The World of the Salt Marsh: Appreciating and Protecting the Tidal Marshes of the Southeastern Atlantic Coast - Couverture souple

Seabrook, Charles

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0820345334 ISBN 13 : 9780820345338

Editeur : University of Georgia Press, 2013

Synopsis

The World of the Salt Marsh is a wide-ranging exploration of the southeastern coast—its natural history, its people and their way of life, and the historic and ongoing threats to its ecological survival. Focusing on areas from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, to Cape Canaveral, Florida, Charles Seabrook examines the ecological importance of the salt marsh, calling it “a biological factory without equal.” Twice-daily tides carry in a supply of nutrients that nourish vast meadows of spartina (Spartina alterniflora)—a crucial habitat for creatures ranging from tiny marine invertebrates to wading birds. The meadows provide vital nurseries for 80 percent of the seafood species, including oysters, crabs, shrimp, and a variety of finfish, and they are invaluable for storm protection, erosion prevention, and pollution filtration. Seabrook is also concerned with the plight of the people who make their living from the coast’s bounty and who carry on its unique culture. Among them are Charlie Phillips, a fishmonger whose livelihood is threatened by development in McIntosh County, Georgia, and Vera Manigault of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, a basket maker of Gullah-Geechee descent, who says that the sweetgrass needed to make her culturally significant wares is becoming scarcer. For all of the biodiversity and cultural history of the salt marshes, many still view them as vast wastelands to be drained, diked, or “improved” for development into highways and subdivisions. If people can better understand and appreciate these ecosystems, Seabrook contends, they are more likely to join the growing chorus of scientists, conservationists, fishermen, and coastal visitors and residents calling for protection of these truly amazing places.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

CHARLES SEABROOK retired from the Atlanta-Journal Constitution in 2005 after thirty-four years as a science and environmental writer. He continues to write on a freelance basis his popular weekly column, Wild Georgia, which runs every Saturday in the AJC's Living section. He is the author of three books: Red Clay, Pink Cadillacs, and White Gold: The Kaolin Chalk Wars; Cumberland Island: Strong Women, Wild Horses; and The World of the Salt Marsh: Appreciating and Protecting the Tidal Marshes of the Southeastern Atlantic Coast. He and his wife, Laura, live in Decatur, Georgia.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: University of Georgia Press
• Date d'édition: 2013
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0820345334
• ISBN 13: 9780820345338
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 380
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: GPSR Kontakt; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Allemagne