MBS Books and Reports

A checklist of the bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) of Minnesota (2023). Minnesota's unique geography—deciduous forests, northern boreal forests, and western tallgrass prairie—has led to a diverse and unique bee fauna. MBS staff with peers at the University of Minnesota, Washington State University (Pullman), National University of Singapore, the Conservation Research Institute and the National Wildlife Foundation, have compiled this game-changing monograph detailing Minnesota's astonishing native bee diversity: a total of 508 species in 45 genera!

Abstract

Sedges and Rushes of Minnesota (2018). Written by MBS botanist Welby Smith with photography by Richard Haug, this is the first comprehensive, fully illustrated field guide to Minnesota’s nearly 250 species of sedges and rushes. With its finely detailed photographs and descriptions, Sedges and Rushes of Minnesota enables quick and reliable identification of these often difficult-to-distinguish species. As an in-depth introduction or a handy field guide, the book is the first complete, comprehensive reference on these important plants of Minnesota, an invaluable resource for specialists, naturalists, and wild plant lovers.

Purchase from University of Minnesota Press 

Minnesota's Bryophytes (2014) Bryologist Joannes A. Janssens' Noteworthy Mosses & Liverworts of Minnesota Part I: Illustrated Field Keys, Noteworthy Mosses & Liverworts of Minnesota Part II: Species Fact Sheets, Field Guide to Mosses & Liverwort of Minnesota's Calcareous Fens, and Illustrated Glossary to the Field Guides of the Mosses & Liverworts of Minnesota feature highly-detailed photographs, technical illustrations, maps of known ranges, habitat descriptions, aids to identification, and comparisons to similar taxa for nearly 100 of Minnesota's moss and liverwort species. The guides are available in web-delivered pdf format for personal viewing and printing. 
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Amphibians and Reptiles Minnesota (2014). Amateurs and professionals alike will find this book a comprehensive source and a user-friendly guide, invaluable for discovering, identifying, and learning about any of Minnesota's fifty-three amphibian and reptile species from the common American Toad to the little seen Western Ratsnake. This handbook takes readers through the steps for studying these species in the field.

Purchase from University of Minnesota Press 

Native Orchids of Minnesota (2012), written by MBS botanist Welby Smith, is an updated and revised edition of the only comprehensive guide to Minnesota orchids, with four new species, two new varieties, new maps, and new illustrations. 
Though often considered exotic and rare, orchids can be found across climates and continents–and Minnesota is no exception, with forty-nine wild orchids. Native Orchids of Minnesota features detailed drawings and color photographs that make reliable identification practical even for beginners–a guide and a resource for the serious naturalist, the weekend botanist, and the connoisseur of natural beauty.

Purchase from University of Minnesota Press 

Native Orchids of MN (272 kb) \

Trees and Shrubs of Minnesota (2008), written by MBS botanist Welby Smith, provides authoritative, accessible, and up-to-date information on the state's native and naturalized woody plant species. This fully illustrated book features more than one thousand color photographs of fruit, flowers, bark, and leaves for every species, as well as more than one hundred illustrations by botanical artist Vera Ming Wong; more than five hundred distribution maps, including state and North American range maps; and complete descriptions of each species’ habitat, natural history, and ecology. The book is written for everyone from scientists, to teachers, to people interested in horticulture and gardening.

Purchase from University of Minnesota Press 

Red Lake Peatlands/Patterned Peatlands (poster, 2008) presents a brief overview of the ecology and significance of Minnesota's northern patterned peatlands. Minnesota's northern peatlands are one of the state's most extensive ecosystems and one of the most unusual landscapes in the United States. 
Available online (9 mb)

Native Plant Communities and Rare Species of the Minnesota River Valley Counties (2007) provides information on the native plant communities and rare species present in the counties along the Minnesota River from its origin in western Minnesota to its confluence with the Mississippi. Many of the most important areas of native habitat in south-central and southwestern Minnesota are within the Minnesota valley, including bluff prairies, fens, floodplain forests, and rock outcrop communities. This report and associated maps are designed for resource managers, local units of government, and citizens interested in land-use planning along the Minnesota River corridor. 
Available online (34 mb)

An Evaluation of the Ecological Significance of the Headwaters Site (2007) by MBS plant ecologists Chel Anderson and Ethan Perry describes the rare natural features of the Headwaters Site in Lake and St. Louis counties and summarizes the conservation actions most relevant for maintaining these features. The 38,000-acre Headwaters Site is at the origin of four rivers, including the St. Louis, and contains some of the most important peatlands and unfragmented upland forest areas in northeastern Minnesota. 
Available online

