8
Book Reviews Re-Visioning Conservation Rewilding North America. A Vi- sion for Conservation in the 21st Century. Foreman, D. 2004. Island Press, Washington, D.C. 295 pp. $50.00 (hardcover). ISBN 1-55963- 060-4. $25.00 (paperback). ISBN 1- 55963-061-2. The biggest challenge conserva- tion biologists face is persuading oth- ers how important conservation is. We must first convince them that our current extinction crisis is the most important scientific discovery of the twentieth century. We must next con- vince them that our science gives us the knowledge to halt the mass ex- tinction via selecting, designing, and establishing new protected areas and active restoration. Finally, we must present a clear vision and agenda for twenty-first-century conservation that can stir citizens to vigorously support conservation. In Rewilding Dave Foreman plainly lays out these points (pp. 11, 110, and 177) as the organization for this book. The griz- zly bear tracks on its cover invite closer examination and serve as a synecdoche for its contents. Foreman first relates the “Bad News,” exploring the full depth, na- ture, and implications of our current extinction crisis. This sober, clear- eyed analysis of our current predica- ment distinguishes three waves of ex- tinction with distinct dynamics. We first step back into the Pleistocene to explore just how and when human expansion out of Africa doomed large animals almost everywhere else. Dis- ease and climate may have played supporting roles, but the evidence overwhelmingly supports Paul Mar- tin’s overkill hypothesis. Foreman sees the spread of Europeans along with their agriculture, silviculture, and fishing as the second wave and globalization and soaring human pop- ulations that have accelerated extinc- tions since 1970 as the third wave. The particular causes of extinction (“wounds”) are then explored in con- vincing detail. The points are clear: extinction is not a recent problem, and we cannot address the complex causes of today’s extinctions with simple remedies. Rewilding treats these topics in depth. The second part of Rewilding is devoted to conservation biology— how the field developed and how it informs current efforts to conserve. Readers learn of extinction dynamics, metapopulation theory, shifting dis- turbance regimes, and the relevance of island biogeography. Historical ap- proaches for selecting and design- ing protected areas are reviewed as a prelude for considering how these can be updated to address contempo- rary concerns for maintaining biodi- versity. Foreman has done his home- work here. We learn of prescient efforts by Victor Shelford and the Ecological Society of America in the 1920s and 1930s to establish a func- tional network of preserves. Foreman also emphasizes that John Muir, Aldo Leopold, Olaus Murie, and Bob Mar- shall all had training as scientists. Eco- logical concerns therefore have long been a basis for protecting wilder- ness (in contrast to some revisionist history). Foreman relates this history both for its own sake and to introduce the Wildlands Project, with its em- phasis on protecting large connected areas with intact populations of car- nivores and ecological processes. These discussions lead to a funda- mental point that distinguishes the vi- sion related in Rewilding from much other recent work in conservation biology. Whereas others have effec- tively championed the importance of large areas and corridors, Fore- man strongly emphasizes the impor- tance of large carnivores for sustain- ing functional, diverse ecosystems. Here, he draws on the recent work of John Terborgh, Brian Miller, Jim Estes, William Ripple, and others to argue that top-down trophic cascades are not merely an ecological curiosity but fundamental for sustaining eco- logical integrity. By controlling the abundance of mesopredators and un- gulates, which are prone to irrupt in abundance, predators play keystone roles in many ecosystems. As Rip- ple and Beschta (2004) point out, these studies support Leopold’s clas- sic arguments on the ecological im- portance of predators. The obvious implication here is that restoring only token populations of predators in a few areas will not suffice to serve broad conservation goals. Predators also gain strategic importance. In- stead of serving just as charismatic umbrella species (or colorful orna- ments to adorn the logos of conser- vation organizations), predators be- come crucial components for main- taining ecosystem integrity. The concluding section (“Taking Action”) focuses on solutions. Just how might we design a wilderness network that could truly function to sustain plant and animal diversity in- definitely? Drawing on ideas from Reed Noss, Michael Soul´ e, and oth- ers, Rewilding emphasizes the three Cs: cores, connectivity, and carni- vores. This discussion is mostly con- ceptual but is grounded in enough specific examples to put empirical 587 Conservation Biology, Volume 20, No. 2, 587–594 C 2006 Society for Conservation Biology DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2006.00391.x

Ecological Consequences of Habitat Loss from a Population and Landscape Perspective

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Page 1: Ecological Consequences of Habitat Loss from a Population and Landscape Perspective

Book Reviews

Re-Visioning Conservation

Rewilding North America. A Vi-

sion for Conservation in the 21st

Century. Foreman, D. 2004. IslandPress, Washington, D.C. 295 pp.$50.00 (hardcover). ISBN 1-55963-060-4. $25.00 (paperback). ISBN 1-55963-061-2.

The biggest challenge conserva-tion biologists face is persuading oth-ers how important conservation is.We must first convince them that ourcurrent extinction crisis is the mostimportant scientific discovery of thetwentieth century. We must next con-vince them that our science gives usthe knowledge to halt the mass ex-tinction via selecting, designing, andestablishing new protected areas andactive restoration. Finally, we mustpresent a clear vision and agendafor twenty-first-century conservationthat can stir citizens to vigorouslysupport conservation. In RewildingDave Foreman plainly lays out thesepoints (pp. 11, 110, and 177) as theorganization for this book. The griz-zly bear tracks on its cover invitecloser examination and serve as asynecdoche for its contents.

