FLORA OF SIBERIA Vol. 2. Poaceae (Gramineae) by L.I. Malyshev; G.A. PeschkovaReview by: Martin DančákFolia Geobotanica, Vol. 42, No. 4 (2007), pp. 441-442Published by: SpringerStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41245554 .

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Bookreviews 441

omitted. Also, Chapter 9 does not sufficiently analyze the opportunities for genetic modifications of photoperiodic and vernalization requirements.

Part III focuses on topics closely related to reproduction. Chapters are (10) Control of Fertilization by Self-incompatibility Mechanisms; (11) Stamen Development: Primordium to Pollen; (12) Genes Regulating Ovule Development; (13) The Molecular Biology of Apomixis. Chapters 11 and 12 concern molecular regulation of stamen, pollen and ovule development - again mainly in A. thaliana. It would be appropriate if Chapter 12 also described carpel development in some detail; this is only shortly discussed in Chapter 6. Chapters 1 0 and 1 3 are very interesting not only for molecular biologists and biotechnologists but also for field biologists. Both self-incompatibility and apomixis are frequent in natural populations. Their significance for agricultural breeding is also considerable. For example, the introduction of apomixis into major crop species would greatly facilitate seed production of elite hybrid cultivars. Neither self-incompatibility nor apomixis occur in the major model of experimental plant biology, A. thaliana. These two chapters therefore compare physiological and molecular mechanisms in a broader range of species.

In general, the book is very well written and edited. Its broad scope (from flower induction to fertilization) enables readers to get a complex picture of molecular mechanisms involved in the whole plant reproductive process. The Molecular Biology and Biotechnology of Flowering can therefore be recommended to most plant scientists - molecular biologists, physiologists, evolutionary and population biologists. The text was finished in 2005 and published in 2006. It is thus as up-to-date as possible. However, all of its topics are "work in progress". Important new discoveries are made every month, rather than every year. This book is a good starting point but readers interested in more details of a particular subject should always consult recent review articles.

Jan Kolaf Institute of Experimental Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Rozvojovd 263, CZ-165 02 Praha 6, Czech Republic

L. I. Malyshev & G. A. Peschkova (eds.): FLORA OF SIBERIA Vol. 2. Poaceae (Gramineae); Science Publishers, Inc., Enfield, Plymouth, 2001. 372pp. Price USD 88.-, ISBN 1-57808-101-7

The "Flora of Siberia" series, produced in English in fourteen volumes, was the first to publish keys on all of the plant families of Siberia. Grasses (Poaceae) are one of the most important plant groups in continental and semiarid areas of the world. Siberia is an example of one such region with grasses representing one of the largest plant families of the Siberian flora. This volume of "Flora of Siberia" (originally published in Russian in 1990), covers 72 genera and 440 species and subspecies of grasses. Twenty-seven taxa are described as new species and subspecies, and 1 7 varieties have been elevated to the rank of species. More than 10 taxa previously regarded as synonyms have now been confirmed as separate species, and 14 species that have been identified in the archived herbarium material are reported for the first time for the Siberian territory. The somatic chromosome number is cited for some species and subspecies. Geographical distribution maps for most of the taxa are included, together with a few illustrations.

The volume contains two main thematic units. The first unit comprises determination keys and accounts of recognized species and subspecies of grasses with brief morphological descriptions, widely used synonyms and notes on ecology and distribution, both regional and global. The second unit presents distribution maps of most of the species and subspecies (a total of 306 dot maps).

The book is well indexed and the keys for determination of genera and species are strictly dichotomous and usually easy to use. There are a few exceptions. For example, the determination key for genus Arctagrostis, whose two species (or subspecies) overlap in their morphology, mainly because of phenotypic plasticity. This key is very hard to use because the ranges of most reported distinctive characteristics seem not to be fully accurate. Even material of Siberian origin is easier to determine using the key of Manual of Grasses for North America.

