Book Reviews

D.M.J.S. Bowman (2000)Australian Rainforests: Islands of Green in aLand of Fire.Pp. xi� 345. Cambridge University Press,

Cambridge, UK. ISBN 0-521-46568-0. Price £50

(hardback).

David Bowman draws on a wealth of research

experience in his attempt to understand the nature,

patterns and unique features of the vegetation that

dominates the humid to semiarid parts of the

Australian continent. Although the title stresses

rainforest, it is the relationships between `®re sensi-

tive' and `®re promoting' communities, which are

generally separated by sharp boundaries, that is the

focus of book. Bowman follows other Australian

workers in accepting a broader range of ¯oristic and

structural variation within rainforest than is usually

the case in other parts of the world, although a strict

de®nition of the term is elusive. In fact, emphasis is

placed on more marginal cool temperate rainforest

and `dry' rainforest rather than the humid tropical

core, re¯ecting the research background of the

author. The new research presented on previously

neglected `dry' rainforest is particularly valuable in

helping to ®rm up knowledge of the geographical

spread of rainforest-type vegetation and its develop-

ment and history.

Introductory chapters provide excellent back-

ground to both rainforest and sclerophyll vegeta-

tion, providing a comprehensive picture of the

history of concepts as a basis for addressing distri-

butional problems. As in the book as a whole, illus-

trations are clear and abundant. An impressive

picture of the fragmented nature of rainforest is pre-

sented but, unfortunately, before any considerations

of de®nitions. The bulk of the text is devoted to a

consideration of `theories', based on the major

environmental factors of soil, climate and ®re, that

are held as major determinants of rainforest (and

sclerophyll) distributions. A number of components

of these environmental factors are addressed with

examples from the literature, but the majority relate

only to speci®c locations or community types. The

major all-embracing theories concerning phos-

phorus, water stress, ®re-induced ecological drift

and increased burning with the arrival of Aboriginal

people are treated thoroughly and analytically but

aggressively, and it is concluded that all are severely

¯awed. In particular, he asserts that neither soil

nutrient status nor moisture is limiting to rainforest

development. Having demolished these theories, the

author is left with the task of erecting a more realis-

tic explanation of rainforest patterns. He does so

largely from rather speculative ideas on the timing

of the evolutionary development and spread of pyr-

ophytic, sclerophyll vegetation in relation to the cli-

mate history of the Australian continent and, in

more recent times, ®re management of the landscape

by Aboriginal people. The ®nal chapter, predictably

concerned with ®re management and rainforest con-

servation, is somewhat of an anticlimax as ®re man-

agement is more of a challenge to sclerophyll than

rainforest conservation.

This book follows other successful and controver-

sial recent publications including those of Pyne

(1991) and Flannery (1994) in stressing, to national

and international readers, the importance of ®re in

the evolution and management of Australian land-

scapes. The particular values of this contribution are

in providing an excellent picture of the nature of

Australian vegetation and in the analysis and inter-

pretation of the ecological data. Although challen-

ging, most energy is consumed in destruction of pre-

existing ideas, some of which appear to have been

resurrected for the purpose of demolition, and the

constructed model for explanation of rainforest dis-

tributions seems pale by comparison. The considera-

tion of both ecological processes and history is

welcomed, although treatment of the latter is much

less impressive. Leaving vegetation history until the

end prohibits an integrated analysis of modern and

fossil data, while separate consideration of compo-

nents of the fossil data in two chapters restricts the

explanatory value of the historical record. It is per-

haps unfortunate that the book has been produced

prior to the publication of recent, more substantial

archaeological and fossil evidence on the timing of

the arrival of Aboriginal people on the continent,

megafaunal extinction, and late Quaternary vegeta-

tion change. The same applies to recent work on the

perceived importance of alterations in monsoon and

El NinÄ o Southern Oscillation (ENSO) activity on

vegetation patterns. Surprisingly, neither monsoon

climate nor ENSO receives a mention in the text.

Overall, this is a stimulating book that, despite

the biases of the author, provides a real feel for the

nature of Australian vegetation and perceptions of

it through the period of European occupation and

study. It is essential reading for those interested in

Australian and global landscapes. Because of the

excellent use of illustrations, which can be regarded

as an additional resource that may or may not be

examined by the reader, together with a comprehen-

sive reference list, the book doubles as a valuable

text for undergraduate and graduate courses.

Bowman has by no means had the last word on the

subject area, but certainly will have generated

further interest in undertaking research within it.

