Biomes and Ecosystems

Biomes are very large ecosystems, usually abiotic areas of the earth's surface containing animals and plants adapted to that environment. Volume 1 begins with 39 overview essays on five biome types—marine biomes, inland aquatics, deserts, forests, and grasslands. The remainder of the encyclopedia is an A-Z collection of 500 articles on specific ecosystems: Sahara Desert, Buru Rainforest, Chukchi Sea, Niger River, Lake Titicaca, etc. Most of the signed articles are 500 words, but some run to 3,500. Each is a straightforward presentation that includes information on biodiversity, flora and fauna, special aspects, and environmental threats, followed by further reading; many are accompanied by insets about unusual fauna that feature black-and-white illustrations. A topic finder lists articles by category, and the title also features a useful chronology and glossary. Howarth (ecology and evolutionary biology, Cornell Univ.; Oil Pollution) is a founding editor of Biogeochemistry and principal in an ecology consulting business. Associate editor Jacqueline Mohan (ecology, Univ. of Georgia) is an editor of PLoS ONE and researches global environments and plant dynamics. Contributors are mostly academics at American universities. Purchase of the print volumes gives access to this encyclopedia in Salem Science's proprietary database. Do not confuse this encyclopedia with previous reference works for the grade-school audience: Barbara J. Davis's Biomes and Ecosystems, John P. Rafferty's Biomes and Ecosystems, Biomes and Ecosystems, and Debra J. Housel's Inside Ecosystems and Biomes.