On the Shelf at CCBC Libraries : Plants
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Plant Partners
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2021 AHS Book Award Winner Companion planting has a long history of use by gardeners, but the explanation of why it works has been filled with folklore and conjecture. Plant Partners delivers a research-based rationale for this ever-popular growing technique, offering dozens of ways you can use scientifically tested plant partnerships to benefit your whole garden. Through an enhanced understanding of how plants interact with and influence each other, this guide suggests specific plant combinations that improve soil health and weed control, decrease pest damage, and increase biodiversity, resulting in real and measurable impacts in the garden.
Call Number: SB453.6 .W35 2020 -
The Nature of Plants
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Choice Outstanding Academic TitleFlorida Book Awards, Bronze Medal for General Nonfiction Plants play a critical role in how we experience our environment. They create calming green spaces, provide oxygen for us to breathe, and nourish our senses. In The Nature of Plants, ecologist and nursery owner Craig Huegel demystifies the complex lives of plants and provides readers with an elucidating journey into their inner and outer workings. Beginning with the importance of light, water, and soil, Huegel describes photosynthesis, plant circadian rhythms, and how best to position plants to receive optimal sunlight. He explains choosing artificial lights for landscaping, giving lucky bamboo its twisted shape, and tricking flowers like poinsettias to bloom at a specific time of year. He reveals how plants use water, what paths it takes to move nutrients and fuel growth, and why too much?or too little?can hurt. He also explains what essential elements plants need to flourish and what friendly bacteria, fungi, and insects help make a healthy soil. Sections on plant structure and reproduction focus in detail on major plant organs?roots, stems, and leaves?and cover flowering, pollination, fruit development, and seed germination. The intricacies behind how plants reproduce are unraveled, including why not all flowering plants need pollinators, how it can take decades for some plants to produce offspring, and whether parents recognize their kin. Huegel even delves into the mysterious world of plant communication, exploring the messages and warnings conveyed to animals or other plants through chemical scents and hormones. With color illustrations, photographs, and real-life examples from his own gardening experiences, Huegel equips budding botanists, ecologists, and even the most novice gardeners with knowledge that will help them understand and foster plants of all types.
Call Number: QK45.2 .H844 2019 -
Plants of the Chesapeake Bay
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Written by wetland scientists with decades of experience in the Bay's waterways, this guide includes detailed descriptions and beautiful photographs of the plants most commonly found in the Chesapeake Bay. Grasses, trees, wildflowers, aquatic vegetation--if it grows in the tidal or nearshore regions of the Bay, chances are it is in this book. From Publisher
Call Number: QK122.8 .M87 2012 -
The Encyclopedia of Grasses for Livable Landscapes
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All the true grasses, sedges, rushes, restios, and cattails that possess ornamental merit or that can contribute to ecological plantings are described, and practical matters of propagation, growth, and maintenance are also covered. More than 1000 stunning photographs show details of individual plants and hundreds of gardens and landscapes in which grasses play a prominent part..From Publisher.
Call Number: SB431.7 D366 2011 -
Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast
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Peter Del Tredici's lushly illustrated field guide to wild urban plants of the northeastern United States is the first of its kind. While it covers the area bounded by Montreal, Boston, Washington, D.C. and Detroit, it is broadly applicable to temperate urban environments across North America. The book covers 222 species that flourish without human assistance or approval. From Publisher
Call Number: QK 118.D45 2010 -
Healthy Soils for Sustainable Gardens
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The key to growing healthy, beautiful plants is good soil. This practical all-region guide helps you understand the unique characteristics of your garden’s soil and build its natural fertility using organic and sustainable methods. Written by soil and horticulture experts from across North America, it emphasizes the importance of nurturing a diverse ecosystem of beneficial soil organisms, using recycled and renewable organic amendments and mulches, planting nutrient-enhancing cover crops and ornamentals, and selecting plants that adapt with ease to your site conditions. nbsp;
Call Number: S596.75 .H43 2009
Online From CCBC Libraries: Plants
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Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Plants
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This book is meticulously organized and richly illustrated, having over 1,000 full-color illustrations and 500 photographs. It is divided into five parts covering: Compartments, Cell Reproduction, Energy Flow, Metabolic and Developmental Integration, and Plant Environment and Agriculture. Adapted from Publisher
Publication Date: 2015 -
Pollination and Floral Ecology
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Pollination and Floral Ecology is the most comprehensive single-volume reference to all aspects of pollination biology--and the first fully up-to-date resource of its kind to appear in decades. This beautifully illustrated book describes how flowers use colors, shapes, and scents to advertise themselves; how they offer pollen and nectar as rewards; and how they share complex interactions with beetles, birds, bats, bees, and other creatures. The ecology of these interactions is covered in depth, including the timing and patterning of flowering, competition among flowering plants to attract certain visitors and deter others, and the many ways plants and animals can cheat each other. Pollination and Floral Ecology pays special attention to the prevalence of specialization and generalization in animal-flower interactions, and examines how a lack of distinction between casual visitors and true pollinators can produce misleading conclusions about flower evolution and animal-flower mutualism. This one-of-a-kind reference also gives insights into the vital pollination services that animals provide to crops and native flora, and sets these issues in the context of today's global pollination crisis. Provides the most up-to-date resource on pollination and floral ecology Describes flower advertising features and rewards, foraging and learning by flower-visiting animals, behaviors of generalist and specialist pollinators--and more Examines the ecology and evolution of animal-flower interactions, from the molecular to macroevolutionary scale Features hundreds of color and black-and-white illustrations
Publication Date: 2011
Streaming Video
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Soil FormationIn this live-action program viewers will learn that Soil is the top most layer of earth, lying on top of a layer of bedrock. Soil is often black or dark brown to red, comprised of mixture of organic remains, clay and rock particles. Students will come to understand that all soil formation begins with the break down of rock or parent material over time by mechanical weathering such as frost or rain, or cycles of heating and cooling. They will discover that scientists have classified soil types according to their characteristics. The program discusses the fact that most soils support a thriving community of microorganisms and invertebrates, aiding the breakdown of organic matter in which plants grow.
