326 pages. Louise Lindsey Merrick Natural Environment Series. Mountains rise

326 pages. Louise Lindsey Merrick Natural Environment Series. Mountains rise like islands from deserts and grasslands along the U.S. -Mexican border. The stunningly varied borderlands offer a laboratory for studying historical trends and ecological cycles, as well as a refuge in which to experience natural history firsthand. In this engaging personal narrative, biologist Fred Gehlbach describes the stability and changes of the past century in the Borderlands' climate, landforms, and natural communities and in its distinctive plants and vertebrates. Historical sketches, maps, and striking photographs richly amplify the text, and a preface updates developments in the region since the book's original publication in 1981.