A Handbook for Collecting Vegetation Plot Data in Minnesota: The Releve Method  (2007) describes the current practices of DNR plant ecologists for collection of vegetation plot data using the releve method. Releves have been widely used in Europe for vegetation description and classification and increasingly are being adopted for vegetation study in North America. The DNR maintains a database containing electronic versions of releves and other very similar kinds of vegetation plot data collected across Minnesota beginning in the 1960s. This handbook supplants the first handbook describing the methods DNR plant ecologists use for collecting releve plot data, A Handbook for Collecting Releve Data in Minnesota, which was compiled by J. C. Almendinger in 1987. 
Booklet Version Formatted to print double-sided, horizontally on 8.5" x 11" paper, fold in half, and staple along the spine to make a 5.5" x 8.5" booklet. 
Single-Page Version Formatted for electronic viewing, one page per sheet. 
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An Evaluation of the Ecological Significance of Ninemile Lakes & Ridges Area (2006) by MBS plant ecologist Michael Lee describes the rare natural features of the Ninemile Lakes and Ridges Area in Lake County and summarizes the conservation actions most relevant for maintaining these features. The scenic and rugged 10,000-acre Ninemile Lakes and Ridges Area has undeveloped lakes, numerous rare plants, and large blocks of old-growth forest. 
Available online

Field Guide to the Native Plant Communities of Minnesota: The Prairie Parkland and Tallgrass Aspen Parklands Provinces (2005) is part of a three-volume series intended to promote better understanding of the patterns and processes that characterize and influence Minnesota’s vegetation. This field guide contains keys for the identification of native plant communities in the Prairie Parkland and Tallgrass Aspen Parklands provinces of northwestern Minnesota, and fact sheets with information on community composition and structure, landscape setting, soils, and natural history. Summaries of ecological systems highlight the ecological processes that shape the vegetation of the region. The field guide is intended for anyone interested in the variety and ecology of Minnesota’s native vegetation. The hierarchical construction of the plant community classification and its linkage to ecological map units are specifically designed to meet the needs of land managers, field surveyors, and researchers working at a variety of scales. 
Purchase from University of Minnesota Bookstore

Field Guide to the Native Plant Communities of Minnesota: The Eastern Broadleaf Forest Province (2005) is part of a three-volume series intended to promote better understanding of the patterns and processes that characterize and influence Minnesota’s vegetation. This field guide contains keys for the identification of native plant communities in the Eastern Broadleaf Forest Province of central and southeastern Minnesota, and fact sheets with information on community composition and structure, landscape setting, soils, and natural history. Summaries of ecological systems highlight the ecological processes that shape the vegetation of the region. The field guide is intended for anyone interested in the variety and ecology of Minnesota’s native vegetation. The hierarchical construction of the plant community classification and its linkage to ecological map units are specifically designed to meet the needs of land managers, field surveyors, and researchers working at a variety of scales. 
Purchase from University of Minnesota Bookstore

Field Guide to the Native Plant Communities of Minnesota: The Laurentian Mixed Forest Province (2003) is part of a three-volume series intended to promote better understanding of the patterns and processes that characterize and influence Minnesota’s vegetation. This field guide contains keys for the identification of native plant communities in the Laurentian Mixed Forest Province of northern Minnesota, and fact sheets with information on community composition and structure, landscape setting, soils, and natural history. Summaries of ecological systems highlight the ecological processes that shape the vegetation of the region. The field guide is intended for anyone interested in the variety and ecology of Minnesota’s native vegetation. The hierarchical construction of the plant community classification and its linkage to ecological map units are specifically designed to meet the needs of land managers, field surveyors, and researchers working at a variety of scales. 
Purchase from University of Minnesota Bookstore

Minnesota's Bearing Tree Database (1996) describes the DNR's database of the bearing-tree records collected in Minnesota by public land surveyors. This report also provides information on the use of these data for study of the vegetation present in Minnesota at the time of the Public Land Surveys (1847–1908). 23 pg. booklet. 
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Minnesota's St. Croix River Valley and Anoka Sandplain: a Guide to Native Habitats (1995) by MBS plant ecologists Daniel Wovcha and Barbara Delaney and mammalogist Gerda Nordquist provides detailed accounts of the native plant communities in the St. Croix River Valley and Anoka Sandplain region of east-central Minnesota, including descriptive text, photographs, line drawings, distribution maps, and lists of characteristic plants and animals. The book also presents a detailed history of the landscape of the region from the glacial age to the present, and a guide to 35 sites where readers can go to explore the region’s native habitats. (Note: this book is out of print, but possibly available in local libraries or for purchase through the University of Minnesota Press) 
OUT OF PRINT

Minnesota's Native Vegetation: A Key to Natural Communities, Version 1.5 (1993) describes the plant community classification used by the Minnesota Biological Survey and the DNR’s Natural Heritage Program from ca. 1990 to 2003. This classification is now obsolete but the publication describing it is made available here for archival purposes. For information on the native plant community classification currently used by the DNR, see the three volumes above in the series Field Guides to the Native Plant Communities of Minnesota. 
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Natural Vegetation of Minnesota at the Time of the Public Land Survey 1847-1907 (1988) is a brief overview of the major vegetation types present in Minnesota’s prairie, deciduous forest, and conifer forest regions at the time of the Public Land Surveys from the mid-1800s to early 1900s. This brochure includes a simplified version of Francis J. Marschner’s map of Minnesota’s vegetation based on Public Land Survey records. 
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