to teach us about the future, as well as the past, of California.