Foreman first relates the “BadNews,” exploring the full depth, na-ture, and implications of our currentextinction crisis. This sober, clear-eyed analysis of our current predica-ment distinguishes three waves of ex-tinction with distinct dynamics. Wefirst step back into the Pleistocene toexplore just how and when humanexpansion out of Africa doomed largeanimals almost everywhere else. Dis-ease and climate may have playedsupporting roles, but the evidenceoverwhelmingly supports Paul Mar-tin’s overkill hypothesis. Foremansees the spread of Europeans along

with their agriculture, silviculture,and fishing as the second wave andglobalization and soaring human pop-ulations that have accelerated extinc-tions since 1970 as the third wave.The particular causes of extinction(“wounds”) are then explored in con-vincing detail. The points are clear:extinction is not a recent problem,and we cannot address the complexcauses of today’s extinctions withsimple remedies. Rewilding treatsthese topics in depth.

The second part of Rewilding isdevoted to conservation biology—how the field developed and how itinforms current efforts to conserve.Readers learn of extinction dynamics,metapopulation theory, shifting dis-turbance regimes, and the relevanceof island biogeography. Historical ap-proaches for selecting and design-ing protected areas are reviewed asa prelude for considering how thesecan be updated to address contempo-rary concerns for maintaining biodi-versity. Foreman has done his home-work here. We learn of prescientefforts by Victor Shelford and theEcological Society of America in the1920s and 1930s to establish a func-tional network of preserves. Foremanalso emphasizes that John Muir, AldoLeopold, Olaus Murie, and Bob Mar-shall all had training as scientists. Eco-logical concerns therefore have longbeen a basis for protecting wilder-ness (in contrast to some revisionisthistory). Foreman relates this historyboth for its own sake and to introducethe Wildlands Project, with its em-phasis on protecting large connectedareas with intact populations of car-nivores and ecological processes.

These discussions lead to a funda-mental point that distinguishes the vi-

sion related in Rewilding from muchother recent work in conservationbiology. Whereas others have effec-tively championed the importanceof large areas and corridors, Fore-man strongly emphasizes the impor-tance of large carnivores for sustain-ing functional, diverse ecosystems.Here, he draws on the recent workof John Terborgh, Brian Miller, JimEstes, William Ripple, and others toargue that top-down trophic cascadesare not merely an ecological curiositybut fundamental for sustaining eco-logical integrity. By controlling theabundance of mesopredators and un-gulates, which are prone to irrupt inabundance, predators play keystoneroles in many ecosystems. As Rip-ple and Beschta (2004) point out,these studies support Leopold’s clas-sic arguments on the ecological im-portance of predators. The obviousimplication here is that restoring onlytoken populations of predators in afew areas will not suffice to servebroad conservation goals. Predatorsalso gain strategic importance. In-stead of serving just as charismaticumbrella species (or colorful orna-ments to adorn the logos of conser-vation organizations), predators be-come crucial components for main-taining ecosystem integrity.

The concluding section (“TakingAction”) focuses on solutions. Justhow might we design a wildernessnetwork that could truly function tosustain plant and animal diversity in-definitely? Drawing on ideas fromReed Noss, Michael Soule, and oth-ers, Rewilding emphasizes the threeCs: cores, connectivity, and carni-vores. This discussion is mostly con-ceptual but is grounded in enoughspecific examples to put empirical

587

Conservation Biology, Volume 20, No. 2, 587–594C©2006 Society for Conservation Biology

DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2006.00391.x

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588 Book Reviews

flesh on the theoretical bones. Fore-man does not hesitate to list crite-ria or prescribe specific actions de-signed to make sure these networksserve biotic goals. His considerableexperience in practical conservationgrounds and informs this discussion.Concrete examples (such as the skyislands of the southwestern border-lands of the United States) preventthis section from being too abstractor preachy.

Other books have tackled thesegoals with a similarly broad visionand depth of scientific understand-ing (e.g., Wilson 1994). However, norecent book I have read has laid outthe bad news with such compellingforce and detail or presented suchinformed and passionate argumentsfor thinking big as we seek to con-serve nature through the current bot-tleneck. I have not encountered anymore convincing summary of our cur-rent predicament and the key rolesconservation biology should play inaddressing these issues. Nor has anyother book taught these lessons insuch compelling and engaging terms.I was reminded of another voice fromthe Southwest. Like Aldo Leopold,Foreman urges us to construct ourconservation efforts on a solid scaf-fold of science. Like Leopold, Fore-man teaches us to appreciate naturaland human history and the uniqueimportance of large wilderness ar-eas. Like Leopold, Foreman wants usto base our conservation on soundethics and wise policies.

Is Rewilding a popular book aimedat a broad audience or a book forscientists and conservation profes-sionals? General readers interested inlearning more about our current ex-tinction crisis and its causes are wellserved. Overhunting, habitat loss andfragmentation, modifications of his-torical disturbance regimes, exoticspecies, loss of predators, and climatechange are all covered with skill.In fact, I have seen no clearer dis-cussions of these “ecological wou-nds.” Foreman somehow managesto be comprehensive, historically in-formed, accurate, and succinct. This

makes the book surprisingly wellsuited to serve as a text for introduc-tory courses in ecology or conser-vation biology. Students will partic-ularly appreciate the compelling na-ture of these stories and Foreman’sability to connect the dots amongconservation science, tactical conser-vation issues, and strategic ideas forconserving the biota of North Amer-ica. The book’s provocative visionwill certainly spark interest and livelydiscussion.