Websites
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"Right Plant, Right Place"- A Plant Selection Guide for Managed Landscapes Created by Roberta Clark & Deborah Swanson and last updated in August 2011. The sponsor of this webpage is Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment in the College of Natural Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
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What to Plant (water efficiency) Project of the United States Environmental Protection Agency
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Plants Database Plants Database is produced by the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture.
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Native Plants of North America Project of the University of Texas at Austin Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Databases
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Environment Complete This link opens in a new window
Articles about ecology, energy, natural resources, science, technology, law, public policy, and social impacts.
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Science (Journal)
A weekly, peer-reviewed journal that publishes significant original scientific research, plus reviews and analyses of current research and science policy.
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Science Database
Articles on both the applied and general sciences like aerospace, computers, transportation, and biology.
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Biological Science Database
Articles on biology topics.
On the Shelf at CCBC Libraries: Soil
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The Nature and Properties of Soils
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Call Number: S591.B79 2008 -
Principles and Practice of Soil Science
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Principles and Practice of Soil Science, FourthEditionprovides a current and comprehensive introduction to soilscience for students in the fields of environmental andagricultural science, ecology, soil and land management, naturalresource management and environmental engineering. Covers all aspects of soil science including soil habitat,processes in the soil environment and soil management. Emphasizes the applications of soil science to the solution ofpractical problems in soil and land management. Highlights real world examples drawn from the author?sinternational experience in the field. Includes an expanded colour section of soil profiles and otherfeatures, and greater coverage of international soilclassification Features new problem sets and questions at the end of eachchapter, designed to reinforce important principles. An answer keyis provided at the end of the text. Artwork from the book is available to instructors online atwww.blackwellpublishing.com/white
Call Number: S591.W49 2006
Online from CCBC Libraries: Soil
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Soil Conservation: Strategies, Management and Challenges
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Along its existence, humans have used Earth resources in a reckless way, having little consideration for its importance, and for the future generations and their needs. Considering the complexity of this subject, and the extreme difficulty of analyzing all aspects of soil degradation, the Editors nonetheless gather here some contributions, each one addressing different soil conservation problems, strategies or methodologies, trying to add some contributions for the understanding of the overall problem of soil degradation and conservation in the world. The seven chapters that comprise this book address topics related to soil degradation and conservation strategies, presenting some cases and methodological approaches, in different parts of the world, promoting scientific research developed with the objective of contributing to a better knowledge of the problem and to help in its mitigation.
Publication Date: 2021 -
Soil Science for Gardeners
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Build healthy soil and grow better plants Robert Pavlis, a gardener for over four decades, debunks common soil myths, explores the rhizosphere, and provides a personalized soil fertility improvement program in this three-part popular science guidebook. Healthy soil means thriving plants. Yet untangling the soil food web and optimizing your soil health is beyond most gardeners, many of whom lack an in-depth knowledge of the soil ecosystem. Soil Science for Gardeners is an accessible, science-based guide to understanding soil fertility and, in particular, the rhizosphere - the thin layer of liquid and soil surrounding plant roots, so vital to plant health. Coverage includes: Soil biology and chemistry and how plants and soil interact Common soil health problems, including analyzing soil's fertility and plant nutrients The creation of a personalized plan for improving your soil fertility, including setting priorities and goals in a cost-effective, realistic time frame. Creating the optimal conditions for nature to do the heavy lifting of building soil fertility Written for the home gardener, market gardener, and micro-farmer, Soil Science for Gardeners is packed with information to help you grow thriving plants.
Publication Date: 2020 -
Soil Health, Soil Biology, Soilborne Diseases and Sustainable Agriculture
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Our capacity to maintain world food production depends on the thin layer of soil covering the Earth's surface. The health of this soil determines whether crops can be grown successfully, whether a farm business is profitable and whether an enterprise is sustainable in the long term. This book provides information about the bacteria, fungi, nematodes and other soil organisms that not only harm food crops but also help them take up water and nutrients and protect them from root diseases. With illustrations and case studies, it provides growers with holistic solutions for building an active and diverse soil biological community capable of improving soil structure, enhancing plant nutrient uptake and suppressing root pests and pathogens. An essential resource for anyone who works with soil, including growers, consultants, agronomists and soil chemists and for extension personnel working in the grains, livestock and horticulture. * A comprehensive and readable coverage of the causes and effects of soilborne diseases * Discusses the fundamentals of soil biota and the key pathogens in Australian agriculture * Gives a step-by-step guide to biological processes to minimizing losses to diseases
Publication Date: 2016
