Locust

Locust PDF Author: Jeffrey A. Lockwood
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0786738871
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
Throughout the nineteenth century, swarms of locusts regularly swept across the continent, turning noon into dusk, demolishing farm communities, and bringing trains to a halt as the crushed bodies of insects greased the rails. In 1876, the U.S. Congress declared the locust "the single greatest impediment to the settlement of the country." From the Dakotas to Texas, from California to Iowa, the swarms pushed thousands of settlers to the brink of starvation, prompting the federal government to enlist some of the greatest scientific minds of the day and thereby jumpstarting the fledgling science of entomology. Over the next few decades, the Rocky Mountain locust suddenly -- and mysteriously -- vanished. A century later, Jeffrey Lockwood set out to discover why. Unconvinced by the reigning theories, he searched for new evidence in musty books, crumbling maps, and crevassed glaciers, eventually piecing together the elusive answer: A group of early settlers unwittingly destroyed the locust's sanctuaries just as the insect was experiencing a natural population crash. Drawing on historical accounts and modern science, Locust brings to life the cultural, economic, and political forces at work in America in the late-nineteenth century, even as it solves one of the greatest ecological mysteries of our time.

Locust

Locust PDF Author: Jeffrey A. Lockwood
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0786738871
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 322

Get Book Here

Book Description
Throughout the nineteenth century, swarms of locusts regularly swept across the continent, turning noon into dusk, demolishing farm communities, and bringing trains to a halt as the crushed bodies of insects greased the rails. In 1876, the U.S. Congress declared the locust "the single greatest impediment to the settlement of the country." From the Dakotas to Texas, from California to Iowa, the swarms pushed thousands of settlers to the brink of starvation, prompting the federal government to enlist some of the greatest scientific minds of the day and thereby jumpstarting the fledgling science of entomology. Over the next few decades, the Rocky Mountain locust suddenly -- and mysteriously -- vanished. A century later, Jeffrey Lockwood set out to discover why. Unconvinced by the reigning theories, he searched for new evidence in musty books, crumbling maps, and crevassed glaciers, eventually piecing together the elusive answer: A group of early settlers unwittingly destroyed the locust's sanctuaries just as the insect was experiencing a natural population crash. Drawing on historical accounts and modern science, Locust brings to life the cultural, economic, and political forces at work in America in the late-nineteenth century, even as it solves one of the greatest ecological mysteries of our time.

On the Banks of Plum Creek

On the Banks of Plum Creek PDF Author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 0060885408
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
Laura and her family move to Minnesota where they live in a dugout until a new house is built and face misfortunes caused by flood, blizzard, and grasshoppers.

Rocky Mountain Locust

Rocky Mountain Locust PDF Author: M. I. Lastman
Publisher: FriesenPress
ISBN: 146024799X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
An Environmental Novel Elderly Jim Easom finds himself alone, having inexplicably survived a devastating pandemic. He sets out on an odyssey across the continent from his home in now-deserted Southern Ontario hoping to reach the Northwest Territories, to find other survivors, and to build a new home. He adopts just two: a sheltie puppy, and a thirteen-year-old girl. They, like him, have suffered much, with more sorrow to come. Together they make their way, trying to adapt to the shattering new world reality. Their story provides the framework for a critical analysis of the man-made crisis of the biosphere.

Report of the United States Entomological Commission

Report of the United States Entomological Commission PDF Author: United States Entomological Commission
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Insects
Languages : en
Pages : 590

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Book Description


The Locust Plague in the United States

The Locust Plague in the United States PDF Author: Charles Valentine Riley
Publisher: Chicago : Rand, McNally
ISBN:
Category : Locusts
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description


The Rocky Mountain Locust

The Rocky Mountain Locust PDF Author: Charles Valentine Riley
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 68

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Book Description


The Rocky Mountain Locust

The Rocky Mountain Locust PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


Pink Mountain on Locust Island

Pink Mountain on Locust Island PDF Author: Jamie Marina Lau
Publisher: Coffee House Press
ISBN: 1566896002
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 171

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Book Description
Fifteen-year-old Monk drifts through a monotonous existence in a grimy Chinatown apartment with her “grumpy brown couch” of a dad, until she meets high school senior Santa Coy ([email protected]). For a moment, it looks like he might be her boyfriend. But when Monk's dad becomes obsessed with Santa Coy's artwork, Monk finds herself shunted to the sidelines as her father and the object of her affections begin to hatch a scheme of their own. To keep up, Monk must navigate a combustible cocktail of odd assignments, peculiar places, and murky underworld connections. In Jamie Marina Lau's debut novel, shortlisted for Australia's prestigious Stella Prize when she was nineteen years old, hazily surreal vignettes conjure a multifaceted world of philosophical angst and lackadaisical violence.

Giants in the Earth

Giants in the Earth PDF Author: Ole Edvart Rølvaag
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Dakota Territory
Languages : en
Pages : 506

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Book Description
A narrative of pioneer hardship and heroism on the boundless Dakota prairie, as a Norwegian-American immigrant family passed through Ellis Island and worked to eke out a living in America's midwest.

Charles Valentine Riley

Charles Valentine Riley PDF Author: W. Conner Sorensen
Publisher: University Alabama Press
ISBN: 0817320091
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 457

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Book Description
Riley propelled entomology from a collector’s parlor hobby of the nineteenth century to the serious study of insects in the Modern Age This definitive biography is the first full account of a fascinating American scientist whose leadership created the modern science of entomology that recognizes both the essential role of insects in natural systems and their challenge to the agricultural food supply that sustains humankind. Charles Valentine Riley: Founder of Modern Entomology tells the story of how Riley (1843–1895), a young British immigrant to America—with classical schooling, only a smattering of natural history knowledge, and with talent in art and writing but no formal training in science—came to play a key role in the reorientation of entomology from the collection and arrangement of specimens to a scientific approach to insect evolution, diversity, ecology, and applied management of insect pests. Drawing on Riley’s personal diaries, family records, correspondence, and publications, the authors trace Riley’s career as farm laborer, Chicago journalist, Missouri State Entomologist, chief federal entomologist, founder of the National Insect Collection, and initiator of the professional organization that became the Entomological Society of America. Also examined in detail are his spectacular campaigns against the Rocky Mountain Locust that stalled western migration in the 1870s, the Grape Phylloxera that threatened French vineyards in the 1870s and 80s, the Cotton Worm that devastated southern cotton fields after the Civil War, and the Cottony Cushion Scale that threatened the California citrus industry in the 1880s. The latter was defeated through importation of the Vedalia Beetle from Australia, the spectacular first example of biological control of an invasive insect pest by its introduced natural enemy. A striking figure in appearance and deed, Riley combined scientific, literary, artistic, and managerial skills that enabled him to influence every aspect of entomology. A correspondent of Darwin and one of his most vocal American advocates, he discovered the famous example of mimicry of the Monarch butterfly by the Viceroy, and described the intricate coevolution of yucca moths and yuccas, a complex system that fascinates evolutionary scientists to this day. Whether applying evolutionary theory to pest control, promoting an American silk industry, developing improved spray technologies, or promoting applied entomology in state and federal government and to the public, Riley was the central figure in the formative years of the entomology profession. In addition to showcasing his own renderings of the insects he investigated, this comprehensive account provides fresh insight into the personal and public life of an ingenious, colorful, and controversial scientist, who aimed to discover, understand, and outsmart the insects.