Prairie Restoration: Home

Global warming has increased dramatically during the last century at an unnatural rate, which makes specialists believe that humans contribute to the real cause of global warming today. Many activities humans are involved in - from burning fossil fuels for energy to massive deforestation - are contributing to the atmospheric warming at an alarming rate. Experts believe that in the future human induced damage will cause severe problems in the distribution of species and their critical habitats, increase the occurrence of severe weather and droughts, contribute to rising sea levels, and trigger a host of health and quality-of-life impacts that will affect everyone on Earth. Unfortunately, no ecosystem will escape the impact of human-induced global warming. ""Changing Ecosystems"" looks at this serious issue and the far-reaching effects it is having right now, and will have in the future, on every ecosystem on Earth. It is crucial that readers understand the relevant issues now so they can prevent this problem before it is too late and many species and habitats are gone forever.

In Green Equilibrium, Christopher Wills explains the rules by which ecosystems maintain a diversity of interdependent species, in particular the balance of predators and prey. Wills is both an eminent academic and a hugely experienced field-biologist. In presenting the concept of "green equilibrium", he draws on a fascinating range of examples, including coral reefs off the densely populated Philippines, the isolated and densely forested valleys of Papua New Guinea, the changing Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, and a Californian ranch being allowed to return to a wild state. In each case he assesses the impact of modern changes and attempts at conservation on these delicately balanced ecosystems. Wills shows how human populations, too, are an integral part of the picture. We now know from genetic evidence that over the course of history, as humans spread out of Africa, populations adapted as a result of environmental conditions. Striking new evidence indicates that some human populations carry genes from past encounters with other hominids (Neanderthals and Denisovans), as well as genetic adaptations to local hazards such as malaria. Wills argues that the most effective approaches to conserving green equilibria come out of evolutionary insights, and from close involvement of the local communities who have lived and adapted to them.

This unique survey of the environmental history of the grasslands in the United States explores the ecological, social, and economic networks enmeshing humans in this biome over the last 10,000 years. "Treeless, level, and semi-arid." Walter Prescott Webb's famous description of the Great Plains is really only part of their story. From their creation at the end of the Ice Age to the ongoing problems of depopulation, soil erosion, polluted streams, and depleted groundwater aquifers, human interaction with the prairies has often been controversial. Part of ABC-CLIO's Nature and Human Societies series, The Grasslands of the United States: An Environmental History explores the historical and ecological dimensions of human interaction with North America's grasslands. Examining issues as diverse as whether the arrival of the Paleo-Indians led to the extinction of the mammoth and the consequences of industrialization and genetically modified crops, this invaluable reference synthesizes literature from a wide range of authoritative sources to provide a fascinating guide to the environment of this biome.