Before any other influences began to fashion life and its lavish
diversity, geological events created the initial environments--both
physical and chemical--for the evolutionary drama that followed.
Drawing on case histories from around the world, Arthur Kruckeberg
demonstrates the role of landforms and rock types in producing the
unique geographical distributions of plants and in stimulating
evolutionary diversification. His examples range throughout the rich and
heterogeneous tapestry of the earth's surface: the dramatic variations
of mountainous topography, the undulating ground and crevices of level
limestone karst, and the subtle realm of sand dunes. He describes the
ongoing evolutionary consequences of the geology-plant interface and the
often underestimated role of geology in shaping climate.
Kruckeberg explores the fundamental connection between plants and
geology, including the historical roots of geobotany, the reciprocal
relations between geology and other environmental influences,
geomorphology and its connection with plant life, lithology as a potent
selective agent for plants, and the physical and biological influences
of soils. Special emphasis is given to the responses of plants to
exceptional rock types and their soils--serpentines, limestones, and
other azonal (exceptional) substrates. Edaphic ecology, especially of
serpentines, has been his specialty for years.
Kruckeberg's research fills a significant gap in the field of
environmental science by connecting the conventionally separated
disciplines of the physical and biological sciences. Geology and Plant
Life is the result of more than forty years of research into the
question of why certain plants grow on certain soils and certain terrain
structures, and what happens when this relationship is disrupted by
human agents. It will be useful to a wide spectrum of professionals in
the natural sciences: plant ecologists, paleobiologists, climatologists,
soil scientists, geologists, geographers, and conservation scientists,
as well as serious amateurs in natural history.