A Guide to the Flora of the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir / Una Guía a la Flora de la Sierra de San Pedro Mártir

About this book

Language: Bilingual in English and Spanish

A Guide to the Flora of the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir / Una Guía a la Flora de la Sierra de San Pedro Mártir is a bilingual book that represents a major botanical contribution to Baja California, Mexico. The book illustrates 235 of the approximately 500 taxa known from the flora of the high Sierra San Pedro Mártir (above 1,800 m elevation) and includes 25 of the 27 taxa endemic to this mountain range. The book includes 6 introductory chapters, three written by additional co-authors, on the history, flora, vegetation and fire ecology of the Sierra with an extensive bibliography and maps of the region and the park.

With a flora of at least 500 species of plants, the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir is a centre of biodiversity in Baja California. This field guide illustrates 236 of these plants, including nearly every endemic of the Sierra, and 9 taxa not previously reported. Detailed photos taken in a field studio allow the user to study the plants and make detailed comparisons in the field. This bilingual volume is a “must-have” for every lover of Baja California, and for every student of the biology of the Californias.

The Sierra de San Pedro Mártir is a giant mass of rock three kilometres high that, with its magnificent forests, separates two completely different universes: Towards the Pacific, the scrubs and chaparrals of the California Floristic Province, and toward the Gulf of California, a rugged desert of sand and stone in Mexico’s driest corner. No other part of the world harbours an environmental gradient as dramatic as this one. Botanical diversity in this range is as spectacular as its landscapes. Using attractive visual keys and a botanical photography of singular beauty, this book puts at your disposal a detailed, pleasant, and easy-to-use field guide that will bring you closer to the plants of the sierra and help you understand its extraordinary importance.

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Biography

Alan Harper, PhD, is a founding member of Terra Peninsular A.C. He has participated in conservation projects in Baja California, and has written on the plants, animals, and wetlands of the state.

Sula Vanderplank, PhD, is the Director of Terrestrial Ecosystem Conservation and Trans-border Partnerships for Pronatura Noroeste. She is also adjunct faculty at the Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education of Ensenada (CICESE) and San Diego State University. Her research focuses on floristics and conservation biology.

Jon Rebman, PhD, is the Mary and Dallas Clark Endowed Chair/Curator of Botany at the San Diego Natural History Museum (SDNHM) since 1996. His research focuses on plant taxonomy and floristics of the southern California and Baja California regions.