LEADER 03842nam 2200625 a 450 001 9910456666103321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a1-283-27779-4 010 $a9786613277794 010 $a0-520-94866-1 024 7 $a10.1525/9780520948662 035 $a(CKB)2550000000040494 035 $a(EBL)730756 035 $a(OCoLC)741492736 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000535025 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11364410 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000535025 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10522526 035 $a(PQKB)10561276 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC730756 035 $a(DE-B1597)520384 035 $a(OCoLC)750192946 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780520948662 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL730756 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10483582 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL327779 035 $a(EXLCZ)992550000000040494 100 $a20100730d2011 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|n|---||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aChuckwalla land$b[electronic resource] $ethe riddle of California's desert /$fDavid Rains Wallace 210 $aBerkeley $cUniversity of California Press$dc2011 215 $a1 online resource (279 p.) 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 $a0-520-25616-6 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $tFrontmatter -- $tContents -- $tPrologue. Bushes and Lizards -- $t1. A Sphinx in Arcady -- $t2. The Country of Dried Skin -- $t3. A Cactus Heresy -- $t4. The Creator's Dumping Ground -- $t5. An Evolutionary Backwater -- $t6. Anti-Darwinian Lacertilians -- $t7. Descriptive Confusion -- $t8. A Murderous Brood -- $t9. Hopeful Monsters -- $t10. An Old Earth-Feature -- $t11. A Climatic Accident -- $t12. An Evolutionary Frontier -- $t13. A Neo-Darwinian Galapagos -- $t14. Mexican Geneses -- $t15. Desert Relicts -- $t16. Madro-Tertiary Attitudes -- $t17. A Friendly Land -- $t18. Furry Paleontologists -- $t19. Dawn Horses and Dinosaurs -- $t20. Axelrod Antagonistes -- $t21. The Midday Sun -- $t22. Lacertilian Ambiguities -- $t23. Xerothermic Invasions -- $t24. Sand Swimmers -- $t25. Axelrod Ascendant -- $t26. An Evolutionary Museum -- $t27. The Riddle of the Palms -- $t28. Bushes and Camels -- $t29. Axelrod Askew -- $t30. Paradigms Postponed -- $t31. The Falcon and the Shrikes -- $tEpilogue. The Sphinx's Lair -- $tNotes -- $tSelected Bibliography -- $tIndex 330 $aDescribed 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. 606 $aDesert biology$zCalifornia 606 $aDeserts$zCalifornia 608 $aElectronic books. 615 0$aDesert biology 615 0$aDeserts 676 $a578.75409794 700 $aWallace$b David Rains$f1945-$01031376 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910456666103321 996 $aChuckwalla land$92448722 997 $aUNINA