Scientists and professionals will ap-preciate Foreman’s ability to placetheir work in geological, historical,and geographic perspective. Despitea lack of traditional academic creden-tials, he is a nuanced scholar with acommanding knowledge of our his-tory and science (as evidenced by47 pages of notes). Moreover, he isa great storyteller. Some might betempted to ignore the book for hav-ing ideas about conservation that areso ambitious as to appear patentlyimpractical. That would be a mis-take. Even those who do not fully ac-cept its sweeping vision for rewildingshould read this book to follow thelogic of its arguments, learn more ofour history, and glean arguments fortheir own work. They might also con-sult the associated Web site (http://TheReWildingInstitute.org).

Who is our guide here? Ironically,this champion and scholar of con-servation biology began his careeras a citizen activist. In the in-troduction, Foreman relates watch-ing “the high desert between Albu-querque and the Sandias gradually dis-appear under a carpet of asphalt andbuildings . . . . roads ripped into thewilderness, forests buzz-cut, riversdammed, coal torn from the bad-lands” (p. 1). As related in Confes-sions of an Eco-warrior, Foreman(1991) entered the fray as a foot sol-dier working the trenches of Wash-ington during pitched battles overwilderness in the 1970s. When thisgrew more frustrating than reward-ing, he morphed into a subcomman-dante for the citizen activists of EarthFirst! The limitations of direct action

soon became apparent, leading himto step back from the fray to pon-der how ethics and conservation bi-ology might provide a more secureplatform for pursuing conservation.Rewilding reflects the maturity Fore-man has won from these experiencesand a conscience born of his uniqueodyssey.

Here is a valuable and multifacetedbook from a multifaceted author. It issimultaneously a work of history, sci-ence, and policy that will appeal toseveral different audiences. Its chiefvalue for conservation biologists maylie in the overviews it provides andthe provocative vision it presents.The book forces us to take a step backand reconsider what we have accom-plished and where our efforts still fallshort. At a time when so many conser-vation efforts seem small or founder-ing, we have particular need for sucha positive and ambitious vision.

Donald M. Waller

Department of Botany, University of Wiscon-sin-Madison, 430 Lincoln Drive, 232 BirgeHall, Madison, WI 53706, U.S.A., [email protected]

Literature Cited

Foreman, D. 1991. Confessions of an eco-

warrior. Harmony Books, New York.

Ripple, W. J., and R. L. Beschta. 2004. Linking

wolves and plants: Aldo Leopold on trophic

cascades. BioScience 55:613–621.

Wilson, E. O. 1994. The diversity of life. W.W.

Norton, New York.

Oregon’s Big Outside

Oregon Wild: Endangered Forest

Wilderness. Kerr, A. 2005. OregonNatural Resources Council, Portland,OR. 255 pp. (xvii + 238). $29.95 (pa-perback). ISBN 0-9624877-8-3.

The Wilderness Act of 1964 establi-shed a procedure for the U.S. Con-gress to permanently protect roadlessareas, and it founded the Natio-nal Wilderness Preservation System,with 54 designated wilderness ar-eas totaling 3.68 million ha in 13

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states. Today there are over 42.9 mil-lion ha of designated wilderness in678 areas located in every state ex-cept Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa,Kansas, Maryland, and Rhode Island.

In 1989, 25 years after passageof the Wilderness Act, Foreman andWolke’s (1989) book The Big Out-side described, and advocated pro-tection of, every roadless area largerthan 40,468 ha (100,000 acres) inthe western contiguous United Statesand 20,234 ha (50,000 acres) in theeast. They described 18 such areasin Oregon, including several in thehigh desert of southeastern Oregon.Andy Kerr’s Oregon Wild: Endan-gered Forest Wilderness takes TheBig Outside a step further by de-scribing and mapping roadless for-est areas larger than 404 ha (1000acres) in Oregon. According to Kerr,over 930,000 ha have been desig-nated as Wilderness in Oregon, butanother 2 million hectares of unpro-tected publicly owned roadless forestremain. Oregon Wild presents wilder-ness proposals for most of thoseforests.

The introduction by Kathleen De-an Moore, Professor of Philosophy atOregon State University, explores thevalue of wilderness in the modernworld. Kerr’s first chapter describesthe forested regions of the state andthe animals and plants that live inthem, including four medium-sizedcarnivores that are in decline inOregon (lynx [Lynx canadensis],marten [Martes americana], fisher[Martes pennanti], and wolverine[Gulo gulo]); two large carnivores ex-tirpated from the state (wolf [Canislupus] in 1946 and grizzly bear[Ursus arctos] in 1931) that mightbe reintroduced; the six anadromoussalmon and trout species thatspawn in Oregon waters; “featuredspecies” whitebark pine (Pinusalbicaulis), quaking aspen (Populustremuloides), and western larch(Larix occidentalis) (one page foreach); and even a “a maybe mam-mal,” Bigfoot (also called Sasquatch[Gigantopithecus canadensis]) (a

couple of paragraphs). Kerr has notlet the urgency of his subject preventhim from sprinkling humor throughhis book.

Chapter 2 is an “unnatural history”of Oregon forest destruction by log-ging (the first sawmill in Oregon wasbuilt in 1843), road building, graz-ing, fire suppression, and other hu-man disturbances. These five threatsare among his “top dozen threats toOregon’s forest wilderness.” Chapter3 is a political history of the battlesfor Oregon Wilderness protection,which at 3.6% of the state is a smallerproportion than in the neighboringstates of California (13%), Washing-ton (10%), or Idaho (8%). Chapter 4articulates a dozen arguments for pro-tecting more forest wilderness in Ore-gon, even areas as small as 404 ha,including biodiversity conservation,recreational opportunities, the valueof ecosystem goods and services suchas clean water, and leaving a legacyfor future generations. Kerr also of-fers refutations of several arguments(primarily economic) against wilder-ness protection.

