Ecosystems are presented in their entirety with details on their history, biology, wildlife, beauty, problems, and influence on culture. This interdisciplinary approach emphasizes the complex, interrelated nature of each biome, giving readers the most integrated portrayal of the natural world available. Coverage offers a basic introduction to ecological concepts and demonstrates how these concepts affect the relationship between humans and their environment.

The Ecosystem set provides a lively and detailed exploration for high school students, undergraduates, and general readers.

Deserts cover vast areas of every continent. Each is unique in the life it supports and the human cultures that have arisen in it. This book explains why deserts form in particular regions. It describes their climates and the ways plants and animals have adapted to them. It also offers a historical perspective, covering periods when different climates allow crops to grow and how climatic changes triggered major historical events. The author devotes one-half of the book to accounts of desert peoples, their ways of life, and their possible future.

Coverage includes:
-- A detailed review of the most important deserts, including the Sahara, the Gobi, the Namib, and the Atacama
-- The polar deserts of Greenland and Antarctica, including their ice sheets and glaciers
-- Desert peoples, including the Berber and Tuareg peoples ofNorth Africa, the Mongol peoples of Central Asia, the Inuit of the far north, and the Hopi and other Pueblo peoples of North America
-- The economies of modern desert nations
-- Desert management.