TY - BOOK ID - 30891710 TI - Trees, truffles, and beasts : how forests function AU - Maser, Chris. AU - Claridge, Andrew W. AU - Trappe, James M. PY - 2008 SN - 1281397210 9786611397210 0813544653 9780813544656 9780813542256 0813542251 9780813542263 081354226X 9781281397218 6611397213 PB - New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, DB - UniCat KW - Forest ecology. KW - Forest ecology - Australia. KW - Forest ecology -- Australia. KW - Forest ecology - United States. KW - Forest ecology -- United States. KW - Forest ecology KW - Earth & Environmental Sciences KW - Ecology KW - Forests and forestry KW - Forest ecosystems UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:30891710 AB - In today's world of specialization, people are attempting to protect the Earth's fragile state by swapping limousines for hybrids and pesticide-laced foods for organic produce. At other times, environmental awareness is translated into public relations gimmicks or trendy commodities. Moreover, simplistic policies, like single-species protection or planting ten trees for every tree cut down, are touted as bureaucratic or industrial panaceas. Because today's decisions are tomorrow's consequences, every small effort makes a difference, but a broader understanding of our environmental problems is necessary to the development of sustainable ecosystem policies. In Trees, Truffles, and Beasts, Chris Maser, Andrew W. Claridge, and James M. Trappe make a compelling case that we must first understand the complexity and interdependency of species and habitats from the microscopic level to the gigantic. Comparing forests in the Pacific Northwestern United States and Southeastern mainland of Australia, the authors show how easily observable speciesùtrees and mammalsùare part of a complicated infrastructure that includes fungi, lichens, and organisms invisible to the naked eye, such as microbes. Eminently readable, this important book shows that forests are far more complicated than most of us might think, which means simplistic policies will not save them. Understanding the biophysical intricacies of our life-support systems just might. ER -