In this Book
- Transient Landscapes: Insights on a Changing Planet
- Book
- 2015
- Published by: University Press of Colorado
Landscape—the unique combination of landforms, plants, animals, and weather that compose any natural place—is inherently transient. Each essay in Transient Landscapes introduces this idea of a constantly metamorphosing global landscape, revealing how to see the ubiquity of landscape transience, both that which results through Earth’s natural environmental and climatological processes and that which comes from human intervention.
The essays are grouped by type of environmental change: long-term, large-scale transformation driven by geologic forces such as tectonic uplift and volcanism; natural variability at shorter time scales, such as seasonal flooding; and modifications resulting from human activities, such as timber harvest, land drainage, and pollution. Each essay is set in a unique geographic location—including such diverse places as New Zealand, Northern California, Costa Rica, and the Scottish Highlands—and is largely drawn from Wohl’s personal experience researching in the field.
A combination of travel writing, nature writing, and science writing, Transient Landscapes is a beautiful and thoughtful journey through the natural world.
Table of Contents
- Of Landscapes and Transience
- pp. 1-8
- Landscapes on the Edge
- Himalaya: The Weather Makers
- pp. 25-28
- Interior Landscapes
- Time and the Rivers Flowing
- Transient Rivers: Bungle Bungle
- pp. 93-96
- Amazon II: Várzea of the Rio Napo
- pp. 103-108
- Amazon III: Igapó of the Rio Ampiyacu
- pp. 109-114
- Flowing Rivers: Missouri River, Montana
- pp. 119-122
- Negev Desert, Israel
- pp. 123-126
- Seven Billion and Counting
- Terra Nova: Hawai’i
- pp. 133-138
- Vernal Pond, Northeastern Ohio
- pp. 143-146
- Watershed: Upper Rio Chagres, Panama
- pp. 147-152
- Refuge: Coweeta Forest, North Carolina
- pp. 153-156
- Rivers and Oceans: Broome, Australia
- pp. 163-166
- Beaver Meadow, Rocky Mountain National Park
- pp. 167-172
- Rio Pequeño?: Big Bend National Park, Texas
- pp. 187-190
- Rannoch Moor, Scottish Highlands
- pp. 191-194
- Missing Pieces: Italian Dolomites
- pp. 199-204
- Y2K in the Thar Desert, India
- pp. 211-216
- Living with Transience
- pp. 221-224
- Selected References
- pp. 225-234