Review of tropical dry forest biogeography, palaeontology, ecology and ecosystem functions.

“Wallace weaves science and mythology into a clear and entertaining story about the origin of California's deserts that invites the reader into a world of ancient mystery and modern revelation. This book will appeal to anyone who cherishes arid lands and their natural history.”-Bruce M. Pavlik, author of The California Deserts: An Ecological Rediscovery “David Rains Wallace explores the origins of the California desert with the endless curiosity of a naturalist, with the wit and wordplay of a fine essayist, and with the attention to detail of a lifelong scholar. He burrows toward the solution of the desert’s riddle by following two centuries of science; in doing so, Wallace writes a unique account of both the ecology of the Desert Southwest and the biologists who have devoted their lives to untangling its evolutionary history.”-Stephen Trimble, author of The Sagebrush Ocean: A Natural History of the Great Basin “David Rains Wallace never fails to truly enter the world of which he writes. Here he tackles fiery heat, ancient lava flows, spiny plants, and scuttling reptiles, all in the service of asking some difficult “how’s” and “why’s.” I learned a lot about places and critters I thought I knew well from this marvelous book.”-Harry Greene, Cornell professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, author of Snakes: the Evolution of Mystery in Nature

This book is an initiative of a subcommittee of SCOPE (Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment) which realized that the integrity of many natural ecosystems was being threatened by the ingress of invasive species.

A few conifers are found in nature only in narrow, discontinuous bands bordering continental margins. Despite their maritime location, these trees cannot thrive in saline waters and soils. What enables them to grow in challenging habitats? Why don't these species naturalize inland? What characteristics allow them to succeed only near salt water? A strange combination of qualities is seen: the trees are catastrophe-dependent, stress-tolerant, with broad niche potential, but are poor competitors in "easy" sites. They all possess moisture-conserving features usually associated with arid lands, although they grow in regions of high humidity and frequent fogs. This volume is the first to assemble and compare information on widely dispersed coastal forests of the Northern Hemisphere. Authorities on each system explore the properties of these unusual trees and their habitats, and formulate guidelines for their appropriate management and protection. The thirty-six contributing authors include natural resource managers and regulators, ecologists, lumbermen, geneticists, botanists, and paleontologists. The book draws from work on three continents, eight countries, and twenty-three states of the Unites States. One half of the volume is devoted to the seven highly prized, commercially valuable Chamaecyparis species.