Southern Wonder
Southern Wonder: Alabama’s Surprising Biodiversity (2013, University of Alabama Press). Written for the layperson, the book interweaves the disciplines of ecology, evolution, and geology to explain why Alabama is home to more species than any state east of the Mississippi River. Southern Wonder’s foreword was written by Alabama native and distinguished scientist, Dr. Edward O. Wilson. Southern Wonder won the Southern Environmental Law Center’s 2014 Phil Reed Environmental Writing Award, and the Southeastern Library Association’s 2013 Overall Excellence: Hard Cover Award.
origins of southern wonder
When I moved to Alabama in 2002 to take a job as an assistant professor at Birmingham-Southern College, I was embarrassingly ignorant about the state’s incredible beauty and fascinating flora and fauna. That same year… Read the rest of the story here.
sample readings
Read Foreword by E. O. Wilson by E.O. Wilson and Chapter 1.
purchasing
You can purchase Southern Wonder from the University of Alabama Press or from Amazon.
Creeks to Coast
Creeks to Coast: Restoring the Rivers at the Heart of America’s Freshwater Biodiversity (provisional title) explores the environmental history and future of the rivers of the southeastern US. These rivers are the epicenter of North American freshwater biodiversity and are the top global hotspot for several aquatic taxa including mussels, turtles, snails, crayfish, and temperate zone fish. Southeastern rivers also play a prominent role in the region’s history, culture, and economy.
However, after centuries of industrialization, southeastern rivers have lost much of their biodiversity and their capacity to provide essential and valuable ecosystem services. And now, climate change is causing southeastern streams to carry less water. This decline in the region’s water supply threatens to heighten the tension between conserving river water for biodiversity and using it for power production, irrigation, drinking water, navigation, and waste disposal.
Written as narrative nonfiction for those who care about the nature and environmental security of the Southeast, Creeks to Coast is a synthesis of ecology, conservation biology, and policy. The book offers an understanding of the problems of managing southeastern rivers, and how these problems affect people. Readers will also discover solutions for managing rivers in ways that simultaneously meet the needs of humanity and biodiversity. With Americans increasingly—and rightfully—worried about climate change and the accelerating extinction crisis, the key messages of Creeks to Coast couldn’t be timelier.
Anticipated publication: Fall 2022.