Very few taxa are illustrated A few important specific characteristics are explained by appropriate and detailed line drawings (18 pages of pictures, most of them in single genus - Festuca). Dot maps provide an overview of species or subspecies distribution but they are not uniform in scale. Some maps display the whole of Siberia, some only a particular region (depending on general distribution of the mapped taxon). Also data

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442 Bookreviews

sources for these maps would benefit from clarification, for example, whether they were compiled on the basis of herbarium collection, personal observation and/or previously published data.

Hie volume as a whole is concise, up to date, and comprehensive. It provides a useful resource for the researcher and an excellent addition to the reference library for any botanist interested in Siberian flora or general taxonomy and phytogeography of grasses. Martin Danttk Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Palacky University, Slechtitelu 11, CZ-783 71 Olomouc, Czech Republic

W. Willner & G. Grabherr (eds.): DIE WALDER UND GEBUSCHE 6STERREICHS. EIN BESTIMMUNGSWERK MIT TABELLEN; Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, 2007, 302 pp. (Textband) + 290pp. (Tabellenband); Price EUR 49.50, ISBN 978-3-8274-1892-0

The territory of Austria encompasses a wide range of different environments, from Pannonian lowlands through Hercynian uplands to the summits of the Alps. These environmental contrasts are reflected in a high diversity of woodland vegetation, which has been systematically described in two monographs by MAYER (1974) and MucrNA et al. (1993). Although both of these earlier books provided valuable input for understanding and cataloguing vegetation diversity of Central Europe, neither was based on a comprehensive analysis of vegetation-plot data, which would enable creating the classification that reliably matches real vegetation patterns at a national scale. They also did not include any comparative synoptic tables of floristic composition of vegetation units.

The development of large vegetation databases over the last decade has made it possible to fill these gaps. The editors and authors of the present volume amassed an electronic database with over 20,000 vegetation plots (releves) from Austrian woodland and scrub vegetation. Besides plots from older surveys, which made up the main data source, the database included over 5,000 plots sampled in the 1990s according to a GIS-based stratified sampling design (GRABHERR et al. 1998). The database was classified using a divisive classification procedure available in the TWINSPAN program, and manually adjusted classification results were used as a basis for the new overview of Austrian woodland and scrub vegetation, presented in the new monograph.

The monograph consists of two volumes, the first containing text and the second tables. The text volume is organized as a dichotomous identification key to vegetation units (syntaxa). The key makes use of the structural, ecological and distributional characteristics, as well as of floristic composition. It leads the user first to the phytosociological alliances, and then to the associations. Syntaxa are described in brief keyword-like formulas, followed by a list of constant species, matching habitat types in the Natura 2000 system and in the Austrian national system of habitat types. A brief description of the units below the association level and the list of important references are also included. The units below the association level include subassociations, regional variants and altitudinal forms. In some associations, two different subdivision schemes are presented simultaneously.

The extensive table volume consists of 44 synoptic tables, which compare, in a hierarchical manner, classes and alliances within formation types of woodland and scrub, alliances and associations within classes, and lower units within associations. What I find slightly disappointing in these tables is the absence of indication of the original classification hierarchy proposed by the TWINSPAN and of the way how it was modified by the expert judgement. However, together with the identification keys, these tables facilitate an accurate assignment of individual vegetation stands to the units of the proposed system. This is very helpful for the application of the proposed classification system in nature conservation and forestry, where many potential users are not trained as vegetation scientists and may not understand the details of the art of syntaxonomy.

Besides many potential applications at the national level, the new treatment of the Austrian woodland and scrub vegetation greatly contributes to the development of vegetation and habitat typologies at the Central European and European scale. Based on the analysis of a large data set, it provides a much more credible classification than any of the previous ones. Although focusing on the Austrian vegetation, the authors took into account vegetation diversity in neighbouring countries, and paid great attention to this wider context when creating their own national classification system. Last but not least, they made a careful check of the

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