The heart of Oregon Wild are chap-ters describing 32 new wildernessareas proposed by the Oregon WildForest Coalition to add to the cur-rent 37 designated wilderness areasin the state’s five forested level III eco-regions: the Coast Range (“Home toOregon’s Rainforests”), Klamath Mo-untains (“World-Class Biodiversity”),Cascades (“Young Volcanoes and OldForests”), East Cascades (“Dry OpenForests”), and Blue Mountains (“Nei-ther Cascades nor Rockies but withAttributes of Both”). Natural historyinformation, photos, maps, and de-tailed descriptions of selected unitswithin each proposed new Wilder-ness area are included. This sectionof the book could serve as a guideto wilderness lovers wishing to visitunprotected wild forests in the state,perhaps before it is too late; Kerr di-rects us to hiking trail information foreach area.

Although the wildlands along theCascade crest, a mix of designated

and proposed wilderness, form anearly continuous tract from the Co-lumbia Gorge to the southern Cas-cades, much of the other proposedwilderness constitutes an “archi-pelago” of smaller patches that arecertainly important but may be toosmall to maintain their old forest com-munities in the face of natural dis-turbance or to sustain viable pop-ulations of area-dependent speciessuch as carnivores. Kerr emphasizesthat the goal of the Oregon WildForest Coalition is to protect forestwilderness “not in isolation, but aspart of a conservation and restora-tion framework that extends through-out the state beyond the bordersof the individual Wilderness areas,”a framework designed according tothe “cores, corridors, and carnivores”model. If wolverines and other meso-carnivores are to survive in Oregon,and wolves and grizzly bears are to bereintroduced here, a network is morelikely to foster their survival than anarchipelago. An important next stepfor the coalition would be to identifyareas suitable for connecting theseisolated patches of old forest.

Oregon Wild is well illustrated with168 beautiful photographs by severalaccomplished photographers and 40maps produced by Erik Fernandezof Oregon Natural Resources Coun-cil. However, the book was admit-tedly written for a lay audience, andliterature citations are rather sparse.The many useful appendices covercurrent wilderness and other pro-tected areas in Oregon; what to doto help protect wild forests; enjoyingOregon’s unprotected forest wilder-ness; selected Web sites; and, recom-mended readings in ecology, conser-vation biology, natural history, politi-cal and social history, wilderness, andwilderness activism.

If you prefer apolitical natural his-tory books, Oregon Wild may notbe a good choice for you. Beautifuland informative, it is also a “cam-paign book” for wilderness protec-tion in Oregon. Like Foreman andWolke, Kerr does not mince words

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about the need to counter the effortsto degrade wild forests made by “tim-ber beasts, cattle barons, mining con-glomerates, land developers, unen-lightened (and sometimes venal) bu-reaucrats and motorheads who haveforgotten how to walk.” He urges hisreaders to do something to protectOregon’s threatened wilderness, in-cluding contacting elected officials,donating time and money to wilder-ness conservation organizations, andencouraging friends and family to dothe same. Much of the work to estab-lish designated Wilderness happensat the state level, and a book like Ore-gon Wild would be a useful organiz-ing tool for wilderness advocates inany state, and perhaps elsewhere inthe world.

Ken Vance-Borland

The Conservation Planning Institute, 8285 NWWynoochee Drive, Corvallis, OR 97330, U.S.A.,email [email protected]

Literature Cited

Foreman, D., and H. Wolke. 1989. The big

outside: a descriptive inventory of the big

wilderness areas of the United States. Har-

mony Books, New York.

Herping in La Selva Just GotEasier

Amphibians and Reptiles of La

Selva, Costa Rica, and the Cari-

bbean Slope: a Comprehensive

Guide. Guyer, C., and M. A. Don-nelly. 2004. The University of Califor-nia Press, Berkeley, CA. 307 pp. (299+viii). $24.95 (paperback). ISBN 0-520-23759-5.

La Selva is a private reserve locatedin the lowland tropical wet forestsof northern Costa Rica. The regionis home to a thriving research sta-tion and is one of the most intensivelystudied areas in Central America. Assuch, researchers, students, and theinterested tourist will welcome theaddition of a comprehensive herpeto-logical field guide to their library.In areas with such great biodiver-

sity, a guide that limits the speciesby range can be helpful—especiallyif one is not adept at making one’sway through the hundreds of glori-ously thorough, but heavy, pages ofJay Savage’s (2002) tome.

Amphibians and Reptiles of LaSelva is a well-written, easily naviga-ble guide summarizing the authors’combined 40 years of research. Thebook is divided into a concise intro-duction covering the habitat, history,and conservation efforts of La Selvafollowed by one section on amphib-ians and one on reptiles. In the lat-ter two sections, the class descrip-tions and characteristics common tothat group are summarized, conclud-ing with a dichotomous key to the or-ders of the appropriate class. Subse-quent taxonomic groups are similarlytreated, with keys down to specieslevel. The keys are clarified, when ap-propriate, with line drawings.

The keys are fairly easy to use, andwhen possible, are based on easily ob-served characteristics. A sample datasheet toward the end of the guideensures that the user notes the nec-essary physical features. For thoseless familiar with morphological jar-gon the glossary is indispensable. Thewell-made keys are undoubtedly thebest way to identify species, but theyare of limited use without the speci-men in hand, as is often the case withvenomous snakes. The authors con-cede, when describing the featurescommon to the Viperidae (pit vipersand true vipers), “if you are closeenough to the animal to use thesecharacteristics for identification pur-poses, you are probably too close.”Fortunately, the two poisonous fam-ilies are represented by only a halfdozen or so species, although cautionshould also be used with all unfamil-iar species because even some colu-brids are fairly venomous.

