Priceless Florida: Natural Ecosystems and Native Species

I am adopting this book for the third time as the main text for my Ecosystems of Florida class and I am very happy with it. It is amazingly cheap for the quality of the text and figures, and it is very accessible for students at all levels. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in Florida. Not only it is a great text for a non-major's course, it also makes a great coffee table book!

Speaking as both a native Floridian who cherishes our remaining wild places and as a biologist, I must say that this is probably the best book ever compiled that ties all of our ecosystems together and helps us to understand the importance of maintaining all "the cogs in the wheel". If our state is to maintain any of its natural beauty and "wildness", this book should be looked at as the primer for both amature naturalist and professional alike. The text is easily understood and the photographs are amazing.

This book covers every natural area found within Florida. Within each area it will pick several species and detail how they interact with each other. For example, it goes into the relationship between the fox squirrel, longleaf pine and underground fungi in the high pine grasslands. The authors present the best explanation that I have read why fire is necessary for the survival of ecosystems and species. Any Florida resident who reads this book will have a greater appreciation for the natural wonders of their state.

The Orlando Sentinel clued me into this book. I wouldn't normally pick up a book that's overtly scientific. Actually the concepts within are pretty fascinating. It tells how Florida was covered by the sea where layers of limestone built up. Some of the fossil evidence links Florida more to Africa than to the North American continent, but the continents edged apart with Florida separating from Africa. Hey, there's a lot more in this book about Florida emerging from the sea and resubmerging, changes in the ocean currents, how it was affected by the ice ages, and the appearance of "early hominids."

As a required text for a wildlife of Florida class, I was obligated to purchase this book. I was overjoyed to see that I was going to get a text book for less than 20 bucks. When it arrived I simply couldn't believe that this book was priced as it was. The pictures alone rival any coffee table book on Florida I've ever see. I could stop the review here and say that for the pictures alone this book is clearly worth the price, however, it isn't just a picture book. This book is somewhat like another excellent book on Florida ecosystems called "Ecosystems of Florida" by Myers and Ewell. The biggest difference, besides the heavy dose of great pictures, is that the text of this book isn't as detailed nor does it contain the level of scientific data as the Myers and Ewell book. This book is more suited to the newcomer to the environmental field or to someone just curious about Florida wildlife. The Chapters or units this book is broken down into divide the areas of concentration into an overview of the state, inland communities (uplands, wetlands, and waters), and coastal communities. Each section is further divided into specific ecosystems. Within those chapters dealing with specific ecosystems you'll find a great narrative of the system, numerous illustrations, lots of interesting sidebars, and of course, stunning pictures of the system and its wildlife including plants, geologic formations (where notable), insects, fish, herps, mammals, and birds. Where this book really shines compared to the Myers and Ewell book (besides the photos) is this book's attention to the wildlife of Florida in both descriptive and photographic form. Not only do you learn about the physical attributes of a system but you get a good overview of the flora and fauna found in the system also. Reading this book is the next best thing to walking through the systems you'll read about. While not the most detailed book on Florida ecosystems, it provides an excellent overview of them. It is definitely a worthwhile addition to your collection of Florida books and very much a great value at its current price. It is absolutely worth the 5 stars.