Green Planet: How Plants Keep the Earth Alive

366 Pages·2009·4.84 MB·English

by  Stanley A. Rice

1.C over
2.G REEN PLANE THow Plants Keep the Earth Alive
3.C ontents
4.I llustrations
5.T ables
6.A cknowledgments
7.I ntroduction: Remnants of Paradise
8.C hapter One: An Injured Paradise
9.C hapter Two: Plants Put the Oxygen in the Air
10.C hapter Three: Greenhouse Earth: Plants Help to
Keep the Earth from Overheating
11. Chapter Four: Shade: Trees Make Good Air
Conditioners
12.C hapter Five: The Water Cycle: Plants Prevent
Droughts and Floods
13.C hapter Six: Plants Feed the World
14.C hapter Seven: Plants Create Soil
15.C hapter Eight: Plants Create Habitats
16.C hapter Nine: Plants Heal the Landscape
17.C hapter Ten: How Agriculture Changed the World
18.C hapter Eleven: Why We Need Plant Diversity
19.C hapter Twelve: What Can We Do?
20.N otes
21.B ibliography
22.I ndex
23.A bout the Author
GREEN PLANET
GREEN PLANET
How Plants Keep the Earth Alive
stanley a. rice
, ,
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW BRUNSWICK NEW JERSEY AND LONDON

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rice, Stanley A., 1957 Green planet : how plants
keep the Earth alive / Stanley A. Rice.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8135-4453-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Plant
ecology. 2. Vegetation and climate. 3. Plants, Useful. I. Title. QK901.R53 2009
581.7—dc22 2008013964
A British Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from the British Library.
Copyright © 2009 by Stanley A. Rice All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers University Press,
100 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854–8099. The only exception to this prohibition is “fair use”
as defined by U.S. copyright law.

Visit our Web site: http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu This book is printed on recycled paper. Manufactured
in the United States of America

dedicated to Fakhri A. Bazzaz (1933–2008) Who helped a young graduate student to

recognize the many interacting roles that plants play in the world and Rev. A. Luke
Fritz (1918–1996) Who taught a young boy how to closely observe and think about
the world of nature
contents
List of Illustrations ix List of Tables xi Acknowledgments xiii
introduction Remnants of Paradise 3
chapter one An Injured Paradise 9
chapter two Plants Put the Oxygen in the Air 28
chapter three

Greenhouse Earth Plants Help to Keep the Earth from
Overheating 41

chapter four Shade Trees Make Good Air Conditioners 81

chapter five The Water Cycle Plants Prevent Droughts and
Floods 93
[vii]
chapter six Plants Feed the World 110
chapter seven Plants Create Soil 127
chapter eight Plants Create Habitats 138
chapter nine Plants Heal the Landscape 171
chapter ten How Agriculture Changed the World 196
chapter eleven Why We Need Plant Diversity 211
chapter twelve What Can We Do? 228
Notes 249 Bibliography 268 Index 287
[viii]
illustrations
I.1. Seaside alders 4
1.1. General Sherman Tree 12
1.2. Chaco Canyon 19
3.1. Temperatures during the past century 44
3.2. Bristlecone pine growth rings 47
3.3. Temperatures during the past two millennia 48
3.4. Ice core layers 50
3.5. Vostok ice core temperature and carbon dioxide
measurements 51
3.6. Carbon dioxide measurements at Mauna Loa 67
4.1. Tsalagi, a reconstructed Cherokee village 82
5.1. Deforestation and the water cycle 95
5.2. Deforestation in Haiti and the Dominican Republic 97
5.3. Hubbard Brook watershed 99
5.4. Root pressure 107
6.1. Kansas roadside sign 111
6.2. Lindeman trophic pyramid 114
6.3. Ecosystem cycles 124
7.1. Components of soil 129
7.2. Perennial vs. annual roots 135
8.1. Productivity of plant habitats 140
8.2. Conditions of plant habitats 140
8.3. Timberline whitebark pine 143
8.4. Bristlecone pine 148
8.5. Post oak 151
8.6. Sonoran Desert cacti and shrubs 158
8.7. Sonoran Desert wildflower 159
8.8. Contrasting mountain slopes 162
8.9. Rain shadow 163

8.10. Oaks and boulders [ix]
9.1. Bishop pine saplings 178
9.2. Primary succession 183
9.3. Colonial stone fence 184
9.4. Secondary succession 185
9.5. Ice age vegetation 189
9.6. Kudzu 195
11.1. Sunflower breeding 222
11.2. Cherokee polyculture 225
[x]
tables
2.1. World oxygen production 32
3.1. Effects of various factors on the earth’s surface heat 71
3.2. World ecological footprints 79
3.3. World carbon emissions 80
5.1. Soil erosion and plant cover 96
5.2. World salinization 108
6.1. Fossil fuel required per calorie of animal product 118
7.1. World land degradation 132
8.1. Tundra species 142
8.2. Boreal and subalpine forest species 146
8.3. Deciduous forest species 150
8.4. Coniferous forest species 152
8.5. Desert species 156
9.1. Species that depend on fire 175
9.2. Lake Michigan successional species 182
9.3. Successional species in eastern North America 186
10.1. Origins of crops 199
12.1. Avoiding carbon emissions 231
[xi]