Many users will at some point re-sort to flipping through the photo-graphs that vary greatly in quality.Some are gorgeous, with rich color,good composition, and perfect ex-posure. Other photographs featuredistracting backgrounds that include

the unfortunately placed flip-flop orbandaged knee; have lizards in com-promising positions; or are simplyoverexposed. Common names areprovided for photo identification,whereas scientific names might havebeen useful, especially when manyspecies are referred to in English andSpanish.

I have always preferred paint-ings to photographs in field guides.Knowledgeable illustrators can aver-age their experience of the idiosyn-crasies of each species. They can alsocontrol for light, position, and evenexaggerate key characteristics. How-ever, illustrating hundreds of speciesfor a field guide is not always feasi-ble, and for this one, users will haveto be content with the keys and ex-tensive and engaging written descrip-tions. Arguably, the information pro-vided in the guide should more thanmake up for what is lacking in someof the photographs.

Ultimately, Amphibians and Rep-tiles of La Selva is a useful, practicalguide and a good read. It is definitelydestined for the kind of abuse all greatfield guides face. Numerous copies ofthe guide will be dropped in the mud,dog-eared, annotated ruthlessly, andsmeared with the forgotten bananain the field pack until almost unread-able, at which point we will be ea-gerly awaiting the next edition.

Tammy Lim

Department of Biology, San Francisco StateUniversity, San Francisco, CA 94132, U.S.A.,email [email protected]

Literature Cited

Savage, J. M. 2002. The amphibians and reptiles

of Costa Rica: a herpetofauna between two

continents, between two seas. University

of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Ecological Consequences ofHabitat Loss from a Populationand Landscape Perspective

The Shrinking World: Ecological

Consequences of Habitat Loss.

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Hanski, I. 2005. In O. Kinne, editor.Excellence in Ecology, Book 14. In-ternational Ecology, Institute, Olden-dorf/Luhe, Germany. 334 pp. (xxvii+ 307). 47. ISSN 0932-2205.

Yes, this is another book on habi-tat loss and the threat it poses to bio-diversity, but this book is different.Ilkka Hanski has orchestrated a thor-ough scientific tour of habitat, habi-tat loss, responses to habitat loss, andhabitat loss and extinction to providean understanding of the ecologicalconsequences of a shrinking world.To write his score, he adapted largelythe perspective of populations andmetapopulations and enriched thebook with examples gathered mostlyfrom Finland, his home country.Hanski focuses on populations andmetapopulations that still occur invast number on the planet rather thatinventorying current and predict-ed habitat and species loss. He arguesthat a proper understanding of theecological consequences of a shrink-ing world can only be based on theunderstanding of the dynamics ofpopulations at the landscape level. Asa consequence, the book is a solid sci-entific summary of decades of re-search on habitat, populations, andmetapopulations. He also managedto focus contemporary debates be-tween landscape ecologists and meta-population biologists.

In a review on an earlier book ofthe Excellence in Ecology book se-ries (Lawton 2000), Hanski wrote: “Ihave to confess that I am attracted tobooks combining science that is fa-miliar to me with an autobiographi-cal account of the author’s work . . . itjust is so interesting and enlighteningto read a personal narrative of howa scientist who has made importantcontributions came to study what heor she did, and to have a glimpse atthe broader context of the research,hardly ever presented in journal ar-ticles” (Hanski 2000). I have to con-fess that I could not find better wordsto characterize what makes Hanski’snew book so special.

Rarely do written scientific ac-counts of current challenges andbig questions in ecology display acombination of fine literary style,anecdotes, thoughtful research, andprovocative and compelling analy-sis. Hanski has managed to skillfullyweave all these elements into hisbook. A key element of this is thateach chapter of the book begins witha narration that delineates in a per-sonal and informal manner the chap-ter’s content. Other parts of the bookmaintain this fresh and lively style, forexample when Hanski, who is knownlargely for his work on metapopula-tions, confesses his long-lasting affec-tion for beetles living in cow pats (p.11). This makes the book differentand a real delight to read. This style iswell in the spirit of the Excellence inEcology series, whose editor has en-couraged the authors to present theirpersonal experience, insights, and vi-sions on the state of the art in theirfield of expertise.

The book consists of five chapters.Before talking about habitat loss andits ecological consequences, chap-ter 1 closely delineates the subject—habitat—from multiple perspectives.It recalls the different definitions ofhabitat and summarizes the devel-opment of ideas around habitat andniches and how research interestsshifted more recently toward spatialstructures in populations and habitatloss. The subchapter “Habitat Classi-fications” provides the solid founda-tion for the following chapters andleads naturally to fragmented land-scapes, connectivity, and the basicconcepts of metapopulations. Chap-ter 1 closes with a description of sev-eral important microhabitats such asdung and carrion, fungal fruiting bod-ies, and decaying wood, which con-tain much of global biodiversity, anda fascinating tour through the majorhabitats of the Earth at prehistorictimes and at present.