A. PETER KERSHAW

Journal of

Ecology 2000,

88, 931±937

# 2000 British

Ecological Society

References

Flannery, T. (1994) The Future Eaters. Reed, Chatswood,

NSW.

Pyne, S.J. (1991). Burning Bush: a ®re history of Australia.

Allen and Unwin, Boston.

T.R. Dunlap (1999)Nature and the English Diaspora: Environmentand History in the United States, Canada,Australia, and New Zealand.Pp. xv� 330. Cambridge University Press,

Cambridge, UK. ISBN 0-521-65700-8. Price £12.95

(paperback). ISBN 0-521-65173-5. £35 (hardback).

Thomas Dunlap, Professor of History at Virginia

Tech (1988±91) and since 1991 at Texas A & M

University, has a strong pedigree in global environ-

mental history. Two previous books, Dunlap (1981)

DDT: Scientists, Citizens and Public Policy and

Dunlap (1988) Saving America's Wildlife, were well

received and this latest book is a welcome addition

to the popular CUP series `Studies in Environment

and History'.

At its most basic reading, this volume o�ers a

tour of the history of ideas about nature as part of

culture in the British settler colonies of USA,

Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It is a broad

investigation of the di�erent ways in which the

Anglo settlers of these lands came to understand

and shape the new environments they found.

The meat of the book necessarily dwells on the

changes the settlers brought to the newly colonized

lands, but importantly points to a deeper hidden

storyÐthe way in which the new lands shaped the

settler mindset. Dunlap divides the narrative into

four broad sections, which he then subdivides into

smaller comparative sections (repeated each time).

The opening section tells how, in the era of con-

quest, the settlers battled to make the land familiar

by using natural history as a weapon alongside a

local folk biology, as they sought to de®ne, label

and neatly parcel all that they encountered. The

conquest of Nature was to the fore, and they hur-

riedly turned ancient ecosystems into ®elds and pas-

tures. Vertebrate introductions and the rise of

fashionable recreational sport hunting had far

reaching biological and social consequences. As

Dunlap concludes, ``There is little from this period

that speaks of adaption, for that meant failure to

impose our will on nature'' (p. 69). Readers will

surely enjoy the author's imagined geographical

tour of now-vanished landscapes (pp. 9±12), as a

®ne piece of prose that reveals how we construct

Nature in the modern era from our inherited genera-

tional and national understandings of our own past

environments. Indeed, this generational aspect of

change over time is an important part of Dunlap's

view of changing attitudes to Nature, as is the ten-

sion he describes in the twentieth century, ``between

understanding and appreciation, the science of nat-

ure and the love of it'' (p. 163). As the ®rst settlers

tried to make the new lands like home, so later des-

cendants of those settlers sought to create a new

identity and bond with their country by rejecting the

landscapes and nature of home. This became the

search for a `National Nature' post 1880; an appre-

ciation for all that was native.

This book is also about the changing role and

value of science, especially the shift from popular

amateur natural history to an ecological perspective

by the 1940s, as a way of understanding visible nat-

ure. Ecology was slowly taken up by forest and

game managers, hunters and politicians in many

areas of Anglo settlement, presenting a new larger

view of the world to the public; an interpretation

that spoke of communities, trophic levels, food

chains, and processes and relationships in natural

systems. Post 1920, as national identities became

better established and the years of conquest slipped

into settler history, so ®rsthand experience and

science told the people to begin to seek an accom-

modation with the land and its ¯ora and fauna.

Serious account had to be taken of the limits forced

on society by Nature, yet the inter-war years were,

as Dunlap reveals, full of ``great plans and great dis-

asters'' (p. 189). Australians dreamed of making the

desert bloom by tapping underground reservoirs of

water in the Outback; Canadians sought to farm

reindeer and musk oxen on the Arctic tundra; and

the Dust Bowl and Australian droughts of the 1930s

brought ecology into public debate.

In the ®nal Section Thomas Dunlap turns to

address the rise of modern environmentalism, and

how the concepts of ecology continued to spread to

scientists and the public, reshaping policy and prac-

tice. From 1970 onwards, he argues that a, ``union

of scienti®c knowledge and popular interest has

begun to radically alter our ideas about the land

and to change our treatment of it'' (p. 245). With

this new knowledge comes a new type of dialogue

with the land, shaped by the teachings of ecology,

natural limits and settler history. It is the tale of

how people sought to save not species but environ-

ments, and thus re-examined their relationships with

Nature. The present citizens of the USA, Canada,

Australia and New Zealand are currently left, ``seek-

ing a place in lands now littered with the wrecks of

earlier generations' hopes and dreams'' (p. 316). The

wisest will learn the lessons of the past, and listen to

the land as they plan for the future.

