The second part of the book is the one that could send you to the airport. It describes trends in the biological resources of 14 regions of the country, with an additional chapter on our marine ecosystems. Each section provides a physical description of the region and outlines historical and current land use. It then describes the principle ecosystems to be found, giving their status and trends. Next it does the same for fishes, reptiles and amphibians, birds, mammals and, sometimes, invertebrates.
Plants tend to be discussed in the ecosystem write-ups.
In the section on the Southeast, there is a sidebar on the southern tip of Texas, where the Rio Grande meets the Gulf of Mexico. A habitat I'd never heard of, Tamaulipan brushland, hangs on by a thread there. It comes in several varieties, but all consist of dense, woody and usually thorny vegetation, often interlaced with streams. Not very interesting or inviting, until you read that more than 600 vertebrate and 1,100 plant species are found there. The vertebrates include two rare cats, the jaguarundi and the ocelot.