Chapter 2 is dedicated to habitatloss. Here Hanski acknowledges themultiscale character of habitat lossand justifies the selection of the pop-

ulation level at which he analyzesits ecological consequences. Interest-ingly, one of his four main argumentsfor the selection of the populationscale is not an ecological one but thata dense network of local populationsshould be conserved so that peoplehave the opportunity to enjoy natu-ral habitats and its inhabitants in theirproximity (p. 72). This already antici-pates an important theme of the fifthchapter in which Hanski leaves theimmediate domain of natural scienceand turns to questions such as “habi-tat loss in our minds” and “impor-tance of taking children to nature.”However, before the book is readyto embark into these questions, morehard science awaits the reader. Thechapter moves to discussing, as over-ture to chapters 3 and 4, the conse-quences of different kinds of habitatloss and dynamic landscapes. Chap-ter 2 closes with a picture of globalhabitat loss for important habitattypes such as forests, wetlands, andvarious microhabitats.

Chapter 3 discusses “individual,population, and species responsesto habitat loss.” In a prelude Han-ski remembers the beginning of theGlanville fritillary project in the earlynineties that has since occupied alarge part of his scientific activity. Thechapter moves on, reviewing habi-tat selection, source-sink, ecologicaltraps, SLOSS, habitat selection algori-thms, and the question about the rel-ative effects of habitat loss and frag-mentation on the long-term persis-tence of populations. Hanski alsodoes not shrink from making provo-cative but compelling argumentswhen dismantling the work of oth-ers (e.g., the argument of LeonoreFahrig and colleagues that only theamount of suitable habitat counts andthat the spatial configuration makeslittle or no difference [p. 131–132]).This chapter closes with genetic andevolutionary consequences of habi-tat loss.

Chapter 4 on “habitat loss and ex-tinction” is the scientific heart of thebook in which Hanski summarizes

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all the previously provided materialto discuss the ecological knowledgethat may allow us to examine the“health of biodiversity in the shrink-ing world.” To discuss extinction, hestarts with single populations, ex-pands to the discussion to spatialscales, then expands to metapopu-lations, large-scale species–area rela-tionships, and global rate of speciesextinction. In the following sectionon extinction thresholds, Hanski askshow much habitat can be lost, andhow fragmented the remaining habi-tat can be, without certain speciesbecoming extinct. Clearly, this isthe fundamentally important ques-tion about the shrinking world. HereHanski’s sharp arguments demolishanother common belief, the 20% ruleof thumb for the extinction thresh-old (p. 171–174). He quickly takesthis argument further into a deepertreatment of metapopulation the-ory and revitalizes the formal struc-ture of the classical Levin’s modelwith a “spatially realistic metapopu-lation theory.” The reinterpretationof the classical equation, obtained bymeans of somewhat heavy mathemat-ics and clever approximations, nowcontains a metapopulation capacityλM instead of the fraction of suit-able patches as the key element de-scribing habitat loss. The metapopu-lation capacity summarizes both thespatial structure of the landscapeand several species-specific proper-ties; the resulting model can be usedto assess the value of the extinc-tion threshold. This new model con-stitutes a quantum leap in provid-ing a real integration of landscapeecology and metapopulation model-ing into a unified framework. Chap-ter 4 then moves on to exploringpractical questions, including the rel-ative importance of habitat quality,lost area, or fragmentation, which arediscussed in full detail. The secondpart of this chapter shifts the focustoward larger scales and communi-ties to discuss the relationship be-tween species number and area andthe global rate of species extinction.

In chapter 5, Hanski turns firstto the conservation challenges in ashrinking world before leaving theimmediate domain of natural sciencein discussing “ecology, conservation,and competing interests in society,”exemplified by forest biodiversity inFinland. Should ecologists just ob-serve the adverse consequences ofhabitat loss or attempt to actively ad-vise society about the broader im-plications of their research? Hanskiidentifies “habitat loss in our minds,”which occurs if habitats are rarely en-countered by people because theymostly live in towns and cities withminimal contact with any kind of na-ture or because the habitats have be-come rare, as a fundamental problemin modern societies. This leads to adepreciation of the values of natu-ral habitats simply because they arefar away and seem unimportant. Thechapter closes with hope for futuregenerations by outlining the “impor-tance of taking children to nature”and a final reminder to his ecologistcolleagues to make sure that the bestscientific knowledge is transferred inan unbiased manner to the politicaldecision-making process.

The final epilogue presents, in thejudgment of Otto Kinne, the editorof the Excellence in Ecolgy series, “awealth of interesting and significantinsights.” This book will make won-derful reading in a graduate seminarin providing excellent and abundantcore material on the ecological conse-quences of habitat loss, and it shouldfind a place on the shelves of manyreaders of this journal.

Thorsten Wiegand

Department of Ecological Modelling, UFZ-Centre for Environmental Research, Permoser-strasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany, [email protected]

Literature Cited

Hanski, I. 2000. Book review. Naturwis-

senschaften 87:466.

Lawton, J. 2000. Community ecology in a

changing world. In O. Kinne, editor. Ex-

cellence in ecology series, book 11. Inter-

Research Science Publisher and Ecology In-

stitute, Oldendorf/Luhe, Germany. 227 pp.

Determining What’s Importantabout Landscapes

Issues and Perspectives in Land-

scape Ecology. Wiens, J., and M.Moss, editors. 2005. Cambridge Uni-versity Press, Cambridge, UnitedKingdom. 406 pp. (xvi + 390).$65.00 (paperback). ISBN 0-521-53754-1.

Landscape ecology as a disciplinehas been developing and maturingover the last 25 years. It emergedfrom the issues and challenges ofspatial complexity, the increasing im-pacts from broad-scale environmen-tal problems and management, andtechnological advances that allowedmanipulation of increasingly avail-able spatial data. Landscape ecologyhas promoted the integration of manyperspectives, issues, and methodolo-gies as a unique characteristic ofthe discipline. However, Wiens andMoss, along with many other authorsin this book, assert that landscapeecology’s potential weakness may bethe interdisciplinary approach toutedas its strength, and that the disci-pline itself is at a “critical threshold”in its growth. As the field of land-scape ecology has developed, a well-recognized division arose betweenthe “geoecological and bioecologicalsolitudes” of landscape ecology. Thefear is that unless these “two soli-tudes” are unified by a strong, uniqueset of core principles, the field oflandscape ecology will become frag-mented into subdisciplines.