An impressive amount of primary research has

gone into this global study. In Canada, Dunlap used

the records of the Canadian Wildlife Service. In

Australia, he consulted the archives of the RAOU,

932Book Reviews

# 2000 British

Ecological Society

Journal of Ecology,

88, 931±937

Tasmanian Wilderness Society, Australian

Conservation Foundation, a selection of natural his-

tory society papers, and the papers of noted natural-

ists and conservationists. In New Zealand, he

examined the wildlife ®les of the Department of

Internal A�airs, and environmental and conserva-

tion groups' papers. At home in the USA, the

author studied the records of the US Fish and

Wildlife Service and the Park Service, along with

naturalists' papers. Dunlap also made use of oral

history interviews in each country bringing valuable

personal recollections to environmental events.

There are a few niggling mistakes. A wrong acro-

nym for the British Association for the

Advancement of Science is used, and the famous

painting `Monarch of the Glen' is attributed to

Edward, not Edwin Landseer. However, these do

not detract from the overall impression that this is a

very scholarly and readable book that will be joy-

ously received by undergraduate students in the

developing arena of taught environmental history.

This point should be reinforced. This is an academic

book to promote debate and encourage further

research in a growing subject, an accessible account

for the general reader, and a textbook for students

who crave an overview of the key issues. If Dunlap

is guilty of anything it is an oversimpli®cation of

these key issues, but this is to be expected when he

has chosen such a broad geographical and subject

range. This is comparative environmental history on

a grand scale, and at its best.

ROBERT A. LAMBERT

References

Dunlap T.R. (1981) DDT: Scientists, Citizens and Public

Policy. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.

Dunlap T.R. (1988) Saving America's Wildlife. Princeton

University Press, Princeton, NJ.

L.R. Walker (ed.) (1999)Ecosystems of the World 16: Ecosystems ofDisturbed Ground.Pp. xii� 868. Elsevier, Amsterdam, The

Netherlands. ISBN 0-444-82420-0. Price $246.50

(hardback).

Here is number 16 in the acclaimed Ecosystems of

the World series. Unlike the others, its title does not

immediately convey a geographical region nor corre-

spond with any particular biome. The uninitiated

could be forgiven for thinking that the volume

would deal mainly with human impacts on the bio-

sphere. However, natural disturbances can be found

in all ecosystems. The task for the editor was to

re®ne the choice of topics and present a balanced

and consistent text.

The scope of the volume is explained in the

Preface and Chapter 1. Contributions then deal pri-

marily with natural disturbances (Chapter 2±13), so-

called anthropogenic (sic), i.e. human-induced, dis-

turbances (Chapter 14±20), overviews of natural

processes that occur across disturbance types

(Chapter 21±27), and `human interactions with and

responses to disturbance' (Chapter 28±30).

Concluding chapters deal with `Economic growth,

human disturbance to ecological systems and sus-

tainability' (Chapter 32) and `Disturbance in terres-

trial ecosystems: salient themes, synthesis and future

directions' (Chapter 33). The volume contains a

short glossary of technical terms. It also has a sys-

tematic list of genera, although quite why this is

here is unclear: it is impossible to use quickly, unless

the reader knows where in the hierarchy a taxon

should appear ± in which case, why bother! More

usefully, there is a comprehensive Index to the

volume. References are listed after each chapter, but

the assiduousness of referencing varies: one chapter

(Chapter 3) has 30 pages of references, which is

some six times the norm.

The authorship is principally American: 46 of the

65 contributors hail from the USA, one is from

Canada and six from the Argentine; these 53 New

World ecologists contrast with nine contributors

from Europe, one from (Asian) Russia, and two

from the Antipodes. Although the text was pub-

lished in Europe, the spelling is North American.

The intention was to be global in coverage, as the

editor recognized that disturbed ecosystems occur

on all continents, including Antarctica. There is an

eclectic mix of topics: some are generic, others

biome-speci®c. All concern the terrestrial realm; the

volume does not attempt to address atmospheric or

aquatic disturbances, but some aquatic (e.g. ¯ood)

or atmospheric (wind) disturbances that directly

a�ect terrestrial ecosystems are covered.

