How can cicadas survive--and thrive--at temperatures pushing 115 F? Do hummingbirds know what they're up against before they migrate over the Gulf of Mexico? Why do some trees stop growing taller even when three months of warm weather remain? With awe and unmatched expertise, Bernd Heinrich's Summer World never stops exploring the beautifully complex interactions of animals and plants with nature, giving extraordinary depth to the relationships between habitat and the warming of the earth.
With snow melting and spring approaching, the animal kingdom awakens. In Summer World, Bernd Heinrich brings students an up-close and personal view of that awakening and rebirth. Almost all life on the surface of the earth derives its energy from the sun, either directly through photosynthesis or indirectly by consuming plants, making summer the time when nature is most active-feeding, fighting, mating, and nesting. From frogs, wasps, and caterpillars to hummingbirds and woodpeckers, Heinrich explores these animals' adaptations for surviving and procreating during the short window of summer, and he delights in the seemingly infinite feats of animal inventiveness he discovers there.--Amy Tan, bestselling author of The Bonesetter's Daughter and The Joy Luck Club
With snow melting and spring approaching, the animal kingdom awakens. In Summer World, Bernd Heinrich brings students an up-close and personal view of that awakening and rebirth. Almost all life on the surface of the earth derives its energy from the sun, either directly through photosynthesis or indirectly by consuming plants, making summer the time when nature is most active-feeding, fighting, mating, and nesting. From frogs, wasps, and caterpillars to hummingbirds and woodpeckers, Heinrich explores these animals' adaptations for surviving and procreating during the short window of summer, and he delights in the seemingly infinite feats of animal inventiveness he discovers there.--Amy Tan, bestselling author of The Bonesetter's Daughter and The Joy Luck Club
With snow melting and spring approaching, the animal kingdom awakens. In Summer World, Bernd Heinrich brings students an up-close and personal view of that awakening and rebirth. Almost all life on the surface of the earth derives its energy from the sun, either directly through photosynthesis or indirectly by consuming plants, making summer the time when nature is most active-feeding, fighting, mating, and nesting. From frogs, wasps, and caterpi