The book does not state what thecore principles should be, but thro-ugh a collection of essays, presentsthe varied personal statements andperspectives of many landscape ecol-ogists on issues within their expertisethat they believe are important forthe discipline to mature and becomeunified. Forty-one authors from 10

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countries were asked to revise andupdate essays presented at the FifthWorld Congress of the InternationalAssociation for Landscape Ecology in1999. The editors grouped the es-says into seven broad parts; however,there is no overarching theme to thebook, and each essay stands on itsown.

The first part of the book beginswith a well-written essay that reviewswhat landscape ecology is, what alandscape-scale study is, and whena landscape perspective is necessary.The second essay outlines geograph-ical principles often forgotten in de-tailed analyses and landscape ecologytexts, but should be considered forbringing about cohesiveness and syn-thesis among the disparate researchapproaches taken by landscape ecol-ogists.

The second part examines the-ories, experiments, and models inlandscape ecology, providing an ex-cellent review and looking ahead tofuture challenges for understandinglandscape dynamics. Specifically, thefirst several chapters explore andreview the theories of hierarchy, per-colation, spatial population dynam-ics, economic geography, and equi-librium/nonequilibrium landscapes,and the relationship between scalesof disturbance and landscape extent.The importance of fine-scale patchstructure to landscape functionalityis used as an example of applyinglandscape ecology concepts to helprestore systems (chapter 6). Theproblem of scale in studying speciesinteractions and how to determinethe scale at which organisms respondto variability is discussed (chapter 7).To help establish a theoretical basisfor landscape ecology, the author ofchapter 8 advocates conducting ex-periments at several spatial scales andlevels of organization simultaneouslyto help find processes most likely topropagate through levels and scalesin spatial mosaics. The last two chap-ters review methods of spatial mod-eling and discuss the problems thathinder progress in modeling.

In part three, “Landscape Pattern,”the authors discuss how pattern anal-

ysis must develop more tools andmethodologies to (1) detect patternsof gradients in a landscape to supple-ment the patch-mosaic paradigm, (2)begin classifying landscapes basedon the dynamics of processes ratherthan structural elements, and (3) findways to incorporate cultural patterns.Chapter 12 outlines surface metrol-ogy, fractal analysis, and spectral andwavelet analysis as promising tech-niques. Chapter 13 reviews the var-ious land-cover databases availableand explains their various limitationsand problems to help users better un-derstand and correctly apply thesedata sources.

The legacy of landscape history onpresent-day landscape patterns andthe need for landscape ecology toconsider longer time scales to under-stand long-term landscape processes,especially those associated with cli-mate change, is the focus of part four,“Landscape Dynamics on MultipleScales.” To understand what causeslandscape heterogeneity and change,the authors discuss the use of pastepisodic erosion and sedimentationevents (chapter 14), based on “cul-tural soils,” to get a profile of pasthuman-related activities (chapter 15)and the use of paleoecological re-cords to recognize long-term edaphicand climate changes (chapter 16).Linking landscape ecology issueswith global change is necessary tobuild global-scale models whose do-main extends beyond current climateand land-use conditions.

In part five, “Application of Land-scape Ecology,” the authors reviewthe synergy that exists between land-scape ecology and the fields of agri-culture, forest management, wildlifemanagement, restoration ecology,conservation planning, conservationbiology, and riverine management.Landscape ecology can be the ve-hicle for integrating information be-tween these sciences and spatial plan-ning, policy, and management withthe hopes of enhancing communica-tion and collaborations among them.

Part six, “Cultural Perspectives andLandscape Planning,” stresses thatlandscapes are both natural and cul-

tural, meaning valued by humans foruniqueness. Chapters in this part ex-plore the conceptual divide on what“landscape” means to policy mak-ers, local planners, conservationists,locals versus newcomers, theoreti-cal and applied planners, economists,and landscape architectures. Thehope is that by recognizing these di-visions, landscape ecologists can be-gin integrating approaches to betterunderstand the many dimensions offunctioning cultural landscapes. Find-ing out what motivates and drivespeople will help predict future land-use trends and help planners designnew landscapes to accommodate in-creasing population expansion.

The book ends with a “Retrospectand Prospect” composed of fourthought-provoking chapters. Zonn-eveld (chapter 32) uses the metaphorof Pandora’s box to discuss the pos-itive and potentially negative conse-quences of applying the “black box”approach to modeling the complex-ity of landscapes. Naveh (chapter 33)discusses ways landscape ecologistscan make a shift from an integrated toa transdisciplinary approach that be-comes more holistic, future oriented,and includes the human dimensionto become a more influential science.Moss (chapter 34) contends that land-scape ecology must begin to developits own distinctive core and focusby examining problem-based issuesabout landscapes. Wiens (chapter 35)believes that “Determining what’s im-portant about landscapes, . . . bindingthe science and the action to a well-developed conceptual core, . . . andrecognizing that culturally based ap-proaches to landscape ecology lie atthe center rather than the peripheryof the discipline” are the themes thatshould be addressed, and that conser-vation may be the catalyst to unifyinglandscape ecology.

