A Naturalist's Guide to the Arctic 1st (first) edition Text Only

by E.C. Pielou

This book is a practical, portable guide to all of the Arctic's natural history—sky, atmosphere, terrain, ice, the sea, plants, birds, mammals, fish, and insects—for those who will experience the Arctic firsthand and for armchair travelers who would just as soon read about its splendors and surprises. It is packed with answers to naturalists' questions and with questions—some of them answered—that naturalists may not even have thought of.

Genres: Nature, Natural History, Travel, Nonfiction, Science, Ecology, Animals

Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Evelyn Chrystalla "E.C." Pielou is a statistical ecologist. She began her career as a researcher for the Canadian Department of Forestry and the Canadian Department of Agriculture. Later she was professor of biology at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, and at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and then Oil Sands Environmental Research Professor working out of the University of Lethbridge, Alberta.

She has contributed significantly to the development of mathematical ecology, the mathematical modeling of natural systems and wrote six academic books on the subject.

She now lives in Comox, British Columbia, Canada, and writes popular books on natural history.

Reviews

[Chrisl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommend this for people following the climate changes effect on the arctic. Very informative look by Canadian expert with long term perspective. Also suggest author's after ice age book.
After the Ice Age: The Return of Life to Glaciated North America
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._C._P...

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't read this straight through, but just read sections as they interested me. This book is full of great details about the arctic. Here are some of my favorites (hopefully I understand them and communicate them well):

The clouds can reflect the light reflecting up from the landscape below it. While it happens everywhere, it's more noticeable in the arctic because of the high contrast between the light snow/ice and the dark water. Sailors can use this to avoid ice and find open water by navigating toward dark parts of the sky. This phenomenon is called ice blink for light areas and water sky for dark areas.

While the arctic soil is generally poor, there can be tiny well-fertilized patches. This can be at the carcass of a large animal or below a place where birds frequently hang out (and poop). This includes the base of nesting cliffs as well as large rocks (or even centuries old whale skulls on what used to be a beach!) from which carnivorous birds survey their fairly flat territory.

During the summer, when the sun never sets in the arctic, at noon the sun shines from the south and at "midnight" the sun shines from the north! Because of this, hills are kind of their own worlds with day/night cycles. Opposite sides of the hill will be warmed by direct sunlight 12 hours apart.

There is a species of moth in the far north that takes 14 years to mature due to being frozen in a kind of stasis for much of the year.

[Ms Hob-Dumas Hob-Dumas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carried with me hiking in ANWR. Read at night, and tucked bits and pieces in between the pages. Perhaps it’s these memories that make the book mean so much to me.

[Jessica Oosthuyse · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only book you need to prep for the Arctic.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

11/1/2010 - Made me want to get my butt up there. Good overview of basic critters and processes.