Vacant lots aren't really vacant: a surprising number of plants and animals live in the left-over spaces in our cities. In this fascinating guide, authors Vessel and Wong provide a broad introduction to the unique ecosystems that can survive in the urban environment.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1987. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived

This lavishly illustrated guide will enable you to identify the caterpillars of nearly 700 butterflies and moths found east of the Mississippi. The more than 1,200 color photographs and two dozen line drawings include numerous exceptionally striking images. The giant silk moths, tiger moths, and many other species covered include forest pests, common garden guests, economically important species, and of course, the Mescal Worm and Mexican Jumping Bean caterpillars. Full-page species accounts cover almost 400 species, with up to six images per species including an image of the adult plus succinct text with information on distribution, seasonal activity, foodplants, and life history. These accounts are generously complemented with additional images of earlier instars, closely related species, noteworthy behaviors, and other intriguing aspects of caterpillar biology. Many caterpillars are illustrated here for the first time. Dozens of new foodplant records are presented and erroneous records are corrected. The book provides considerable information on the distribution, biology, and taxonomy of caterpillars beyond that available in other popular works on Eastern butterflies and moths. The introductory chapter covers caterpillar structure, life cycles, rearing, natural enemies, photography, and conservation. The section titled "Caterpillar Projects" will be of special interest to educators. Given the dearth of accessible guides on the identification and natural history of caterpillars, Caterpillars of Eastern North America is a must for entomologists and museum curators, forest managers, conservation biologists and others who seek a compact, easy-to-use guide to the caterpillars of this vast region. A compact guide to nearly 700 caterpillars east of the Mississippi, from forest pests to garden guests and economically important species 1,200 color photos and 24 line drawings enable easy identification Full-page species accounts with image of adult insect for almost 400 species, plus succinct text on distribution and other vital information Many caterpillars illustrated here for the first time Current information on distribution, biology, and taxonomy not found in other popular works A section geared toward educators, "Caterpillar Projects" An indispensable resource for all who seek an easy-to-use guide to the caterpillars of this vast region

As long as humans have existed, they've worked and competed with plants to shape their surroundings. As cities developed and expanded, their diverse spaces were covered with and colored by weeds. In Weeds, Zachary J. S. Falck presents a comprehensive history of "happenstance plants" in American urban environments. Beginning in the late nineteenth century and continuing to the present, he examines the proliferation, perception, and treatment of weeds in metropolitan centers from Boston to Los Angeles. In dynamic city ecosystems, population movements and economic cycles establish and transform habitats where vegetation continuously changes. Americans came to associate weeds with infectious diseases and allergies, illegal dumping, vagrants, drug dealers, and decreased property values. Local governments and citizens' groups attempted to eliminate unwanted plants to better their urban environments and improve the health and safety of inhabitants. Over time, a growing understanding of the natural environment made "happenstance plants" more tolerable and even desirable. In the twenty-first century, scientists have warned that the effects of global warming and the heat-trapping properties of cities are producing more robust strains of weeds. Falck shows that nature continues to flourish where humans have struggled: in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, in the abandoned homes of the California housing bust, and alongside crumbling infrastructure. Weeds are here to stay.

The dry land is one world and the wet sea is another, but the line separating them is ever-changing. Known as the intertidal zone, the area between the land and the sea is defined by the extremes of the tides. Sam Hinton provides an introduction to this fascinating zone and its contiguous waters and to some of the many creatures who make the southern California seacoast their home. This highly readable book has been for many years the handiest resource available for anyone wanting to explore that region's delights and mysteries. The book is filled with interesting anecdotes and drawings and has a thorough discussion of the natural forces¯the tides, winds, storms, currents, surf, and ocean chemistry¯that affect near-shore animals. Also included is a section relating the ocean forces to the intertidal habitat, along with a map of southern California locations where one might observe the organisms described in the book.

The dry land is one world and the wet sea is another, but the line separating them is ever-changing. Known as the intertidal zone, the area between the land and the sea is defined by the extremes of the tides. Sam Hinton provides an introduction to this fascinating zone and its contiguous waters and to some of the many creatures who make the southern California seacoast their home. This highly readable book has been for many years the handiest resource available for anyone wanting to explore that region's delights and mysteries. The book is filled with interesting anecdotes and drawings and has a thorough discussion of the natural forces ̄the tides, winds, storms, currents, surf, and ocean chemistry ̄that affect near-shore animals. Also included is a section relating the ocean forces to the intertidal habitat, along with a map of southern California locations where one might observe the organisms described in the book.

Robert Michael Pyle is the author of twenty books and hundreds of essays, stories, papers, and poems, but it is the occasional prose--the deeply personal essays that explored and indulged his immediate fascinations--that make up this selection of never-before-collected testimonies. Beginning with a 1965 cri de coeur written on mountain motel stationery, Through a Green Lens ranges across broad territory of topic, vehicle, geography, populace, and politics, concluding with powerful forewords for two 2015 books. Pyle's half-century long view, acute and uncommonly attuned to the physical world, gives readers a remarkable window on the natural setting of our life and times.

This is a study of the material life of information and its devices; of electronic waste in its physical and electronic incarnations; a cultural and material mapping of the spaces where electronics in the form of both hardware and information accumulate, break down, or are stowed away. Where other studies have addressed "digital" technology through a focus on its immateriality or virtual qualities, Gabrys traces the material, spatial, cultural and political infrastructures that enable the emergence and dissolution of these technologies. In the course of her book, she explores five interrelated "spaces" where electronics fall apart: from Silicon Valley to Nasdaq, from containers bound for China to museums and archives that preserve obsolete electronics as cultural artifacts, to the landfill as material repository. Digital Rubbish: A Natural History of Electronics describes the materiality of electronics from a unique perspective, examining the multiple forms of waste that electronics create as evidence of the resources, labor, and imaginaries that are bundled into these machines. Ranging across studies of media and technology, as well as environments, geography, and design, Jennifer Gabrys draws together the far-reaching material and cultural processes that enable the making and breaking of these technologies.