Right Plant, Right Place: Biogeography and Plant Selection

Abstract

Here, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, we find ourselves in an unprecedented situation. More than seven billion humans dominate the planet in ways we never have before. Our ever-expanding megalopolises creep out into landscapes cut over for timber, mined for fuel, bisected by roads, grazed by livestock, drained and plowed for farming, put back to cover, abandoned and regrown, parceled for houses, or opened for recreation. Even the most pristine wilderness areas are subject to our legislated forbearance. The rain that falls on them is enriched and polluted by our activities elsewhere, and the climate they live under is shifting by our hand.