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Loading... The Incredible Journey of Plants| 122 | 3 | 224,750 | 
(3.87) | 5 | "In this richly illustrated volume, a leading neurobiologist presents fascinating stories of plant migration that reveal unexpected connections between nature and culture. When we talk about migrations, we should study plants to understand that these phenomena are unstoppable. In the many different ways plants move, we can see the incessant action and drive to spread life that has led plants to colonize every possible environment on earth. The history of this relentless expansion is unknown to most people, but we can begin our exploration with these surprising tales, engagingly told by Stefano Mancuso. Generation after generation, using spores, seeds, or any other means available, plants move in the world to conquer new spaces. They release huge quantities of spores that can be transported thousands of miles. The number and variety of tools through which seeds spread is astonishing: we have seeds dispersed by wind, by rolling on the ground, by animals, by water, or by a simple fall from the plant, which can happen thanks to propulsive mechanisms, the swaying of the mother plant, the drying of the fruit, and much more. In this accessible, absorbing overview, Mancuso considers how plants convince animals to transport them around the world, and how some plants need particular animals to spread; how they have been able to grow in places so inaccessible and inhospitable as to remain isolated; how they resisted the atomic bomb and the Chernobyl disaster; how they are able to bring life to sterile islands; how they can travel through the ages, as they sail around the world"--… (more) |
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Information from the Italian Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language. Ciò che conosciamo delle piante è molto poco e, spesso, questo poco è sbagliato. Siamo convinti che le piante non siano in grado di percepire l'ambiente che le circonda mentre la realtà è che, al contrario, sono più sensibili degli animali. Siamo sicuri che si tratti di un mondo silenzioso, privo della capacità di comunicare e, invece, le piante sono grandi comunicatrici. Siamo certi che non intrattengano nessun tipo di relazione sociale e, viceversa, sono organismi prettamente sociali. Siamo, soprattutto, certissimi che le piante siano immobili. Su questo siamo irremovibili. Le piante non si muovono, dopotutto basta guardarle. La grande differenza fra gli organismi animali (ossia animati, dotati di movimento) e i vegetali non sta proprio in questo? Ebbene, anche in questo caso sbagliamo: le piante non sono affatto immobili. Si muovono molto, ma con tempi più lunghi. Quello che le piante non possono fare non è muoversi, ma ‘spostarsi’, almeno nel corso della loro vita. … di generazione in generazione sono in grado di conquistare le terre più lontane, le aree più impervie e le regioni meno ospitali per la vita, con una caparbietà e capacità di adattamento che tante volte mi sono trovato ad invidiare.  Ogni specie vivente fa parte di una rete di relazioni di cui sappiamo molto poco. Per questo ogni organismo vivente va protetto. La vita è merce rara nell'universo. | |
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▾References References to this work on external resources.  Wikipedia in English
None ▾Book descriptions "In this richly illustrated volume, a leading neurobiologist presents fascinating stories of plant migration that reveal unexpected connections between nature and culture. When we talk about migrations, we should study plants to understand that these phenomena are unstoppable. In the many different ways plants move, we can see the incessant action and drive to spread life that has led plants to colonize every possible environment on earth. The history of this relentless expansion is unknown to most people, but we can begin our exploration with these surprising tales, engagingly told by Stefano Mancuso. Generation after generation, using spores, seeds, or any other means available, plants move in the world to conquer new spaces. They release huge quantities of spores that can be transported thousands of miles. The number and variety of tools through which seeds spread is astonishing: we have seeds dispersed by wind, by rolling on the ground, by animals, by water, or by a simple fall from the plant, which can happen thanks to propulsive mechanisms, the swaying of the mother plant, the drying of the fruit, and much more. In this accessible, absorbing overview, Mancuso considers how plants convince animals to transport them around the world, and how some plants need particular animals to spread; how they have been able to grow in places so inaccessible and inhospitable as to remain isolated; how they resisted the atomic bomb and the Chernobyl disaster; how they are able to bring life to sterile islands; how they can travel through the ages, as they sail around the world"-- ▾Library descriptions No library descriptions found. ▾LibraryThing members' description |
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The author is a plant biologist, from Italy, and the book is translated from Italian. His theme is the survivability and dispersion of plants into every possible environment. The book is composed of short chapters each describing a different history or plant that the author has met. Hibakujumoku is the name the Japanese give trees and plants that survived the Hiroshima bomb, and the area around Chernobyl is now a forest preserve, with the abandoned town of Pripyat now overrun by plants. The water hyacinth is considered the most invasive species in the world, and it now chokes many rivers in the southern US. A bill was put before Congress in 1910 to import hippopotami to eat the plant. Plants grown from seeds stored for hundreds of years, or from seeds frozen for thousands. One section has stories of single trees in inhospitable environments, like the spruce on Campbell Island south of New Zealand, or the acacia in the middle of the Sahara. The book is brief, nicely bound and trimmed, illustrated by pointless abstract watercolors of invented maps (watercolors of the plants described would have been far better). I enjoyed it, and I am trying to suggest to my gardener wife that she read it. (