Download Free Journal Of The Arizona Nevada Academy Of Science Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Journal Of The Arizona Nevada Academy Of Science and write the review.

The Baboquivari Mountains, long considered to be a sacred space by the Tohono O’odham people who are native to the area, are the westernmost of the so-called Sky Islands. The mountains form the border between the floristic regions of Chihuahua and Sonora. This encyclopedic work describes the flora of this unique area in detail. It includes descriptions, identifications, ecology, and extensive etymologies of plant names in European and indigenous languages. Daniel Austin also describes pollination biology and seed dispersal and explains how plants in the area have been used by humans, beginning with Native Americans. The term “sky island” was first used by Weldon Heald in 1967 to describe mountain ranges that are separated from each other by valleys of grassland or desert. The valleys create barriers to the spread of plant species in a way that is similar to the separation of islands in an ocean. The 70,000-square-mile Sky Islands region of southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and northwestern Mexico is of particular interest to botanists because of its striking diversity of plant species and habitats. With more than 3,000 species of plants, the region offers a surprising range of tropical and temperate zones. Although others have written about the region, this is the first book to focus exclusively on the plant life of the Baboquivari Mountains. The book offers an introduction to the history of the region, along with a discussion of human influences, and includes a useful appendix that lists all of the plants known to be growing in the Baboquivari Mountain chain.
No two lizard species have spawned as much folklore, wonder, and myth as the Gila Monster, Heloderma suspectum, and the Beaded Lizard, H. horridum—the sole survivors of an ancient group of predacious lizards called the Monstersauria. More like snakes on legs, monstersaurs are a walking contradiction: they are venomous yet don't appear to use their venom for subduing prey; their mottled patterns mingle with the broken shadows and textures of their desert and tropical dry forest habitats, yet their bright open mouths hiss a bold warning that a nasty bite awaits those who advance further. And while Gila Monster venom produces excruciating pain, it also contains a peptide that has become a promising new drug for treating type-2 diabetes. Perhaps the ultimate paradox is that monstersaurs are among the most famous of lizards, yet until quite recently they have remained among the least studied. With numerous illustrations, stunning color photographs, and an up-to-date synthesis of their biology, this book explains why the Monstersauria seems poised to change the way we think about lizards. Daniel D. Beck—who has been investigating Gila Monsters and Beaded Lizards for over 22 years—teams up here with award-winning wildlife photographer Tom Wiewandt to produce a comprehensive summary of this small but remarkable family of lizards.