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Unit 2.08.04

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Fourth International Poplar Symposium "Meeting the Needs of a Growing World through Poplar and Willow Science: Combining Traditional and Novel Approaches in the Genomic Era" – Proceedings
in Nanjing, China, 5-9 June 2006

Cottonwood and the River of Time: On Trees, Evolution, and Society
Reinhard F. Stettler
(University of Washington Press, 2009, $24.95 paper)

Cottonwood and the River of Time looks at some of the approaches scientists have used to unravel the puzzles of the natural world. With a lifetime of work in forestry and genetics to guide him, Reinhard Stettler examines cottonwoods, but also trees more generally, their evolution, and their relationship to society.

Cottonwoods flourish on the verge, near streams and rivers. Their life cycle is closely attuned to the river's natural dynamics. An ever-changing floodplain keeps generating new opportunities for these pioneers to settle and prepare the ground for new species.  Stettler moves from the floodplain of a West Cascade river, where seedlings compete for a foothold, to mountain slopes, where aspens reveal their genetic differences in colorful displays; from the workshops of Renaissance artists who painted their masterpieces on poplar to labs where geneticists have recently succeeded in sequencing a cottonwood's genome; from the intensively cultivated tree plantations along the Columbia to old-growth forests challenged by global warming.

By offering lessons in how nature works, as well as how science can help us understand it, Cottonwood and the River of Time illuminates connections between the physical, biological, and social worlds. 

For more information, including the table of contents and ordering information, please visit: http://www.washington.edu/uwpress/search/books/STECOT.html  

Professors who wish to consider this book for course adoption can find instructions on how to order an examination copy at: www.washington.edu/uwpress/resources/exam_policy.html