04680nam 2200985 a 450 991082229130332120230725050638.01-283-27779-497866132777940-520-94866-110.1525/9780520948662(CKB)2550000000040494(EBL)730756(OCoLC)741492736(SSID)ssj0000535025(PQKBManifestationID)11364410(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000535025(PQKBWorkID)10522526(PQKB)10561276(MiAaPQ)EBC730756(DE-B1597)520384(OCoLC)750192946(DE-B1597)9780520948662(Au-PeEL)EBL730756(CaPaEBR)ebr10483582(CaONFJC)MIL327779(EXLCZ)99255000000004049420100730d2011 uy 0engur|n|---|||||txtccrChuckwalla land[electronic resource] the riddle of California's desert /David Rains WallaceBerkeley University of California Pressc20111 online resource (279 p.)Description based upon print version of record.0-520-25616-6 Includes bibliographical references and index.Frontmatter -- Contents -- Prologue. Bushes and Lizards -- 1. A Sphinx in Arcady -- 2. The Country of Dried Skin -- 3. A Cactus Heresy -- 4. The Creator's Dumping Ground -- 5. An Evolutionary Backwater -- 6. Anti-Darwinian Lacertilians -- 7. Descriptive Confusion -- 8. A Murderous Brood -- 9. Hopeful Monsters -- 10. An Old Earth-Feature -- 11. A Climatic Accident -- 12. An Evolutionary Frontier -- 13. A Neo-Darwinian Galapagos -- 14. Mexican Geneses -- 15. Desert Relicts -- 16. Madro-Tertiary Attitudes -- 17. A Friendly Land -- 18. Furry Paleontologists -- 19. Dawn Horses and Dinosaurs -- 20. Axelrod Antagonistes -- 21. The Midday Sun -- 22. Lacertilian Ambiguities -- 23. Xerothermic Invasions -- 24. Sand Swimmers -- 25. Axelrod Ascendant -- 26. An Evolutionary Museum -- 27. The Riddle of the Palms -- 28. Bushes and Camels -- 29. Axelrod Askew -- 30. Paradigms Postponed -- 31. The Falcon and the Shrikes -- Epilogue. The Sphinx's Lair -- Notes -- Selected Bibliography -- IndexDescribed as "a writer in the tradition of Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and other self-educated seers" by the San Francisco Chronicle, David Rains Wallace turns his attention in this new book to another distinctive corner of California-its desert, the driest and hottest environment in North America. Drawing from his frequent forays to Death Valley, Red Rock Canyon, Kelso Dunes, and other locales, Wallace illuminates the desert's intriguing flora and fauna as he explores a controversial, unresolved scientific debate about the origin and evolution of its unusual ecosystems. Eminent scientists and scholars appear throughout these pages, including maverick paleobiologist Daniel Axelrod, botanist Ledyard Stebbins, and naturalists Edmund Jaeger and Joseph Wood Krutch. Weaving together ecology, geology, natural history, and mythology in his characteristically eloquent voice, Wallace reveals that there is more to this starkly beautiful landscape than meets the eye.Desert biologyCaliforniaDesertsCaliforniaamerican southwest.arid.biome.biosphere.botany.cacti.california.conservation.death valley.desert animals.desert plants.desert.earth sciences.ecology.ecosystem.environment.environmentalism.extreme heat.geology.kelso dunes.landscape.life sciences.natural history.naturalist.nature.nonfiction.paleobiology.red rock canyon.science.wasteland.zoology.Desert biologyDeserts578.75409794Wallace David Rains1945-1688289MiAaPQMiAaPQMiAaPQBOOK9910822291303321Chuckwalla land4062408UNINA