In Chapter 2, John Matthews presents a summary

of disturbance regimes and ecosystem response in

recently deglaciated terrain, informed by his

research in Norway. The following chapter, which

primarily considers natural stress and disturbance in

cold region ecosystems, contains a section on

human disturbances. This includes assertions that

others might challenge: for example, ``Humans . . .

hunted many animals to extinction during the Ice

Ages'', and in the Russian Arctic, reindeer

accounted for 49.7% and polar bear for 43.8% of

the prey of hunters at 7800 BP (p. 58), which implies

a remarkably precise knowledge of prehistory! By

way of compensation, it is this chapter that has the

most extensive bibliography.

Chapter 4 deals with the ecological e�ects of ero-

sion. It appears in the section identi®ed as that pri-

marily concerned with natural disturbance.

933Book Reviews

# 2000 British

Ecological Society

Journal of Ecology,

88, 931±937

However, human activity is often paramount in

creating the conditions for accelerated soil erosion

to occur, and the e�ects of soil erosion in agricul-

tural lands frequently require a human response; so,

this chapter could equally have been placed in the

later section of the volume on ``human interactions

with and responses to disturbance''. More obviously

`natural' are the volcanic disturbances and ecosys-

tem recovery described in Chapter 5.

Succeeding chapters take the reader on a latitudi-

nal sojourn, from Boreal forest (Chapter 6) to a

consideration of wind disturbance in forests of the

temperate-zone (Chapter 7) and tropics (Chapter 8).

Forest features again in Chapter 9, but here the her-

bivorous activities of insects are the focus. Chapter

10 is concerned with disturbance in Mediterranean-

climate shrublands and woodlands.

The natural (sic) section includes a chapter on

grazing, ®re and climate e�ects on primary produc-

tivity of grasslands and savannas (Chapter 11),

although some of the identi®ed climatic e�ects

sound more like `stress' than `disturbance' factors

(sensu Grime 1979). Similar caveats apply to the

chapter on disturbance in deserts (Chapter 12) . The

last of this section (Chapter 13) focuses on distur-

bance regimes in North American wetlands.

In the next section, some Chapters deal with par-

ticular aspects of human activity: for example,

Chapter 14 is called simply `Mining', whereas

Chapter 15 is concerned with disturbance occa-

sioned by military training exercises. Chapter 16

focuses on disturbance in urban ecosystems, whilst

Chapter 17 is a fascinating account of disturbance

and biological invasions. Aspects of human distur-

bance in temperate forests of the north hemisphere

(Chapter 18), tropical forestry (Chapter 19) and the

pampa (Chapter 20) follow.

Chapters 20±27, which concern themselves with

the relationship between disturbance and particular

ecosystem properties (physical aspects of soils, soil

microorganisms, C and N cycling, primary produc-

tion, primary succession, secondary succession, ani-

mals), seem somewhat out of place and might have

been set earlier in the volume, in the `natural' sec-

tion. More appropriately, the concluding chapters

(Chapter 32±33) help to round o� the volume.

This book is unlike others in the Ecosystems of

the World series. The rationale is inherently suspect:

if this, then why not a companion volume on eco-

systems of undisturbed ground? (Indeed, is there

any ground that is not disturbed in some way?

Perhaps examples are some pristine peatlands?) As

the editor admits, ``The development of theory

related to disturbance is in its infancy'' (p. v).

Nevertheless, if one accepts the rationale, then this

volume is a major compendium on the subject.

There is much here to inform teaching and learning,

and numerous avenues of research to be explored

further. It is a particularly valuable source-book on

the subject of disturbance in ecosystems, and it con-

tains some stimulating contributions. The price will

deter many, but the volume might usefully be

bought for the institutional library.

F. M. CHAMBERS

References

Grime, L.P. (1979) Plant Strategies and Vegetation

Processes. Wiley, New York.

B.A. Maurer (1999)Untangling Ecological Complexity.Pp. ix� 251. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

& London. ISBN 0-226-51132-2. Price £13.00

(paperback).

The subtitle of this book is The Macroscopic

Perspective. The basic thesis is that experiments and

models at the laboratory and ecosystem scales are of

limited value because larger-scale phenomena almost

invariably play a part. Biological systems are open

systems, connected in various ways. If we wish to

untangle ecological complexity then we cannot hope

to rely solely on small-scale reductionism. Yet in

spite of the fact that small-scale phenomena are

often not orderly, there are often regularities at the

larger scales.

