BiblioVault - Books about Identification

Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest

Bruce McCune

Oregon State University Press, 2023

A key component in healthy ecosystems, lichens can be found in almost any natural habitat in the Pacific Northwest. This comprehensive guide to the region’s macrolichens is intended for use by beginners as well as specialists: weekend naturalists will be able to identify specimens and recognize the great diversity of lichens, while lichenologists and mycologists will gain greater knowledge of the distribution and abundance of various species.

This revised and expanded edition of Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest includes includes keys to over 600 species —all the macrolichens known or expected to occur in Oregon and Washington. The keys also provide coverage for lichens of Idaho and Montana, inland to the Continental Divide. Almost all macrolichens known from northern California and southern British Columbia, and from coastal southeast Alaska, are included as well.

Color photographs and detailed descriptions are provided for more than 250 species, emphasizing lichens prevalent in forested ecosystems. The illustrated glossary and introductory material cover the terminology needed to identify macrolichens and provide information on collection and handling. The biology, ecology, and air-quality sensitivity of lichens are discussed. Macrolichens of the Pacific Northwest will prove invaluable to anyone seeking to identify lichens or to better understand these organisms and their vital role in the natural world.

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Mammal Tracks and Sign of the Northeast

Diane K. Gibbons

University Press of New England, 2003

Mammal Tracks and Sign of the Northeast is a field guide for identifying the tracks of mammal species native to the region which extends from New England, New York, and Pennsylvania to eastern Canada. Simple to use and light and easy to carry in the field, the book contains the most important information that a tracker will need—including life-size illustrations of tracks and scat, gait patterns, trail width, species habitat, food sources, scat and urine information, breeding seasons, range maps, and special tracking tips for all thirty-seven species. A unique dichotomous key devised by the author allows trackers to identify even the most confusing track through a process of elimination. The charming, highly detailed, and to-scale pencil illustrations are indispensable aids to accurate identification. Mammal Tracks and Sign of the Northeast is an artistic and accurately rendered guide suitable for professional trackers, naturalists and wildlife professionals, outdoor educators, hunters, and amateurs alike.

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Mammals of Alabama

Troy L. Best and Julian L. Dusi

University of Alabama Press, 2014

Beautifully designed and sturdily bound for rugged field use, Mammals of Alabama is the first and only exhaustive guidebook to Alabama’s diverse and fascinating mammalian fauna.

European and American naturalists visited the territory that would become Alabama as early as the late eighteenth century and marveled at the breadth and variety of its flora and fauna. Yet until today scientists, scholars, and nature enthusiasts had no systematic guide to the state’s mammals. Mammals of Alabama fills the gap.

Naturally occurring in the state are nine orders, twenty-two families, fifty-one genera, and seventy-two species of living mammals. Best and Dusi offer an engaging entry for each as well as additional species that have become extinct through natural processes or human extirpation.
Illustrated with maps and photos, each entry includes:
• Identification notes    • Dental formula
• Size and weight         • Distribution
• Ecology   • Life History
• Behavior                        • Parasites and Diseases
• Conservation Status • Notes and References

Ideal for backyards, hikes, libraries, and classrooms, Mammals of Alabama includes hundreds of professional, close-up color specimen photographs of both living animals in their natural habitats and skull plates, making identification of animals easy.

Best also offers fascinating and fun facts about Alabama mammals that will delight nature lovers of all ages, such as the surprising and excellent tree-climbing skills of the gray fox, the use in the past of mole skins to apply cosmetics, and the litters of identical quadruplets common to the nine-banded armadillo.

Published in cooperation with the Alabama Wildlife Federation

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Mammals of the Southeastern United States

Troy L. Best and John L. Hunt

University of Alabama Press, 2020

First comprehensive account of the mammals of the entire southeastern US

The southeastern United States is home to a remarkable and diverse mammalian fauna that is a significant part of the region’s rich natural heritage. Mammals of the Southeastern United States presents accounts of 137 species that currently or previously occurred in the Southeast. Although accessible and useful for the generalist, this book provides an up-to-date compilation of basic knowledge about native and nonnative mammals of the region that is suitable for students of all ages and for professional mammalogists and biologists alike.

This volume profiles common species like the eastern gray squirrel, the white-tailed deer, and the Virginia opossum, but also includes among its accounts many extant species, such as the jaguar and porcupine, that once occurred in the region; native species, like the Caribbean monk seal, that are now extinct; native species that have been extirpated, or wiped out, from all or part of the region, such as the red wolf, cougar, American bison, and elk; and many introduced species, including the Mexican mouse opossum, common squirrel monkey, and capybara.

Each species account includes full-color images of the animal, plates featuring at least three views of its skull, color distribution maps of its approximate geographic range in the Southeast and in North America, and an up-to-date synthesis of several aspects of its biology, including habitat, diet, predators, parasites, diseases, and behaviors. An introductory chapter on conservation summarizes the current status of mammalian populations in the region and provides insight into some of the threats mammals now encounter in the Southeast.

