Southern rivers are rich places that have captured the American mind for hundreds of years, inspiring music, literature, and the study of nature. With over 500 species of fish and other aquatic life, the rivers of the Southeastern United States are among the most biodiverse on Earth.
"A Field Guide to Southern Rivers" describes the most common and the more interesting flora and fauna one is likely to encounter along rivers of the region. I have spent my life fishing and canoeing the rivers of middle Tennessee and have spent time on rivers in Georgia and Florida as well.
I earned a chemistry degree in college with forty-four semester hours of biology and spent weekends exploring hills and hollows collecting plant specimens and looking for waterfalls. In my adult life I have been a land surveyor, chopping through the brush, locating streams. I know southern rivers.
The book begins with a 1500-word essay describing riparian ecology and how the different components of an ecosystem fit together to form the “web of life”. From there the guide goes into descriptions of species, families, or orders as applicable. The descriptions in my guide tend to be generalized while presenting some anthropocentric information about the plant or animal in question. My voice is as much that of a poet as of a naturalist.
"A Field Guide to Southern Rivers is an indespensible resource to a natural wonder.
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