These propositions are the basis of macroecology,

the ecology of species assembly and abundance at

the large scale. Maurer particularly advocates revi-

siting the statistical approach to ecology, asserting

that we should look for evidence of constraints from

higher levels and that the most interesting properties

of macroecosystems are statistical properties such as

means and variances in abundance, range size and

shape.

In a chapter on small spatial and temporal scales,

we are shown how experiments, however, rigorously

designed, may have unique features that prevent

them being readily used to support general theories.

In the next chapter, linear models are considered,

mainly those based on the community matrix, and

are shown to ®t phenomena better at small time-

scales. The lack of ®t cannot be resolved by

approaching communities as if they were compli-

cated, non-linear systems. Indeed, at this scale, it is

idle to suppose that ecology can be a fully predictive

science, ``Ecologists simply cannot collect, much less

conceptualize, the amount of information that

would be necessary to identify precisely why species

densities change the way they do.''

From this rather low point, halfway through the

text, the argument moves to macroecology, that is

to patterns of commonness, density, body size and

934Book Reviews

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Ecological Society

Journal of Ecology,

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geographical range size. Plants are hardly considered

except as animal food. The population density of

North American birds is not greatest for the smal-

lest species, but instead reaches its maximum for

species weighing around 100±200 g. (Very small vas-

cular plants are also relatively sparse unless they are

duckweeds; in England, small plants appear to be

more extinction-prone than larger ones (Preston

2000)). Size for birds and mammals is related to

reproductive power, the ability to convert energy

into useful work for reproduction.

Brown's principle (it was dubbed a mere hypoth-

esis by Lawton et al., 1994), that species occurring

over larger geographical areas tend to have greater

local abundances at sites where they occur than do

geographically more restricted species, is discussed in

detail. A possible explanation is that species can be

abundant only where all niche parameters are in the

favourable range and are rare or absent where one or

more environmental factors is strongly limiting.

The next two chapters cover the geographical

assembly of local communities (especially species-

area relationships) and the evolution of species

diversity at the macroscale. Are particular clades

more likely to speciate than others, and can this

attribute be related to the question of whether they

are generalists or specialists? In the ®nal chapter we

are told that the macroscopic perspective has much

to o�er and that the environment is in crisis because

of human reproduction. Malthus would have

approved.

In the end, this is a slightly disappointing book,

and the disappointment is not just that plants are

given short shrift. The text is not especially mathe-

matical but it is rather dense, much of it in open

prose without clear conclusions. The style is appar-

ently non-technical, but the subject matter is in rea-

lity a critique of earlier work, especially that of J.H.

Brown. For the main biogeographical ideas, the

undergraduate and non-specialist postgraduate

should refer directly to Brown & Lomolino (1998).

Lecturers and specialists, on the other hand, will

®nd Untangling Ecological Complexity a worthwhile

addition to their library; and it is certainly not

expensive.

MARK HILL

References

Brown, J.H., Lomolino, M.V. (1998). Biogeography. 2nd

edn. Sinauer, Sunderland MA.

Lawton, J.H., Nee, S., Letcher, A.J., Harvey, P.H. (1994)

Animal distributions: patterns and processes. Large-

scale Ecology and Conservation Biology (eds P.J.

Edwards, R.M. May & N.R. Webb), pp. 41±58.

Blackwell Science, Oxford.

Preston, C.D. (2000) Engulfed by suburbia or destroyed by

the plough: the ecology of extinction in Middlesex and

Cambridgeshire. Watsonia, 23, 59±81.

K. Falinska (1998)Plant Population Biology and VegetationProcesses.Pp. 368. W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish

Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland. ISBN 83-

85444-63-7. Price not given (paperback).

This book consists of six sections. The ®rst contains

four chapters that purport to review the principal

concepts and methods used in the study of the

population and vegetation dynamics. Subsequent

sections cover aspects of plant life history variation,

population and vegetation dynamics, species coloni-

zation success and soil seed banks. The ®nal section,

entitled `From population dynamics to vegetation

dynamics', presents a synthesis of the subject relat-

ing vegetation change to ecological processes operat-

ing over a range of spatial and temporal scales.

Despite the e�orts of the editor, the book reads like

the proceedings of a conference. Each section begins

with an overview and is followed by separate contri-

butions that outline the results of original studies

conducted in Poland over the last 25 years. In total,

there are seven major contributing authors.