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Manual of Grasses for North America

Mary E. Barkworth, Laurel K. Anderton Kathleen M. Capels, Sandy Long, and Michael B. Piep

Utah State University Press, 2007

Grasses are the world’s most important plants. They are the dominant species over large parts of the earth’s land surface, a fact that is reflected in the many different words that exist for grasslands, words such as prairie, veldt, palouse, and pampas to mention just a few. As a group, grasses are of major ecological importance, as soil binders and providers of shelter and food for wild animals, both large and small. Some grasses, such as wheat, rice, corn, barley, rye, tef, and sugar cane are major sources of calories for humans and their livestock; others, primarily bamboos, are used for construction, tools, paper, and fabric. More recently, the seed catalogs that tantalize gardeners each winter have borne witness to an increasing appreciation of the aesthetic value of grasses.

The Manual of Grasses for North America is designed as a successor to the classic volume by Hitchcock and Chase. It reflects current taxonomic thought and includes keys, illustrations, and distribution maps for the nearly 900 native and 400 introduced species that have been found in North America north of Mexico. In addition, it presents keys and illustrations for several species that are known only in cultivation or are of major agricultural significance, either as progenitors of bread wheat and corn or as a major threat to North American agriculture because of their ability to hybridize with crop species. The Manual is a major reference work for grasses that will retain its value for many years.

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A Manual of the Mammalia

An Homage to Lawlor’s “Handbook to the Orders and Families of Living Mammals”

Douglas A. Kelt and James L. Patton

University of Chicago Press, 2020

The taxonomy of recent mammals has lately undergone tremendous revision, but it has been decades since the last update to Timothy E. Lawlor’s acclaimed identification guide the Handbook to the Orders and Families of Living Mammals. Integrating the latest advances in research, Douglas A. Kelt and James L. Patton provide this long-overdue update in their new, wholly original work, A Manual of the Mammalia.

Complemented by global range maps, high-resolution photographs of skulls and mandibles by Bill Stone, and the outstanding artwork of Fiona Reid, this book provides an overview of biological attributes of each higher taxon while highlighting key and diagnostic characters needed to identify skulls and skins of all recent mammalian orders and most families. Kelt and Patton also place taxa in their currently understood supra-familial clades, and discuss current challenges in higher mammal taxonomy. Including a comprehensive review of mammalian anatomy to provide a foundation for understanding all characters employed throughout, A Manual of the Mammalia is both a user-friendly handbook for students learning to identify higher mammal taxa and a uniquely comprehensive, up-to-date reference for mammalogists and mammal-lovers from across the globe.

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The Maricopas

An Identification from Documentary Sources

Paul H. Ezell

University of Arizona Press, 1963

The Anthropological Papers of the University of Arizona is a peer-reviewed monograph series sponsored by the School of Anthropology. Established in 1959, the series publishes archaeological and ethnographic papers that use contemporary method and theory to investigate problems of anthropological importance in the southwestern United States, Mexico, and related areas.

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Michigan Ferns and Lycophytes

A Guide to Species of the Great Lakes Region

Daniel D. Palmer

University of Michigan Press, 2018

Michigan’s ferns and lycophytes are among the state’s most fascinating plants. The species in these groups exhibit incredibly diverse life cycles and an amazing array of morphology. Some species such as the Bracken fern are widespread and aggressive, dominating forest understories throughout much of northern Michigan, while other species are exceedingly rare and adapted to life solely in harsh niche habitats where little else can grow.

Unlike the well-studied flowering plants and gymnosperms, Michigan’s ferns and lycophytes have long lacked a reliable, up-to-date guidebook, and this book fills that gap. Covering all 120 taxa found in the state, it features detailed keys, species descriptions, and range maps alongside precise illustrations. Readers learn about the etymology of species’ common and scientific names as well as interesting facts about their historic uses by humans and place within the Michigan ecosystem. The book also provides information on the challenging taxonomy of many ferns and lycophytes, with special attention given to the species likely to hybridize and those prone to misidentification. This is a must-have reference for anyone who wishes to learn about these important components of the Great Lakes flora.

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Michigan Trees, Revised and Updated

A Guide to the Trees of the Great Lakes Region

Burton V. Barnes and Warren H. Wagner, Jr.

University of Michigan Press, 2004

Now in its tenth decade of publication, Michigan Trees has been, since it was first introduced in 1913, the must-have reference book for anyone who wants to know about the trees of this unique North American region.

