The Natural World of Western Pomerania - Erstausgabe

This comprehensive volume on the natural world of Western Pomerania has all the characteristics of an in-depth scientific monograph. At the same time - thanks to the splendid photographs and lucid narrative - it provides captivating and instructive reading for all those wishing to gain an insight into the geological, climatic, and historic processes affecting the natural and anthropogenically changed landscapes, vegetation cover, and the world of animals. For those who would like to know more about unique natural resources, landscapes and the natural and cultural qualities of Western Pomerania, as well as for those with an interest in the legal system of and measures for protection of those qualities, the book will be of great benefit too. Professional descriptions of the natural world's living and non-living components, and of the ecological processes responsible for their state and dynamics, are supplemented by numerous maps, charts, graphs, and tables, lists of legally protected areas and objects, and - foremost - by magnificent photographs of plants, animals, fungi, boulders, forests and afforestations, sea-shore dunes and cliffs, meadows and fields, moors and wetlands, lakes and rivers, historical gardens and palaces, and also bird's eye views of a variety of diverse landscapes. The photographs are accompanied by concise captions providing information on biology, threats to the species shown and their ecological role, origins of a plant community, as well as on peculiar details of an ecosystem or a landscape. Thanks to all these features, the book is not only an interesting guide to the biological diversity of Western Pomerania and its most attractive sites and places, but it also provides a popular course on ecology, biogeography, and nature conservation, in a broad sense of each of these disciplines.