Even though the essays are diverseand there are no formal connectionsbetween them, I did not find it dis-tracting or confusing. Each essay wasrelatively short and well written withthe goals explicitly mentioned early.The authors do not go into greatdetail, but present the essence of

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594 Book Reviews

the concepts with many pertinentexamples and current literature ci-tations. Given the breadth of top-ics covered, beginning and seasonedlandscape ecologists, researchers ofother sciences, students, managers,land-use planners, and policy makerswill find the book a useful referencefor their own discipline, and it willcertainly spur thoughts and new di-rections for their research and col-laborations. Being trained from the“bioecological solitude” philosophy, Ifound the part on cultural landscapesto be especially informative. It hasbroadened my thinking into the hu-man dimension of landscape change,which will undoubtedly influence myfuture work.

Deahn Donner

U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service,North Central Research Station, 5985 High-way, K, Rhinelander, WI 54501, U.S.A., [email protected]

Biodiversity and Soils

Sustaining Biodiversity and Eco-

system Services in Soils and Sedi-

ments. SCOPE Series, Volume 64. D.H. Wall, editor. Island Press, Washing-ton, D.C. 2004. 320 pp. $60.00 (hard-cover). ISBN 1-55963-759-5.

Sustaining Biodiversity and Eco-systems Services in Soils and Sed-iments is an important work thatbrings attention to those surface andsubsurface environments that pro-vide a remarkable array of biogeo-chemical interactions. This book il-lustrates well the interdependenceand relationships between importantecosystem “services” for humans andthe complex and intricate biodiver-sity that exists within soils and sedi-ments that plays a fundamental rolein critical ecosystem functions.

A large volume of scientific infor-mation was used to synthesize the un-derstanding and interrelationship of

biodiversity and ecosystem function-ing presented within this work.

The arguments and themes withinit are well supported with robustliterature-cited sections. The informa-tion assembled and used for this vol-ume is diverse, interdisciplinary, wellintegrated, and well organized withinthe three main sections of the book.

Due to an interdisciplinary ap-proach necessary to adequately ad-dress and characterize poorly under-stood subsurface environments, many

authors were involved in the work. Asa result, organization and flow of in-formation, as well as writing style andquality, differ from chapter to chap-ter. However, the concepts are gener-ally presented in a concise and well-written manner.

Scott R. Stewart

Ecosystem Science and Restoration Services,Blasland, Bouck, and Lee, Inc., 2300 EastlakeAvenue East, Suite 100, Seattle, WA 98102,U.S.A., email [email protected]

Recently Received Books

(October 2005— December 2005)

The Chimpanzees of the Budongo Forest.Ecology, Behaviour, and Conservation.Reynolds, V. 2005. Oxford University Press,Oxford, United Kingdom. 310 pp. (297 +xiii). $59.50 (paperback). ISBN 0-19-851546-4.

Demons in Eden. The Paradox of Plant Di-versity. Silvertown, J. 2005. The University ofChicago Press, Chicago, IL. 179 pp. (x + 169).$25.00 (hardcover). ISBN 0-226-75771-4.

Ever Blooming: the Art of Bonnie Hall.Hall, B. 2005. Oregon State University Press,Corvallis, OR. 104 pp. $25.00 (hardcover).ISBN 0-87071-116-4.

The Future of the Wild. Radical Conserva-tion for a Crowded World. Adams, J. S. 2006.Beacon Press, Boston, MA. 290 pp. (xxiii +267). $27.95 (hardcover). ISBN 0-8070-8510-3.

Headless Males Make Great Lovers &Other Unusual Natural Histories. Crump,M. 2005. The University of Chicago Press,Chicago, IL. 207 pp. $25.00 (hardcover). ISBN0-226-12199-2.

Island. Fact and Theory in Nature. Lazell, J.2005. The University of California Press, Berke-ley, CA. 402 pp. (xx + 382). $49.95 (hard-cover). ISBN 0-520-24352-8.

Metacommunities. Spatial Dynamics andEcological Communities. Holyoak, M. M., A.Leibold, and R. D. Holt. 2005. University ofChicago Press, Chicago. 524 pp. (xi + 513).$38.00 (paperback). ISBN 0-226-35064-9.

The New Atlas of Planet Management. Re-vised edition. Myers, N., and J. Kent, editors.2005. The University of California Press, Berke-ley. 304 pp., 288 color illustrations, 29 colorphotographs. $39.95 (paperback). ISBN 0-520-23879-6.

Place Matters. Geospatial Tools for Ma-rine Science, Conservation, and Manage-

ment in the Pacific Northwest. Wright, D.J., and A. J. Scholz. 2005. Oregon State Univer-sity Press, Corvallis, OR. 317 pp. (xii + 305).$29.95 (paperback). ISBN 0-87071-057-5.

Recognizing the Autonomy of Nature.Theory and Practice. Heyd, T., editor. 2005.Columbia University Press, New York, NY. 240pp. (x + 230). $45.00 (hardcover). ISBN 0-231-13606-4.

Tigerland and Other Unintended Destina-tions. Dinerstein, E. 2005. Island Press, Wash-ington, D.C. 279 pp. $25.95 (hardcover). ISBN1-55963-578-9.

Unruly Complexity. Ecology, Interpreta-tion, Engagement. Taylor, P. J. 2005. The Uni-versity of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. 310 pp.(xxi + 289). $25.00 (paperback). ISBN 0-226-79036-3.

Yellowstone to Yukon: Freedom to Roam.Schulz, F. 2005. The Mountaineers Books, Seat-tle, WA. 192 pp., 200 color photos. $34.95(hardcover). ISBN 0-89886989-7.

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Volume 20, No. 2, April 2006