In this new and updated edition, several new species have been added to the lineup, as well as sections on tree ecology and fall color. Written and illustrated in a style that appeals at once to academic botanists and armchair arborphiles alike, Michigan Trees gives readers everything they need to know for identifying trees in the Great Lakes state. Included with each description are fascinating notes and asides (for example, this tidbit on the jack pine: "Parklike or savanna stands in north-central Michigan are prime habitat for the rare Kirtland's warbler that breeds nowhere else in the world."). Also includes a tree key and identification section illustrated with elegantly simple line drawings that reveal the tiny, signature details that make each tree unique.

Burton V. Barnes is Professor of Forestry at the University of Michigan. Formerly a research forester, he is best known for his research and publications in forest ecology and forest genetics.

Warren H. Wagner, Jr. was a world authority on ferns. He had been Professor Emeritus of Botany and Natural Resources at the University of Michigan before his death at the age of 80 in 2000.

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Mosquitoes of the Southeastern United States

Nathan D. Burkett-Cadena

University of Alabama Press, 2013

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Mosquitoes of the Southeastern United States is a full-color, highly-illustrated guide to the 64 known species of mosquitoes in 11 genera that populate the South's main geographical area--from the Gulf Coastal states to the Carolinas.

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Multi-Ethnic Bird Guide of the Sub-Antarctic Forests of South America

Ricardo Rozzi

University of North Texas Press, 2010

Mushrooms and Other Fungi of the Midcontinental United States

Donald M. Huffman

University of Iowa Press, 2008

This completely revised second edition provides all the information necessary to identify mushrooms in the ?eld in the midcontinental region of Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Missouri, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin: the tallgrass prairies and the western parts of the eastern deciduous forests.

The first edition has been improved in significant ways. The authors have updated scientific names, added photos where there were none and replaced poor photos with better ones, improved the keys, added some species and deleted others, added a section on truffles, and annotated the bibliography. There were originally 224 species; now there are 248. Some of the new photos-125 in all-serve as a second photo for a species, where it is helpful to show details that cannot be viewed in a single photo.

The authors describe each species' cap, gills, stalk, annulus, and season when it is most likely to be seen as well as such characteristics as edibility and toxicity. In their detailed and lively introduction they discuss the economic and environmental aspects of fungi, basic mushroom biology, nomenclature, edibility and toxicity, and habitats and time of fruiting. Most important are the keys, which lead the dedicated reader to the major groups of fungi included in this guide. The section on mushrooms includes keys to their genera in addition to the species within each family discussed, and each of the subsequent sections has a key to the genera and species except where so few species are discussed that a key is not necessary. The volume also includes a glossary and two bibliographies, one with general and one with technical references.

Through their detailed technical descriptions and captivating color photos the authors convey their passionate fondness for these diverse and colorful organisms, whose mysterious appearances and disappearances have long made them objects of fascination.

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Mushrooms and Truffles of the Southwest

Jack S. States

University of Arizona Press, 1990

The American Southwest is not usually thought of as a habitat for mushrooms, yet its various life zones are home to a surprising number of fungi and related species. This first book on the region's mushrooms and truffles provides descriptions and color illustrations for 156 major species and additional descriptive references for 155 more. Also included are selected slime molds and lichens, which, like truffles, usually are not covered in mushroom guides at all. The book's range is Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, and northern Mexico. It is designed to help fungiphiles not only identify mushrooms but also find them. The author describes the life zones where fungi can be found in association with characteristic plant communities and provides maps--with major landmarks indicated--designating conifer forests on public land where mushrooms are most often found. The major classifications covered are Club Fungi (Basidiomycetes), Stomach Fungi (Gasteromycetes), Sac Fungi (Ascomycetes), and Tuberlike Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes. A special feature of the guide is the provision of cross references to other field guides, reinforcing the need to confirm identification before consuming mushrooms. Notations on toxicity and edibility are provided.

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Mushrooms of the Midwest

Michael Kuo and Andrew S. Methven

University of Illinois Press, 2014

Fusing general interest in mushrooming with serious scholarship, Mushrooms of the Midwest describes and illustrates over five hundred of the region's mushroom species. From the cold conifer bogs of northern Michigan to the steamy oak forests of Missouri, the book offers a broad cross-section of the fungi, edible and not, that can be found growing in the Midwest’s diverse ecosystems.

With hundreds of color illustrations, Mushrooms of the Midwest is ideal for amateur and expert mushroomers alike. Michael Kuo and Andrew Methven provide identification keys and thorough descriptions. The authors discuss the DNA revolution in mycology and its consequences for classification and identification, as well as the need for well-documented contemporary collections of mushrooms.

Unlike most field guides, Mushrooms of the Midwest includes an extensive introduction to the use of a microscope in mushroom identification. In addition, Kuo and Methven give recommendations for scientific mushroom collecting, with special focus on ecological data and guidelines for preserving specimens. Lists of amateur mycological associations and herbaria of the Midwest are also included. A must-have for all mushroom enthusiasts!

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