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book reviews 83 book reviews ecology light 1 0 where an entire sentence is duplicated on successive townsend c r harper j l and begon m 2000 pages overall this ...

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                                       BOOK REVIEWS                                                                                                          83
                                       Book Reviews
                                       Ecology light 1.0                                              where an entire sentence is duplicated on successive
                                       Townsend, C.R., Harper, J.L. and Begon, M. 2000.               pages. Overall, this is a good introductory text, and with
                                       Essentials of ecology. Blackwell Science, Oxford, U.K.         the appropriate coverage of population genetics it would
                                       xviii + 553 pp. Paperback, ISBN: 0-632-04348-2, £24.95         serve well for undergraduate ecology courses.
                                                                                                       References
                                      This text is an abridged version of the larger Ecology:
                                      Individuals, populations and communities by the same             Begon, M.; Harper, J.L.; Townsend, C.R. 1996.
                                      authors (1996). It deviates in organisation from others               Ecology: Individuals, populations and
                                      in the field (e.g., Krebs 1994, Smith 1996),                          communities. 3rd edition. Blackwell Science,
                                      demonstrating that general ecology texts are unlikely to              Oxford, U.K.
                                      provide coverage in any standard format. This perhaps            Krebs, C.J. 1994. Ecology: The experimental analysis of
                                      reflects the breadth of the subject as well as the                    distribution and abundance. 4th edition. Harper
                                                                                                k           Collins, New York, U.S.A.
                                      complex nature of the material. Having said this, it too         Smith, R.L. 1996. Ecology and field biology. 5th
                                      some adjusting to follow along with this most recent                  edition.  Harper Collins, New York, U.S.A.
                                      addition to the field. The text is organised into four
                                      parts, with Part I being a fairly standard 'Introduction to      Ian Hogg
                                      Ecology' (Chapters 1 and 2). Hereafter, it parts                 Centre for Biodiversity and Ecology Research
                                      company with other texts. Part II deals with the                 Department of Biological Sciences University of
                                      physical environment and its association with the biota          Waikato
                                      and Part ill provides the 'nuts and bolts', covering the         Private Bag 3105
                                      major levels of ecological organisation from the                 Hamilton, New Zealand
                                      individual through to the ecosystem. The text concludes
                                                                                                n
                                      with an applied perspective, with a trio of chapters o
                                      'Sustainability', 'Pollution' and 'Conservation' (part IV).
                                      This is a sensible layout for use with introductory             A box of chocolates: The diversity of biodiversity
                                      ecology courses, although the content and organisation
                                      of chapters within sections (particularly Parts II and III)      Kato, M. (Editor) 2000. The biology of biodiversity.
                                      is occasionally a little confusing. For example, the             Springer-Verlag, Tokyo. xii + 324 pp. Hardcover, ISBN:
                                                                                                f
                                      intended simplicity of Part III (i.e., coverage o                4-431-70262-8, US$135.00
                                      individuals, populations, communities and ecosystems)
                                      is not always obvious in chapter headings. Despite this,         The eponymous character of the movie Forrest Gump
                                      one chapter I found particularly interesting was that on         stated that "life was like a box of chocolates. You never
                                                                                                a
                                      'Organism as a habitat' (Chapter 7). This presents               know what you're gonna get." This book, based on
                                      novel and thought provoking way of getting students to           papers presented at a symposium honouring Otto
                                      think about ecological concepts in a subject area that is        Solbrig who won the 1998 International Prize for
                                      'closer to home' (i.e., their own bodies). In general, the       Biology, is a Gump-like chocolate box. The book is
                                      writing style is easy to follow and the explanation of           divided into four sections which look very interesting:
                                      concepts is clear and concise. The quality of the                Species diversity and phylogeny, ecological
                                      graphics is also excellent.                                      biodiversity, development and evolution, and genetic
                                           One area that was a little disappointing was the            biodiversity. However, there is little to link the chapters,
                                      coverage (or lack thereof) of population genetics, an            no holistic overview, no synergy, not even a hint of
                                      area of increasing importance in present day ecology             post-modernist analysis. Given that the term
                                      and conservation and an area relatively well covered by          'biodiversity' can mean almost anything unless strictly
