The Forgotten Pollinators [Hardcover]

Stephen L. Buchmann (Author), Gary Paul Nabhan (Author), Paul Mirocha (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1996 | ISBN-10: 1559633522 | ISBN-13: 978-1559633529 | Edition: 1

Consider this: Without interaction between animals and flowering plants, the seeds and fruits that make up nearly eighty percent of the human diet would not exist.In "The Forgotten Pollinators," Stephen L. Buchmann, one of the world's leading authorities on bees and pollination, and Gary Paul Nabhan, award-winning writer and renowned crop ecologist, explore the vital but little-appreciated relationship between plants and the animals they depend on for reproduction -- bees, beetles, butterflies, hummingbirds, moths, bats, and countless other animals, some widely recognized and other almost unknown.Scenes from around the globe -- examining island flora and fauna on the Galapagos, counting bees in the Panamanian rain forest, witnessing an ancient honey-hunting ritual in Malaysia -- bring to life the hidden relationships between plants and animals, and demonstrate the ways in which human society affects and is affected by those relationships. Buchmann and Nabhan combine vignettes from the field with expository discussions of ecology, botany, and crop science to present a lively and fascinating account of the ecological and cultural context of plant-pollinator relationships.More than any other natural process, plant-pollinator relationships offer vivid examples of the connections between endangered species and threatened habitats. The authors explain how human-induced changes in pollinator populations -- caused by overuse of chemical pesticides, unbridled development, and conversion of natural areas into monocultural cropland-can have a ripple effect on disparate species, ultimately leading to a "cascade of linked extinctions."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In The Forgotten Pollinators, two researchers delve into the little-known and fascinating world of pollination. The authors, an entomologist and an ethnobotanist and nature writer, illustrate in clear yet proficient language the importance of this interaction between insect and plant, which provides the world with one-third of its food source. Using colorful examples--including a moth that rappels down cliffs to pollinate a plant in Hawaii--they also explain how modern developments are threatening this essential process. Published through the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, the book is aimed at raising awareness about the potential loss of pollinators and their plants, while showing the larger picture of a fragile ecosystem through the eyes of some of its more unnoticed inhabitants.

From Publishers Weekly

Popular environmental literature has generally overlooked the role of pollinators?animals such as bees, beetles, butterflies, moths and bats. In fact, our information on pollinator-plant interaction may be the weakest link in understanding how ecosystems function, say the authors. This book is the centerpiece of a public-awareness campaign based at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Buchmann, a leading authority on pollination, and Nabhan (The Desert Smells Like Rain) explore this vital link between plants and their pollinators. It is a disturbing story of disappearing insects and diminishing plant reproduction, owing to overuse of pesticide and fragmented habitat. The authors combine anecdotes from the field with discussions of ecology, entomology, botany, crop science and the economics of pollination. Stories range from the Virgin River in Utah to the Galapagos and a honey-gathering ritual in Malaysia. Their studies show that wildland protection is fundamental to sustaining agricultural productivity. This important addition to the environmental bookshelf is enlivened by Mirocha's delightful drawings.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Island Press; 1 edition (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559633522
• ISBN-13: 978-1559633529
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,065,000 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The world is complex and wonderful, especially reproduction, December 23, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: The Forgotten Pollinators (Hardcover)

Ever wonder where most plants come from? They come from seeds. Ever wonder where seeds come from? They come from sex. Ever wonder what plant sex is about (or why this is an issue)? It comes from beetles, bees, butterflies, moths, birds, bats and winged pseudogenitalia in general, whether great or small. Pollination is the key to life on the terrestrial earth. Pollination of plants is also the key to life in much of the aquatic part of our planet, which is about the only omission for which the authors might be faulted. It is a mind-expanding exercise, to be sure, to ask ourselves what would happen if pollinator "X" suddenly disappeared from the scene. Buchmann and Nabhan have taken great care both to inform us that all would not be lost, because pollinator "Y" or "Z" is frequently waiting in the wings. But in many, many cases, pollinator "X" has never been studied and cannot even be named, let alone conserved

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a new Silent Spring, March 14, 2000

By 

David Lee Kirkland (Saint Charles, Mo USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Forgotten Pollinators (Paperback)

Like Silent Spring, this book surprizes and alarms. It is well written, rarely bogging down, and opens new ways of understanding with almost every chapter - the perils of patchwork preservation, the honeybee as an invading exotic, the concept of nectar corridors for long distance pollinators. Well done indeed.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Discovering the facts of life, June 16, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Forgotten Pollinators (Paperback)

Reading this book I felt as though my basic education was flawed by my not having been taught the supreme importance of the insect world to all life on earth. Each page presented fascinating, sometimes alarming information, about our natural world that I had never seen, though it is always right in front of me. The most enlightening book I have read in years!