The Enchanted Braid: Coming to Terms with Nature on the Coral Reef Book PDF, ePub eBook

Join our eBook service for unlimited books & audiobooks. Get a free 7 day subscription! ↓↓↓↓↓


Book Descriptions:
"There is a word for what Darwin and the rest of us have felt when in the presence of the reef: 'awe.' Confronted with the reef, awe is the most appropriate response. It is probably in our nature. It is also, apparently, in our nature to destroy that which we hold in awe." --from The Enchanted Braid

Of the myriad ecosystems populating the underwater world, coral reefs are by far the most complex. While their stunning beauty has been extolled for centuries, the intricate workings of reef environments remained largely hidden from view. In fact, until the advent of scuba diving just fifty years ago, corals have been among the last natural histories to be extensively explored. The high passion with which scientists have greeted this particular investigation --beginning with the foundational theories of Charles Darwin in 1842--is perhaps unprecedented, but hardly difficult to understand. A phenomenon of both awesome beauty and vital importance, the coral reef is home to the most diverse range of species of any environment on the planet, including fish, shrimps, worms, snails, crabs, sea cucumbers, sea stars, urchins, anemones, and sea squirts.



The crux of reef life, scientists have discovered, lies in nature's most intimate example of symbiosis: the mutually beneficial relationship between the coral polyp and its "tenant," the zooxanthellate algae. Davidson's history begins with this deceptively diminutive hybrid, the engine behind the construction of the limestone-based coral structure. Together, the three elements comprise a unique zoophytalite (animal-plant-mineral) form, or an "enchanted braid."

Aided by an eight-page, full-color photographic insert demonstrating the incredible intricacies of the reef and its unique inhabitants, The Enchanted Braid identifies the approximately 240,000 square miles of coral reef on the planet today as indispensable not only to the livelihood of the oceans but also to humans. The reef is, after all, the "soul of the sea," the spawning ground for tens of thousands of marine species. As sources of food (many islands rely on reefs for all their protein), medicine (corals are used in bone grafts and to fight cancer and leukemia), and detailed insight into the history of climatic conditions, coral reefs are critically important to human life on Earth. However, in a world of oil tanker disasters, global warming, and dwindling natural resources, they are also in grave danger of extinction.

Osha Gray Davidson's urgent clarion call to halt today's man-made degradation of coral reefs is both alarming and persuasive, effectively underscored by the rich historical context of passages from Darwin's captivating diary of his seminal work on reefs 150 years ago. Like the coral reef, The Enchanted Braid is itself a rare hybrid, a graceful combination of aesthetic appreciation, scientific inquiry, and environmental manifesto.

The Enchanted Braid: Coming to Terms with Nature on the Coral Reef by Osha Gray Davidson

From reader reviews:

Diana Rush:

Book is to be different for every grade. Book for children until eventually adult are different content. As you may know that book is very important usually. The book The Enchanted Braid: Coming to Terms with Nature on the Coral Reef has been making you to know about other knowledge and of course you can take more information. It is rather advantages for you. The publication The Enchanted Braid: Coming to Terms with Nature on the Coral Reef is not only giving you far more new information but also for being your friend when you sense bored. You can spend your own personal spend time to read your e-book. Try to make relationship using the book The Enchanted Braid: Coming to Terms with Nature on the Coral Reef. You never truly feel lose out for everything should you read some books.

Freddie Straughter:

Information is provisions for individuals to get better life, information presently can get by anyone at everywhere. The information can be a information or any news even an issue. What people must be consider while those information which is within the former life are difficult to be find than now is taking seriously which one is suitable to believe or which one often the resource are convinced. If you find the unstable resource then you obtain it as your main information you will see huge disadvantage for you. All of those possibilities will not happen in you if you take The Enchanted Braid: Coming to Terms with Nature on the Coral Reef as your daily resource information.

Clare Andrews:

The book untitled The Enchanted Braid: Coming to Terms with Nature on the Coral Reef contain a lot of information on the idea. The writer explains your girlfriend idea with easy approach. The language is very straightforward all the people, so do not worry, you can easy to read the item. The book was written by famous author. The author will take you in the new era of literary works. You can easily read this book because you can continue reading your smart phone, or gadget, so you can read the book with anywhere and anytime. In a situation you wish to purchase the e-book, you can open up their official web-site and order it. Have a nice examine.

Virginia Kang:

Is it an individual who having spare time subsequently spend it whole day through watching television programs or just lying on the bed? Do you need something new? This The Enchanted Braid: Coming to Terms with Nature on the Coral Reef can be the solution, oh how comes? A fresh book you know. You are and so out of date, spending your time by reading in this brand-new era is common not a geek activity. So what these ebooks have than the others?