                                      both the Krebs and Smith texts. This coverage is also            defined, we should not be surprised that most recent
                                      lacking in the 'big' book (Harper et aI., 1996), and the         advances in ecology, evolution, development and
                                      limited reference to the topic (in the Conservation              systematics are touched upon. Not that there are poor
                                      chapter) is essentially the same material as that                chapters - each is very good. However, for every
                                      provided in the big text. Hopefully, coverage of this            strawberry cream (avian evolution in Pleistocene North
                                      topic will be enhanced in future editions. There are also        America) there is a nut whorl (the origin of reproductive
                                      occasional editorial and typographical errors, such as in        isolation), for each turkish delight
                                      Chapter 3
                                      New Zealand Journal of Ecology (2001) 25(2): 83-87 ©New Zealand Ecological Society
                                       84                                                   NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, VOL. 25, NO.2, 2001
                                       (developmental genetics and diversity of form) there is     Contrary to the name, ecological economics is much
                                       a viennese fudge (patterns of tropical tree diversity).     broader than a simple synthesis of the two 'eco-
                                       And like a box of chocolates, individuals will argue        disciplines'. This presents problems, however, as
                                       over which flavour they prefer.                             different groups attempt to stamp different meanings o
                                                                                                                                                            n
                                            Not that there is a lack of more 'traditional'         the term ecological economics. The authors' definition
                                       biodiversity topics in this volume. Solbrig states in his   and their purpose in writing this book are clearly
                                       contribution "the Sciences of Biodiversity must include     identified from the outset. They assume an audience
                                       all the aspects of evolutionary and ecological theory       versed in natural sciences, and thus omit introductory
                                       concerned with the Origin and Maintenance of the            material in these areas. The purpose of the book is to
                                       diversity of living organisms. It also must include the     provide a bridge into economics, ethics and
                                       study of human behavior and their economic activities.      environmental management for natural scientists.
                                       Finally, in order to not only understand, but also          'Conventional' environmental economics is introduced
                                       influence human behavior so as to reduce the                in order to identify 'questionable' practices, although tha
                                       environmentally negative aspects of their economic                                                                   t
                                       activities, a new environmental ethic must be               questioning is never explicit.
                                       developed." It is just that this chapter comes after one         The book comprises 14 chapters broken into 4
                                       on handling very large data sets in phylogenetic            parts. Part 1 (4 chapters) introduces the concepts and
                                       analyses!                                                   history of ecological economics, conventional
                                            What is in the book for ecologists then?' Several      environmental economics and ethics. Valuation tools
                                       chapters are of direct relevance: A warning about           and concepts of value are addressed in part 2 (3
                                       'creeping fruitless fall' (the botanical version of silent  chapters), while part 3 evaluates decision-making
                                       spring), an international study on whether biodiversity     frameworks (4 chapters). Applications and more
                                       really does matter in an ecosystem, the effects of patchy   methods are illustrated in part 4 (3 chapters).
                                                                                                        Ecological economists use the ter
                                       landscapes on diversity, the role of feedback between                                                               m
                                       organisms and the environment. Of less general interest     'transdisciplinary' to describe their approach to
                                       are many chapters with a molecular approach: assessing      utilisation of information from numerous areas. The
                                       variation within populations of ferns, human diversity      objective is to synthesise insights to allow a better
                                                                                                   characterisation of how the global system functions an
                                       and its history, how genetic diversity may be divided                                                               d
                                       into adaptive and historical components, the diversity of   ultimately the constraints on what humans can do within
                                       fish. Finally there is a section of four papers on          the bounds of the natural world. The approach does not
                                       development. If you want to find out what a hox gene is     eschew values and is concerned with distributional
                                       and why they have been important in the generation of       implications. The authors claim that ecological
                                       diversity then this is the place to start.                  economics is concerned with integration of three
                                            Despite being well written and presented, I could      strands: the economic, ecological and social systems.
