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Title Discovering the Chesapeake : the history of an ecosystem / edited by Philip D. Curtin, Grace S. Brush, and George W. Fisher
Published Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001

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Description 1 online resource (xxiii, 385 pages) : illustrations, maps
Contents Chesapeake ecosystem : its geologic heritage / George W. Fisher and Jerry R. Schubel -- Climate and climate history in the Chesapeake Bay region / John E. Kutzbach and Thompson Webb III -- Forests before and after the colonial encounter / Grace S. Brush -- Human influences on the physical characteristics of the Chesapeake Bay / Donald W. Pritchard and Jerry R. Schubel -- Long-term history of terrestrial birds and mammals in the Chesapeake-Susquehanna watershed / David W. Steadman -- Living along the "great shellfish bay" : the relationship between prehistoric peoples and the Chesapeake / Henry M. Miller -- Human biology of populations in the Chesapeake watershed / Douglas H. Ubelaker and Philip D. Curtin -- Useful Arcadia : European colonists as biotic factors in Chesapeake forests / Timothy Silver -- Reconstructing the colonial environment of the upper Chesapeake watershed / Robert D. Mitchell, Warren R. Hofstra, and Edward F. Connor -- Human influences on aquatic resources in the Chesapeake Bay watershed / Victor S. Kennedy and Kent Mountford -- Land use, settlement patterns, and the impact of European agriculture, 1620-1820 / Lorena S. Walsh -- Chesapeake gardens and botanical frontiers / Anne E. Yentsch and James L. Reveal
Genteel erosion : the ecological consequences of agrarian reform in the Chesapeake, 1730-1840 / Carville Earle and Ronald Hoffman -- Farming, disease, and change in the Chesapeake ecosystem / G. Terry Sharrer -- Bird populations of the Chesapeake Bay region : 350 years of change / James F. Lynch -- Commentary, Reading the palimpsest / William Cronon
Summary Annotation With its rich evolutionary record of natural systems and long history of human activity, the Chesapeake Bay provides an excellent example of how a great estuary has responded to the powerful forces of human settlement and environmental change. Discovering the Chesapeake explores all of the long-term changes the Chesapeake has undergone and uncovers the inextricable connections among land, water, and humans in this unusually delicate ecosystem. Edited by a historian, a paleobiologist, and a geologist at the Johns Hopkins University and written for general readers, the book brings together experts in various disciplines to consider the truly complex and interesting environmental history of the Chesapeake and its watershed. Chapters explore a variety of topics, including the natural systems of the watershed and their origins; the effects of human interventions ranging from Indian slash-and-burn practices to changing farming techniques; the introduction of pathogens, both human and botanical; the consequences of the oyster's depletion; the response of bird and animal life to environmental factors introduced by humans; and the influence of the land and water on the people who settled along the Bay. Discovering the Chesapeake, originating in two conferences sponsored by the National Science Foundation, achieves a broad historical and scientific appreciation of the various processes that shaped the Chesapeake region."Today's Chesapeake Bay is only some ten thousand years old. What a different world it was ... when the region was the home of the ground sloth, giant beaver, dire wolf, mastodon, and other megafauna. In the next few thousand years, the ice may form again and the Bay will once more be the valley of the Susquehanna, unless, of course, human-induced changes in climate create some other currently unpredictable condition."--The Introduction
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL
English
Print version record
digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL
Subject Human ecology -- Chesapeake Bay Region (Md. and Va.)
Natural history -- Chesapeake Bay Region (Md. and Va.)
Nature -- Effect of human beings on -- Chesapeake Bay Region (Md. and Va.)
HISTORY -- State & Local.
Human ecology
Natural history
Nature -- Effect of human beings on
United States -- Chesapeake Bay Region
Form Electronic book
Author Curtin, Philip D
Brush, Grace Somers
Fisher, George Wescott, 1937-
ISBN 080187517X
9780801875175
0801864682
9780801864681