biology

The Illustrated Book of Canaries and Cage-Birds

This is a comprehensive work on numerous types of birds, many not normally considered pets or cage-birds. Some also consider it a classic work on canaries. Each author contributed chapters in one of three sections: Blakston wrote about canaries; Swaysland, in his role as an “authority” on the subject, contributed the section on British cage-birds; and Wiener wrote the section on foreign birds. Blakston’s chapters on canaries include more detailed information on breeding, hatching and rearing, exhibiting, and diseases than the other two authors’ sections.

Rangeland Ecology and Management

Grazing. Fire. Water. All issues important out West, all issues pertinent to rangeland ecology and management, and all addressed in this comprehensive book. For scientists who study natural processes, such as the research staff at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (where this book resides), there is much to be learned from this text. Deer, insects, and other herbivores graze, and grazing has impacts on plant physiology and morphology, energy flow through ecosystems, and other ecosystem effects. Fire and water also profoundly shape both managed and natural systems.

Pattern and Process in Desert Ecosystems

This book is a collection of chapters, each written by experts in their ecological discipline. It covers the role of both insects and vertebrate animals (those with a backbone) in desert ecosystems, how nutrients move through the system (‘nutrient cycling’ is a hot topic for those who study ecosystems), and how plants adapt to the soils and rainfall in deserts. An important text for anyone who studies these phenomenon in deserts and elsewhere.

The Cacti of Arizona

Cacti are inextricably linked to our vision of the desert. They are native to the Americas with many species found in Arizona, including the state flower, the Saguaro. This book is written by a Cactaceae (cactus family) botanical specialist, Lyman Benson, and illustrated by Lucretia Breazeale Hamilton, a botanical illustrator well known for her drawings of southwest plants. There are many line drawings with color photographs of cacti. This second edition has information on botanical names and taxonomical classification on the species found in Arizona.

Creatures of the Desert World

The first of six colorful pop-ups in Creatures of the desert world depicts early morning in Arizona’ s Sonoran Desert as bobcats and birds around a large saguaro cactus dramatically lift off the page when the book is opened. The subsequent pages follow the vibrant and alive desert environment throughout the day into a full moonlit night when the night hunters, including bats and kit foxes, begin their search for food.

Sonoran Desert Summer

John Alcock is a behavioral ecologist and professor at Arizona State University.  He writes in a very approachable style (similar to more popular and famous biologists like Stephen Jay Gould and E.O. Wilson) that splendidly reveals his passion and appreciation of desert life as a naturalist to the general public.  This 1990 title, “Sonoran Desert Summer,” is marvelously illustrated with pen and ink drawings by Marilyn Hoff Stewart.

Sonoran Desert Spring

John Alcock is a behavioral ecologist and professor at Arizona State University. He writes in a very approachable style (similar to more popular and famous biologists like Stephen Jay Gould and E.O. Wilson) that splendidly reveals his passion and appreciation of desert life as a naturalist to the general public. This 1985 title, Sonoran Desert Spring, contains numerous photographs (some in color) of the Sonoran desert during springtime.

The Vertebrates of Arizona

This dog-eared 1964 (second printing) copy of “The Vertebrates of Arizona” has likely been used in the field by Smithsonian and other biologists over the years. Editor Charles H. Lowe was a respected herpetologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson.  Containing useful landscape photographs, maps, and data, the second half of this book is organized into annotated check-lists of fishes, amphibians, birds and mammals of Arizona. This makes it an essential resource for biologists and taxonomists studying the region.

Numerical Ecology

This title was first published in French in 1979 and it remains a classic text in the field of Ecology. It is written for practicing ecologists and is one of the top three most popular titles borrowed by users of the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Library. It covers riveting (okay, maybe not, but quite helpful and important to ecologists!) topics such as “Complex ecological data sets,” “Ecological data series,” and “Spatial analysis.” 

The Fire of Life

Focused on bioenergetics, or how organisms transform energy, this book is frequently used and important to scientists at the National Zoological Park. It also happens to be out-of-print book, and has dramatically increased in value because it is a timeless and important resource in the field of animal nutrition. 

Trophic Relationships in the Marine Environment

All living things need energy to survive and thrive. Ultimately, all food energy starts with the sun (or, rarely, deep sea hydrothermal vents). Plants make their own food, through photosynthesis, from the energy of the sun. Things eat plants, and other things eat the things that eat the plants. And so on.

Florula Ceilanica

Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) in the Indian Ocean is a biodiversity hot-spot, with over 3,000 endemic species of plants – not just native, but known only on the island. New to European science in the 1700s and 1800s, they are the focus of this university dissertation written by Professor Carl Peter Thunberg. In 18th- and 19th-century Europe, professors wrote the dissertations; the student’s job was to explicate and defend it and pay for its publication.

De Pipere Cubeba Dissertatio

Cubeb, native to Java and Sumatra, is cultivated for its berries and oil and has been used for centuries in herbal medicine and as a flavoring⁠—similar to allspice or pepper⁠—in gin, chewing gum, and various other products. Mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman texts, as well as in the Arabian One Thousand and One Nights and The Travels of Marco Polo, the species is the focus of this university dissertation written by Professor Carl Peter Thunberg.

Dissertatio de Daphne

Named for the water nymph in Greek myth who was turned into a laurel tree, daphnes are a genus of 50-60 species of flowering shrubs native to Asia, Europe, and north Africa. Highly scented, they are a favorite garden plant, although the berries are poisonous. They are the focus of this university dissertation written by Professor Carl Peter Thunberg. In 18th- and 19th-century Europe, professors wrote the dissertations; the student’s job was to explicate and defend it and pay for its publication.

Ficus Genus [Fig Trees]

Figs form an ancient pan-tropical genus of over 850 species of trees and shrubs that are keystone species in rainforest ecosystems. They may have been the first plant cultivated by humans and play an important role in all of the major religions of the world. They are the focus of this university dissertation written by Professor Carl Peter Thunberg. In 18th- and 19th-century Europe, professors wrote the dissertations; the student’s job was to explicate and defend it and pay for its publication.

Papillons d'Europe

Ernst & Engramelle's work on the butterflies of Europe was originally issued by subscription in 29 fascicles over 13 years. The Cullman Library holds the complete work: eight volumes of text (bound as three) with 342 meticulously and beautifully hand-colored plates in three separate volumes (Paris: Delaguette etc., 1779-1792).

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