The preface states that, starting from the theoreti-

cal understanding provided by Harper (1977), the

authors ``have made an attempt to analyse the rela-

tions among the populations and ecological pro-

cesses'' and to provide ``a synthesis of original

studies . . . in the light of the theory of the popula-

tions structure of vegetation''. Have they achieved

this? In a word, no.

The book is at its best when describing the results

of long-term population studies. In comparison to

the many western studies, those reported here have

been conducted on a much larger scale. In addition

to collecting demographic data, Polish researchers

have collected information on the spatial distribu-

tion of plants and vegetation, allowing changes in

vegetation to be mapped and related to species

demography. Few of the studies incorporate manip-

ulative experimentation, most appear to be designed

solely to provide detailed descriptions of vegetation

change. Some contributions contain detailed discus-

sion of the problems of de®ning and recognizing

types of vegetation change. The results are clearly

summarized in diagrammatic form. The level of ana-

lysis is limited, almost entirely con®ned to descrip-

tion. None of the data sets presented are subjected

to modelling or sensitivity analysis using matrices.

No use is made of multivariate methods to explore

relationships between environmental factors, vegeta-

tion and populations dynamics. Given the aims of

the book, I had expected a more sophisticated level

of analysis.

The book is at its worst when attempting to

develop a theoretical synthesis. The authors are

prone to making unsupported general statements.

For example, we are told that ``the size of niche is

935Book Reviews

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Journal of Ecology,

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correlated with the geographical range and local

populations density'' (sic) and that ``seeds ®t for

long-distance dispersal are usually capable of fast

germination and frequently do not require dor-

mancy''. While these statements may be true for

some species in particular circumstances, they can-

not be accepted as established factual generaliza-

tions. The majority of western literature cited dates

from the late 1970s and early 1980s. MacArthur &

Wilson's theory of island biogeography is accepted

and applied to habitat islands without comment or

reservation. Yet more recent works on the dynamics

of metapopulations is hardly mentioned. In some

cases the literature cited has been misinterpreted.

For example, Hutchings (1987) is cited as suggesting

that orchid plants die after two successive years

below ground. This is not true. Hutchings' com-

ments on the longevity of dormant orchids relate

only to Ophrys sphegodes. The misinterpretations

and inappropriate citing of some western literature

may result from problems of language. It is clear

that the ®rst language of the authors is not English.

Although most of the book is readily readable, even

if the style is stilted, some passages are virtually

impenetrable. This is de®nitely not a light read and

is clearly not suitable as a student text.

Despite these shortcomings, the book does have

value. It contains a considerable amount of informa-

tion on a large number of European plant species.

Anyone writing a biological ¯ora should consider

consulting this book. Unfortunately, there is no spe-

cies index, but it should be possible to ®nd material

relevant to a particular species from ®gure legends

and subheadings given in the margins of the text.

The book also provides an interesting window on

available Polish botanical literature and the results

of ®eld studies that are largely unpublished in wes-

tern English language journals.

S. WAITE

References

Harper, J.L. (1977) Population Biology of Plants. Academic

Press, London.

Hutchings, M.J. (1987) The population biology of the early

spider orchid Ophrys sphegodes. Journal of Ecology,

75, 711±742.

SHORT REVIEWS

B.I. Roots, D.A. Chant & C. Heidenreich (eds)

(1999) Special Places: the changing ecosystems of

the Toronto region. Pp. x �342. UBC Press,

Vancouver, Canada. ISBN 9-780774-807357.

Price $49.95 (hardback).

Ecological education must commence its work in

the cities, where many of the people most in need of

such education reside. Books about the habitats that

lie within easy reach of city dwellers, the wildlife on

their doorsteps, and interpretative guides to what

they see in the geology and the vegetation that sur-

rounds them, are a ®rst step in this educational pro-

cess. Here, the city of Toronto, Canada, is displayed

in its natural setting, its geology, climate and topo-

graphy. The history of settlement, from the Iroquois

settlements to the current urban developments, are

described, as are the major biological groups of the

areaÐencompassing vascular plants, bryophytes,

fungi, invertebrates, ®sh, mammals and birds. These

are not exhaustive systematic lists, but outline

guides to the more interesting ¯ora and fauna. Then

there are guides to special sites in the vicinity of

Toronto that should encourage visits and explain

features of interest. In true Canadian pioneering

spirit, the editors and contributors open up a new

route to the ecological inspiration of urban dwellers.

