Tree Ecology

No one has done more to transform our understanding of trees than the world-renowned scientist Suzanne Simard. Raised in the forests of British Columbia, where her family has lived for generations, Professor Simard did not set out to be a scientist. She was working in the forest service when she first discovered how trees communicate underground through an immense web of fungi, at the centre of which lie the Mother Trees: the mysterious, powerful entities that nurture their kin and sustain the forest.

Find out how animals survive Earth's most extreme regions! From the rain-drenched treetops to the sun-starved forest floor, the rain forest is a tough place to live. But many animals from geckos to jaguars thrive in this environment. Discover the amazing body parts and behaviors that make living there possible.  

David Haskell's award-winning The Forest Unseen won acclaim for eloquent writing and deep engagement with the natural world. Now, Haskell brings his powers of observation to the biological networks that surround all species, including humans. Haskell repeatedly visits a dozen trees around the world, exploring the trees' connections with webs of fungi, bacterial communities, cooperative and destructive animals, and other plants.

In this entertaining young readers edition of the environmental studies classic, Michael Pollan demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a reciprocal relationship. He links four fundamental human desires—sweetness, beauty, energy, and control—with the plants that satisfy them: the apple, the tulip, coffee, and the potato. In telling the stories of four familiar species, Pollan illustrates how the plants have evolved to satisfy humankind’s most basic yearnings. And just as we’ve benefited from these plants, we have also helped them to thrive.

Stephanie Kaza's heartfelt meditations on the singular presence of trees have helped thousands of listeners feel a sense of spiritual connection to our ancient relatives. Through her attentive, loving encounters with trees, Kaza asks vital questions about what it means to reinhabit place, live simply, and speak from the truth of experience. More pertinent now than ever, her intimate exploration of the lives of individual trees demonstrates the possibility of personal and ecological sanity in our time.

Amanda Lewis was an overachieving, burned-out book editor most familiar with trees as dead blocks of paper. A dedicated "indoorswoman," she could barely tell a birch from a beech. But that didn't stop her from pledging to visit all of the biggest trees in British Columbia, a Canadian province known for its rugged terrain and gigantic trees.

Oaks sustain a complex and fascinating web of wildlife. The Nature of Oaks reveals what is going on in oak trees month by month, highlighting the seasonal cycles of life, death, and renewal. From woodpeckers who collect and store hundreds of acorns for sustenance to the beauty of jewel caterpillars, Tallamy illuminates and celebrates the wonders that occur right in our own backyards. The Nature of Oaks will inspire you to treasure these trees and to act to nurture and protect them.

Ancient trees stand as sentinels against all odds while Earth and its people have changed around them. Award-winning author Anthony D. Fredericks examines their awe-inspiring longevity and evolutionary intelligence, drawing on expert interviews, scientific research, and a remarkable reverence for the environment. Fredericks focuses on ten of the oldest trees in the United States and marvels at the complexity of roots, the determination of growth, and the wisdom of forests.

Several years ago, ecologist Lauren E. Oakes set out from California for Alaska's old-growth forests to hunt for a dying tree: the yellow-cedar. With climate change as the culprit, the death of this species meant loss for many Alaskans. Oakes and her research team wanted to chronicle how plants and people could cope with their rapidly changing world. Amidst the standing dead, she discovered the resiliency of forgotten forests, flourishing again in the wake of destruction, and a diverse community of people who persevered to create new relationships with the emerging environment.

How can you use a tree as a compass? What on earth makes maple trees explode? Where is the tallest tree in the world? And how can a tree own itself? Narrator Charles King talks us through the answers to all of these questions and more as we discover over 100 amazing facts about the trees in our environment. So whether you're a dedicated arborist or are just interested in this often overlooked yet wonderful area of nature, then this is the perfect audiobook for you.

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of The Man Who Made Things out of Trees. Robert Penn cut down an ash tree to see how many things could be made from it. After all, ash is the tree we have made the greatest and most varied use of over the course of human history. Journeying from Wales across Europe and Ireland to the USA, Robert finds that the ancient skills and knowledge of the properties of ash are far from dead.

It’s common knowledge that coast redwoods are tall, tall trees. In fact, they are the tallest trees in the world. What most people don’t know is that there is a whole other forest growing high in the canopy of a redwood forest. This adaptation of "The House That Jack Built" climbs into this secret, hidden habitat full of all kinds of plants and animals that call this forest home. 

Carbon is everywhere. It is constantly moving between the air, water, rocks, and living things. But did you know that none of these things would exist without the carbon cycle? Or that humans have caused the carbon cycle to be out of balance? Learn more about the carbon cycle in this fascinating book.

Winter lasts a long time in the evergreen forest biome. The trees here stay green all year. But how do tree needles help a tree survive the winter? And how do animals live in the snow and cold? Listen to this audiobook to find out!

The rain forest biome is filled with many kinds of plants and animals. More rain falls here than anywhere else on Earth. How do animals protect themselves from danger in the rain forest? And how do plants get enough light to grow under the thick canopy? Listen to find out! 

The deciduous forest biome is filled with leafy trees. This biome changes with each season. What kinds of animals live and hunt in the forest? And how do people make good use of the trees? Listen to this book to find out! 

America was built on white pine. From the 1600s through the Civil War and beyond, it was used to build the nation's ships and houses, barns, and bridges. Yet this popularity came at a cost: by the end of the nineteenth century, clear cutting had decimated much of America's white pine forests. In White Pine, ecologist and writer John Pastor takes listeners on walk through history, connecting the white pine forests that remain today to a legacy of destruction and renewal.

O grande pesquisador e contador de histórias leva os ouvintes numa instigante jornada pelos imensos sistemas naturais que tornam a vida na Terra possível.

Ancient writers observed that forests always recede as civilizations develop and grow. The great Roman poet Ovid wrote that before civilization began, “even the pine tree stood on its own very hills” but when civilization took over, “the mountain oak, the pine were felled.” This happened for a simple reason: trees have been the principal fuel and building material of every society over the millennia, from the time urban areas were settled until the middle of the nineteenth century. To this day trees still fulfill these roles for a good portion of the world’s population.

Earth is dominated by plants, which outweigh all other life - from tiny duckweed floating in our ponds to giant sequoia trees towering above us. It's easy to take plants for granted, but we depend on these light-eaters, oxygen-generators and rain-makers for every breath of air and mouthful of food we take.