                                       not recommend this as a 'must buy' for an individual in     However, this book is heavily biased towards
                                       a market with many similar titles. However, this book       economics. Key aspects integral to ecological
                                       has a great deal of valuable information and will sit       economics, namely politics and social assessment, are
                                       very comfortably and productively in an institution's       essentially ignored. This is somewhat strange, even with
                                       library.                                                    the target audience's background in physical sciences,
                                       Adrian Paterson                                             because it does not address integration of the full range
                                       Ecology and Entomology Group P.O. Box 84                    of disciplines to construct enhanced models of
                                       Lincoln University                                          environmental systems.
                                       Lincoln, New Zealand                                             The range of policy analysis tools presented is
                                                                                                   broad and relevant, and introduced in a very clear style
                                                                                                   accessible to readers without prior grounding in relevant
                                                                                                   disciplines. It is an extremely coherent introduction to
                                       Ecological economics? ... not quite                         the core concepts of environmental and resource
                                                                                                   economics and environmental assessment. The material
                                       Edwards-Jones, G., Davies, B. and Hussain, S. 2000. addressing ethics and values is particularly well-written
                                       Ecological economics: An introduction. Blackwell and should provide a spur for all readers to reassess their
                                       Science, Oxford, U.K. vi + 266 pp. Paperback, ISBN: 0-      individual positions and to better understand those with
                                       865-42796-8, AUS$95.00                                      different views. A concluding chapter would have been
                                                                                                   very beneficial to make sense of the vast array of
                                                                                                   analytical methods and, in particular, how they can be
                                       Ecological economics has become fashionable recently        used together to produce better understanding. While
                                       and continues to adopt converts from a range of             this book fails in its stated purpose of providing a
                                       disciplines who see the need to transcend disciplinary                                                               n
                                                                                                   introduction to ecological economics, it is, nevertheless,
                                       boundaries to bring about more desirable environmental      a welcome addition to the bookshelf. Ecologists will
                                       outcomes.                                                   find much in it to challenge
                                       BOOK REVIEWS                                                                                                            85
                                       them and should find it a useful tool to aid their                handbook of methods for anyone considering
                                       understanding of economics and economists.                        research in ecosystem ecology.
                                       Geoff Kerr                                                        Duane A. Peltzer
                                       Environmental Management and Design Division                      Landcare Research
                                       P.O. Box 84                                                       P.O. Box 69
                                       Lincoln University                                                Lincoln 8152, New Zealand
                                       Lincoln, New Zealand
                                       Ecosystem science                                                 Methodical ecology
                                       Sala, O.E., Jackson, R.B., Mooney, H.A. and Howarth,              Southwood, T.R.E. and Henderson, P .A. 2000.
                                       R.W. (Editors). 2000. Methods in ecosystem science.               Ecological methods. Blackwell Science, Oxford, U.K.
                                       Springer-Verlag, New York, U.S.A. xxii + 421 pp.                  xv + 575pp. Paperback, ISBN: 0-632-05477-8,
                                       Paperback, ISBN: 0-387-98743-6, US$69.95                          US$112.00
                                       Ecologists are increasingly interested in using                   The ecologist's bible, as previous editions have been
                                       ecosystem-level approaches to test general theory and             called, is now available in revised format 22 years after
                                       understand the effects of global change phenomena.                the last update. The book again covers all key aspects of
                                       This approach often requires multidisciplinary teams              animal population ecology: field and statistical methods
                                       having a broad array of knowledge and skills and                  for estimates of absolute or relative population
                                       consequently draws on a wide, diffuse literature.                 abundance from all habitat types, estimation of other
                                       Because of this, choosing appropriate methods for                 parameters (births, deaths, dispersal), construction and
                                       initiating ecosystem-level research can be difficult. Sala        analysis of life-tables, etc. It even dabbles in community
                                       et.al.  do an excellent job of synthesizing current               ecology with discussions of species diversity and
                                       methods used for ecosystem ecology                                species packing and their measurement, along with
                                       by a large number of experts.                                     estimation of energy flow in a food web.
