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Petit llibre de la natura. Arbres
A charming, richly illustrated, pocket-size exploration of the world’s trees
Packed with surprising facts, this delightful and gorgeously designed book will beguile any nature lover. Expertly written and beautifully illustrated throughout with color photographs and original color artwork, The Little Book of Trees is an accessible and enjoyable mini reference book about the world’s trees, with examples drawn from across the globe. It fits an astonishing amount of information in a small package, covering a wide range of topics—from tree anatomy, diversity, and architecture to habitat and conservation. It also includes curious facts and a section on trees in myths, folklore, and modern culture around the world. The result is an irresistible guide to the amazing lives of trees.
Packed with surprising facts, this delightful and gorgeously designed book will beguile any nature lover. Expertly written and beautifully illustrated throughout with color photographs and original color artwork, The Little Book of Trees is an accessible and enjoyable mini reference book about the world’s trees, with examples drawn from across the globe. It fits an astonishing amount of information in a small package, covering a wide range of topics—from tree anatomy, diversity, and architecture to habitat and conservation. It also includes curious facts and a section on trees in myths, folklore, and modern culture around the world. The result is an irresistible guide to the amazing lives of trees.
- GenresNature
160 pages
Published March 3, 2025
12 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Herman H. Shugart
13 books1 followerHerman H. (Hank) Shugart
W.W. Corcoran Professor of Environmental Sciences & Director, Center for Regional Environmental Studies
Regions of Interest:
Global
Research:
Global change, systems ecology, systems analysis and modeling, forest ecosystem analysis and dynamics, ornithology.
Hank Shugart is a Highly Cited™ Scientist and 2006 University of Virginia Distinguished Scientist.
Hank is a systems ecologist whose primary research interests focus on the simulation modeling of forest ecosystems. He has developed and tested models of biogeochemical cycles, energy flow and secondary succession. In his most recent work, he uses computer models to simulate the growth, birth and death of each tree on small forest plots. The simulations describe changes in forest structure and composition over time, in response to both internal and external sources of perturbation. The models are applied at spatial scales ranging in size from small forest gaps to entire landscapes and at temporal scales of years to millennia.
Abstract: Herman H. ("Hank") Shugart, Jr. is the W.W. Corcoran Professor of Environmental Sciences and the Director of the Center for Regional Environmental Studies at the University of Virginia. He received his Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Georgia in 1971, and worked for the next 13 years in Tennessee -- eventually as a Senior Research Scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and as a Professor in Botany and the Graduate Program in Ecology at the University of Tennessee. In 1984, he moved to his current position at University of Virginia. Dr. Shugart has also served as a Visiting Fellow in the Australian National University (1978-1979, 1993-1994), in Australia's Commonwealth Industrial and Scientific Research Organization, Division of Land Use Research (1982) and Division of Wildlife and Ecology (1993-1994), in the International Meteorological Institute at the University of Stockholm, Sweden (1984), and in the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria (1987,1989). He has served on the editorial board of several scholarly journals including Ecology and Ecological Monographs, Annual Reviews in Ecology and Systematics, Biological Conservation, Landscape Ecology, Journal of Vegetation Science, Forest Science, Global Change Biology and The Australian Journal of Botany. He is the author of more than 300 publications including 11 books, 60 book chapters and 90 papers in peer-reviewed journals.
W.W. Corcoran Professor of Environmental Sciences & Director, Center for Regional Environmental Studies
Regions of Interest:
Global
Research:
Global change, systems ecology, systems analysis and modeling, forest ecosystem analysis and dynamics, ornithology.
Hank Shugart is a Highly Cited™ Scientist and 2006 University of Virginia Distinguished Scientist.
Hank is a systems ecologist whose primary research interests focus on the simulation modeling of forest ecosystems. He has developed and tested models of biogeochemical cycles, energy flow and secondary succession. In his most recent work, he uses computer models to simulate the growth, birth and death of each tree on small forest plots. The simulations describe changes in forest structure and composition over time, in response to both internal and external sources of perturbation. The models are applied at spatial scales ranging in size from small forest gaps to entire landscapes and at temporal scales of years to millennia.
Abstract: Herman H. ("Hank") Shugart, Jr. is the W.W. Corcoran Professor of Environmental Sciences and the Director of the Center for Regional Environmental Studies at the University of Virginia. He received his Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Georgia in 1971, and worked for the next 13 years in Tennessee -- eventually as a Senior Research Scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and as a Professor in Botany and the Graduate Program in Ecology at the University of Tennessee. In 1984, he moved to his current position at University of Virginia. Dr. Shugart has also served as a Visiting Fellow in the Australian National University (1978-1979, 1993-1994), in Australia's Commonwealth Industrial and Scientific Research Organization, Division of Land Use Research (1982) and Division of Wildlife and Ecology (1993-1994), in the International Meteorological Institute at the University of Stockholm, Sweden (1984), and in the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria (1987,1989). He has served on the editorial board of several scholarly journals including Ecology and Ecological Monographs, Annual Reviews in Ecology and Systematics, Biological Conservation, Landscape Ecology, Journal of Vegetation Science, Forest Science, Global Change Biology and The Australian Journal of Botany. He is the author of more than 300 publications including 11 books, 60 book chapters and 90 papers in peer-reviewed journals.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 7, 2024
There is just so much information crammed into this tiny book it's like reading a miniature textbook.
December 7, 2025
Compact (and somewhat small print), quietly absorbing guide for anyone who wants to understand trees not just as scenery but as long-lived neighbours shaping ecosystems and cultures.
An idea that sticks: “A tree is a community of organisms, not a single being.” Shugart’s framing shifts the reader from seeing trees as objects to seeing them as systems.
Example in practice: The chapter on the bristlecone pine shows how a seemingly barren, high-altitude landscape hides one of the oldest living organisms on Earth; the profile of the baobab illustrates how a swollen trunk functions as a water-management strategy; and the section on the European beech shows how shade tolerance and slow, methodical growth allow it to dominate entire forests. All are paired with Tugce Okay’s clean, evocative illustrations, making the science feel accessible.
Do this next: Take a short walk and try identifying three trees using structure rather than leaves - bark texture, branching pattern, silhouette. The book makes this kind of everyday noticing feel newly rewarding.
An idea that sticks: “A tree is a community of organisms, not a single being.” Shugart’s framing shifts the reader from seeing trees as objects to seeing them as systems.
Example in practice: The chapter on the bristlecone pine shows how a seemingly barren, high-altitude landscape hides one of the oldest living organisms on Earth; the profile of the baobab illustrates how a swollen trunk functions as a water-management strategy; and the section on the European beech shows how shade tolerance and slow, methodical growth allow it to dominate entire forests. All are paired with Tugce Okay’s clean, evocative illustrations, making the science feel accessible.
Do this next: Take a short walk and try identifying three trees using structure rather than leaves - bark texture, branching pattern, silhouette. The book makes this kind of everyday noticing feel newly rewarding.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews