The landscape of the Sonoran Desert Region varies dramatically from parched desert lowlands to semiarid tropical forests and frigid subalpine meadows. Covering southeasternmost California, much of southern and central Arizona, most of Baja California, and much of the state of Sonora, Mexico, it is home to an extraordinary variety of plants and animals. A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert takes readers deep into its vast expanse, looking closely at the relationships of plants and animals with the land and people, through time and across landscapes.
In accessible language, more than forty scientists and/or naturalists examine the region’s biodiversity, geology, weather, plants, and animals (from invertebrates to fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals), as well as potential threats to the species and habitats. The text is supplemented throughout with anecdotes, essays, photographs, maps, diagrams, and 450 finely rendered drawings.
This new edition adds chapters on the Sky Islands, Sea of Cortez, desert pollinators, and conservation issues. Taxonomic nomenclature has been updated and new color plates and figures have been added. This comprehensive natural history, like the original edition, will surely become an invaluable companion for nature enthusiasts, birdwatchers, hikers, students, naturalists, and anyone interested in the desert Southwest.
Published in association with the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
Praise for the First Edition
"An indispensable guide for any desert visitor."—Sunset
"The award-winning text includes a calendar of natural events highlighting animal migrations, full moons, and the Sonoran Desert's awesome spring flower show."—Outside Magazine
"Never before has a book appeared that so deserved a place on the bookshelf of every desert aficionado. This book is destined to become the bible of Sonoran Desert nature literature."—The Desert Sun
"Everything the traveler, birdwatcher, hiker, student, desert-dweller, and desert-lover will ever need to know about this region is painstakingly presented in clear prose, maps and pictures."—Rocky Mountain News
"Immaculately produced. Put together by the museum's exceptional academic and curatorial staff, Natural History is a storybook, a field guide, a lay geology, a paleontology and human ecology textbook, and a handy encyclopedia—and it reads as enjoyably as fiction."—The Americus Journal
"If I were forced to limit my southwestern library to one book, this would be it. In just under 600 pages, handsomely illustrated with color and black-and-white photographs, and prcise pen-and-ink drawings, 35 experts share their considerable knowledge of man and nature in the Sonoran Desert."