                                            This book is organized in a series of chapters                    The main change from previous editions is that the
                                       covering four broad areas: carbon and energy                      coverage now extends to all metazoans and not mainly
                                       dynamics, nutrientand water dynamics, manipulative                insects. I still detected a strong entomological flavour
                                       ecosystem experiments, and syntheses. Topics covered              throughout the text but must admit that this version will
                                       in the book include primary production, decomposition,            be useful to all animal ecologists. Other improvements
                                       stable isotopes, measuring nutrient or water fluxes, and          include new sections on recent developments (e.g.
                                       manipulative ecosystem experiments. Each chapter is a             remote sensing, GIS), and lists of web sites of field
                                       succinct summary of current methods and contains a                equipment manufacturers and software distributors. The
                                       comprehensive reference list. Chapters are not                    book has its own web site (http://www.blackwell-
                                       exhaustive summaries of methods, but discuss the                  science.com/southwood) which provides additional
                                       relative merits of commonly employed methods.
                                       Readers are directed to the relevant literature for more          illustrations, details of equipment and computer
                                       detailed technical information on specific methods.               programs, and references published after the book was
                                       Most chapters are clearly written and are excellent               completed. Thus the book will never become obsolete.
                                       summaries of their topic.                                              The scope of the book is so broad that not all
                                            Because of the broad range of approaches used in             methods mentioned could be explained in great detail.
                                       the study of ecosystem ecology, the book necessarily              Most key methods are covered in depth, and illustrated
                                       omits several topics: historical approaches, managing             with examples. Other methods are only described
                                       data  (i.e.metadata, long-term datasets), disturbance,            superficially, and are accompanied by references where
                                       adaptive management, linking data and models, and                 more information is available. The most useful
                                       mini-ecosystem approaches to ecosystem ecology.                   contribution of the book is its focus on the comparative
                                       Inclusion of these topics would improve the text, but             efficiency and bias of alternative methods. The authors
                                       I'm sure these will appear in                                     review the strengths and weaknesses of each method, its
                                       future editions of the book. The only other concern I                                                                        s
                                       had with this book is its strong United States bias in            applicability to a range of situations, and what factor
                                       both authorship (18 of the 22 chapters are by US-based            need to be considered when choosing a method. This
                                       authors) and the literature cited, despite authors from           kind of assessment is often of great importance to field
                                       other regions making important contributions to the               ecologists, and in itself justifies purchasing this book.
                                       field.                                                                The book is well illustrated and well indexed, and
                                            Overall the book is well-written, succinct, and an           contains only a few, mostly trivial errors. Despite the
                                       excellent resource for graduate students and researchers          quality of the presentation, it is not an easy read. It is
                                       in ecology. I'm sure this volume will become an                   written in a dry, recipe-like style, and it is not the sort of
                                       essential
                                         86                                                     NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, VOL. 25, NO.2, 2001
                                                                                                                                                                  r
                                       book that one reads cover to cover. That is not a               one would have thought this is a major issue fo
                                       problem, though, because in a lifetime, the average             scientists today, Le., how to easily get information out
                                       ecologist will only require information on a fraction of        to the public on the web while keeping data security and
                                       the field and statistical methods described in the book.        integrity intact. This topic deserved far more attention
                                       But all ecologists, maybe especially those working on           than it received throughout the book.
                                       insects or aquatic animals, will find it an invaluable and      Chris Arbuckle
                                       most comprehensive reference text.                              Department of Zoology
                                      Robert Poulin                                                    University of Otago
                                      Department of Zoology                                            P.O. Box 56
                                      University of Otago                                              Dunedin, New Zealand
                                      P.O. Box 56
                                      Dunedin, New Zealand
                                                                                                        Estimation of parameters
                                      Managing ecological data                                          McCallum, H. 2000. Population parameters: Estimation
                                                                                                         for ecological models. Blackwell Science, Oxford, U.