Hofgaard, J.P. Ball, K. Danell & T.V. Callaghan

(eds) (1999) Animal Responses to Global Change in

the North. Pp. 187. Ecological Bulletins, Lund,

Sweden. ISBN 0346-6868. Price not supplied

(hardback).

Although this collection of papers, as its title indi-

cates, is concerned largely with the impact of climate

change on animal populations in the high latitudes,

there are several contributions that will be of inter-

est to a wider audience. The history of mammals in

Sweden during the Holocene, for example, shows a

shift from grazers to browsers; latitudinal gradients

in breeding birds and in saw¯ies do not seem to fol-

low the usual trends, a peak being associated with

habitat diversity in the northern peatlands. North

American work is reported on defoliation of north-

ern trees, showing that raised carbon dioxide

enhances their growth and recovery. Warmer win-

ters in Europe, however, could increase the fre-

quency of defoliation by enhancing the winter

survival of saw¯y defoliators. Good news for north-

ern pine trees comes in the form of better chances of

recruitment in the coming decades of warmth, but

survival will depend on the control of browsing by

moose populations.

J.E. Winston (2000) Describing Species: practical

taxonomic procedure for biologists. Pp. xx� 518.

Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-06825-5.

Price $35 (paperback).

The growing science of biodiversity allows none of

us to forget that millions of species are still out

there undescribed. But it is also likely that if any of

us ecologists happened to stumble upon one of these

we should be unsure of the appropriate procedure.

Here we ®nd the full protocol laid out in detail and

936Book Reviews

# 2000 British

Ecological Society

Journal of Ecology,

88, 931±937

simplicity, from what comprises good form in the

choice of a name, through to the information we

will need for publication of the description. A short

chapter on keys and their construction may also

prove useful, if only as a guide to the currently

available computer software.

C.E. Bock & J.H. Bock (2000) The View from Bald

Hill: thirty years in an Arizona grassland. Pp. xxiv

�197. University of California Press, Berkeley.

ISBN 0±520±22184. Price £10.50 (paperback).

Four hundred and sixty years ago the ®rst domestic

livestock were introduced to the grasslands of the

American South-west, and an inevitable course of

change was set in motion. Sadly, there are no

detailed records of the alterations that have resulted

from the introduction of grazing, but since 1968 an

experimental area has been taken out of grazing

management in southern Arizona and allowed to

develop along its new course. An informal and read-

able account of the last 30 years of this experiment

is recorded in this book. Increased grass cover is the

most obvious consequence of grazing removalÐan

e�ect clearly evident in the satellite photographs of

the region. Fire management has proved a di�cult

issue. Natural wild®res occur, but general ®re con-

trol regulations in the area have demanded that they

be extinguished. Fires are likely to have been more

frequent in the original grasslands. Although the

text of the book is written in an informal style, full

references to published scienti®c data are given in an

appendix, which provides ready access to more

detailed results.

M.J. Mac, P.A. Opler, C.E.P. Haecker & P.D.

Doran (1998) Status and Trends of the Nation's

Biological Resources. 2 volumes. Pp. xi� 961.

U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological

Survey, Reston Va, USA. ISBN 016053285X

Price not supplied (paperback).

Reliable surveys of habitats, communities and popu-

lations must underlie all sound conservation e�ort,

and the survey of a country the size of the United

States is no small challenge. These two volumes are

the published outcome of extensive work by the

Biological Resources Division of the U.S.

Geological Survey. The ®rst section reviews the

major factors a�ecting biological resources, includ-

ing land use (historical and current processes), cli-

mate change, pesticides, etc. The remainder of the

two volumes is taken up with regional studies,

which include coverage of the Caribbean Islands,

Hawaii and the Paci®c Islands, and marine

resources in general, as well as the mainland regions.

Each regional account contains a review of the land-

scapes, habitats and communities, with detailed

information on biodiversity and the status of ende-

mic and other organisms of particular interest.

Some of the latter receive close attention, with

detailed population trends supplied or, in the case of

scarce habitats, information on developments in

management practice (such as changes in ®re control

policies). Covering such a large area, supplying so

much information, and yet maintaining a highly

attractive presentation and readable text, this work

demands admiration. It represents an important

resource in its own right and will prove an invalu-

able base for further conservation work in the

United States.

937Book Reviews

# 2000 British

Ecological Society

Journal of Ecology,

88, 931±937