Desertification in southern Europe
The threat of desertification appears in southern Europe when periods of prolonged drought are followed by torrential rains falling on steep, unstable terrain. The plant cover of many regions has been degraded since very ancient times. Some are now recovering as a result of emigration and reduce pressure on the land. Tourist and commercial agricultural developments threaten habitat values and water supplies, especially in certain coastal areas. Relatively abundant archeological and literary resources offer excellent opportunities for tracing land use histories and throwing more light on the nature and direction of environmental change. Such longitudinal studies should be integrated with remote sensing and nested sampling on the ground of current landscape conditions and monitoring of current processes.
Flowers of Greece and the Balkans: A Field Guide
Almost 3,000 species of flowering plants are named or described and keyed in this, the third of Oleg Polunin's guides to the flowers of Europe. The author describes the 16 richest plant hunting areas from his own experience travelling in the area. The 461 colour photographs on 64 plates are supplemented by illustrations of characteristic plants in each region, and line drawings of diagnostic features of selected plants.
AMERICAN WESTS: PREFACE TO A GEOGRAPHICAL INTERPRETATION
ABSTRACT Geographers might make a very significant contribution to the interpretation of the American West and of the American nation by a systematic investigation of the West as a set of dynamic regions. The outline offered suggests a focus upon four categories of regional features (population, circulation, political areas, and culture) to be examined as complexes changing through four recognizable stages (nuclear, regional, regional-national, metropolitan-national) from initial European colonization to the present with projections into the future.