{"product_id":"the-desert-grassland","title":"The Desert Grassland","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe mixed grass and shrub vegetation known to scientists as desert grassland is common to the basins and valleys that skirt the mountain ranges throughout southwestern North America  extending from Arizona  New Mexico and Texas down through thirteen Mexican states. This variegated ground cover is crucial to life in an arid environment. The Desert Grassland offers the most comprehensive study to date of these flora and the rich biotic communities they support.  Leading experts in geography  biology  botany  zoology  and geoscience present new research on the desert grassland and review a vast amount of earlier work. They reveal that present-day grasses once grew in the ice-age forests that existed in these areas before the climate dried and the trees vanished and how the intensity and frequency of fire can influence the plant and animal species of the grassland. They also document how the influence of humansfrom Amerindians to contemporary ranchers  public land managers  and real estate developershas changed the relative abundance of woody and herbaceous species and how the introduction of new plants and domesticated animals to the area has also affected biodiversity. The book concludes with a review of the attempts  both failed and successful  to reestablish plants in desert grasslands affected by overgrazing  drought  and farm abandonment.  Meticulously researched and copiously illustrated  The Desert Grassland is a major contribution to ecological literature. For advanced lay readers as well as students and scholars of history  geography  and ecology  it will be a standard reference work for years to come.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44986873020469,"sku":"ByrdShop_0816518238","price":41.65,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780816518234.jpg?v=1770919861","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-desert-grassland","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}