                                                                                                                                                                 K
                                      Michener, W.K. and Brunt, l.W. 2000. Ecological data-              x + 348 pp. Paperback, ISBN: 0-86542-740-2
                                      Design, management and processing. Blackwell
                                      Science, Oxford, U.K. xii + 180 pp. Paperback, ISBN:             This book gives an up-to-date description of models and
                                      0-63205231-7                                                     the estimation of their parameters. It concentrating on
                                                                                                       animal population models rather than plant models or
                                      An ecologist must not only be able to precisely an
                                                                                                 d     community analyses, with emphasis on 'wildlife'
                                      succinctly analyse data in a timely manner to allow their        ecology, mainly vertebrates other than fish. It aims to
                                      publication, but must also have a competent grip on the                                                                     h
                                                                                                       summarise methods of estimating parameters, wit
                                      management of data for other researchers to refer to in          discussion of the associated study designs. After a
                                                                                                 f
                                      years to come. Often researchers will use any number o           'parameter estimation toolbox' chapter with details of
                                      software packages to analysis data, but the management           statistical methods, there are chapters on single
                                      of the data usually exists in name only: the retrieval           population estimates (population size, birth and death
                                      system employed often amounts to a spreadsheet file in           rates, migration, rate of increase of a population, density
                                      EXCEL on an office PC, and that is where the 'data'              dependence and spatial parameters), followed by
                                      management ceases. Indeed many researchers still rely            chapters on two or more populations (competition,
                                      on the publication of their science in journals to 'archive'     predator-prey, plant-herbivore, host-pathogen and host-
                                      their data for the future, and not on some fancy                 parasite models).
                                      relational database with such things as metadata and a                The statistical background chapter provides
                                      user interface.                                                  essentially an overview of methods, and could not
                                           The book takes a helpful step towards highlighting          replace a statistics textbook, but up-to-date and readable
                                      major topics in modem day collection of ecological data.         references are given for the summarised techniques.
                                      It also tries not to drown the reader in too much 'techno-       There are perceptive discussions of sensitivity analysis,
                                      detail' on each topic of interest. Each of the eight             bias, accuracy and precision, maximum likelihood
                                      chapters covers a specific area relating to the                  estimation, computer intensive methods (jackknife and
                                      manipulation and acquisition of data, everything from            bootstrap) and Bayesian methods. The chapters on
                                      research project design, development of databases, data          single populations include accurate summaries of
                                      quality assurance, and metadata, to topics on knowledge          current methods in capture-recapture, line transect
                                      transfer. Each chapter covers its area in a sufficiently         sampling and population viability analysis, and advice
                                      thorough manner without getting bogged down in too               on study design and sampling strategy. There are
                                      much jargon.                                                     plentiful references to articles, books, web sites and
                                           This book does not deliver to ecologists a specific         computer packages, including many recent
                                      plan to solve their data management issues. Its intent is        developments. Particularly important are the comments
                                      to provide a guide that empowers a researcher with a             in Chapter 3 on the use of count data as an index for
                                      focused attitude to managing important and valuable              population size where there is no justification for the
                                      ecological information. This book would be useful to                                                                        t
                                                                                                       assumption of a. constant rate of detection over differen
                                      those employed in a data management role. It would               samples and times.
                                      also provide new scientists with a solid background on                The later chapters include competition and
                                                                                                 d
                                      data collection methods and management tools an                  predator-prey models. They concentrate on deterministic
                                      approaches. The only topic the book does not cover               models, with parameter estimation by non-linear least
                                      adequately is web-based data issues, one of the growth                                                                      n
                                                                                                       squares given in examples. There are simulatio
                                      areas in ecological research. Though the authors                 examples with parameter inputs from a range of values
                                      mention this topic in passing,                                   to allow for
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...Book reviews ecology light where an entire sentence is duplicated on successive townsend c r harper j l and begon m pages overall this a good introductory text with essentials of blackwell science oxford u k the appropriate coverage population genetics it would xviii pp paperback isbn serve well for undergraduate courses references abridged version larger individuals populations communities by same authors deviates in organisation from others field e g krebs smith rd edition demonstrating that general texts are unlikely to provide any standard format perhaps experimental analysis reflects breadth subject as distribution abundance th collins new york s complex nature material having said too biology some adjusting follow along most recent addition organised into four parts part i being fairly introduction ian hogg chapters hereafter centre biodiversity research company other ii deals department biological sciences university physical environment its association biota waikato ill provide...

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