Take What Should A Clever Moose Eat?: Natural History, Ecology, And The North Woods Authored By John Pastor Expressed As E-Text

is a wonderful book, As a fan of Loren Eiseley, John McPhee, and Gerald Durrell, I found this a delightful and informative guide to a part of North America I have known and loved all my life.
It's not just the moose Pastor guides us through the interdependence of so many parts of this complex and resilient ecosystem, I'm looking forward to his next book! Thirty years of experience and fond rambling around the North American woods have gone into John Pastor's book, which engages us by posing seemingly simple queries like the title one, then demonstrates that the answers are more complex.
Research carried out by ecology students and others, compared with notes from naturalists and explorers centuries ago, are building a jigsaw puzzle picture into which we are still slotting pieces.
Like, the beavers built dams which created ponds that led to meadows after the beavers were hunted, Why don't the trees reinvade the meadows A student devised ingenious ways to learn about voles which frequented the meadows and woods, and how this played a part in where the trees could live.
It's not always pretty.

Ecology begins with the lie of the land we see the soils and shapes from postglaciation, then move on to how the trees arrived wind direction plays a part what lives in the woods and their contribution to the world.
Different birds live at different heights in the tall trees, specialising and not intruding on one another's niche habitats, Forest fires change everything or do they Some trees thrive after a fire, barely scorched, while others use the heat to open seeds or sprout seedlings in burned patches.
Indeed, as conifer needles are so tough and rot so slowly, fire may be the main route by which nutrients are recycled, That moose is a great recycler too, browsing and dropping dung, But if he eats everything in sight the young trees and low branches will die and he'll

have no food next time he comes this way, Better to nibble and move,

As an ecologist myself I thoroughly enjoyed the whole journey through the woods, If you want to read specifically about animals, you can skip to those chapters, or if you are interested in learning about experiments, studies and onground research, you can go first to the chapters after the geology.
The level of reading best suits someone with nature knowledge but anyone from midteens could get a lot out of it and would be inspired to study natural sciences.
Someone already working in this field will be fascinated and can add to their store of knowledge, As the author tells us, there is a lot more to learn, and the answers are always more complex than we expected,
Much too scientific for me, As much as the title interested me, I found the book too cerebral and ultimately boring, Not enough to interest me in returning each day to read until the end, Oh, this was far more technical than I'd thought it would be, This is an entire ecological look at the North Woods and it's whole history, I browsed the book, more than read it cover to cover, I am sure there is someone out there who will thrill to the story, it is very well researched and concise, . . but for myself, too much, Not saying it isn't fascinating it is, And I did enjoy what I read, but , too much for me, I'll continue to browse it,

I received a Kindle ARC from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review, I enjoy books about biology and ecobiology greatly, A buzz in the meadows, the name of the shrewd, . . all interesting tales that teach you a lot about nature and the world we live in,

This book is more informative than either, and more wast in scope, Perhaps too informative and too vast, for it reads more like an university testbook than a layperson book, which is a pity because it is full of interesting tidbits and information.


In short, great if you like the genre, . . but not so much if you prefer a lighter read, How long should a leaf live When should blueberries ripen And what should a clever moose eat Questions like these may seem simple or downright strangeyet they form the backbone of natural history, a discipline that fostered some of our most important scientific theories, from natural selection to glaciation.
Through careful, patient observations of the organisms that live in an area, their distributions, and how they interact with other species, we gain a more complete picture of the world around us, and our place in it.


In What Should a Clever Moose Eat, John Pastor explores the natural history of the North Woods, an immense and complex forest that stretches from the western shore of Lake Superior to the far coast of Newfoundland.
The North Woods is one of the most ecologically and geologically interesting places on the planet, with a host of natural history questions arising from each spruce or sugar maple.
From the geological history of the region to the shapes of leaves and the relationship between aspens, caterpillars, and predators, Pastor delves into a captivating range of topics as diverse as the North Woods themselves.
Through his meticulous observations of the natural world, scientists and nonscientists alike learn to ask natural history questions and form their own theories, gaining a greater understanding of and love for the North Woodsand other natural places precious to them.


In the tradition of Charles Darwin and Henry David Thoreau, John Pastor is a joyful observer of nature who makes sharp connections and moves deftly from observation to theory.
Take a walk in John Pastor's North Woodsyou'll come away with a new appreciation for details, for the game trails, beaver ponds, and patterns of growth around you, and won't look at the natural world in the same way again.
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