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Climate variability, climate change and fisheries
TREE vol. 7, no. 12, December
area of neglect in the book is the most extensive application of biocontrol in the phyllosphere - the use of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). The editors might argue that Bt does not grow as such on the leaf surface, and the bacterium is delivered only as the source of toxin. However, this is not fully proven and I should certainly
like to see this topic included in future meetings and books on the phyllosphere. That is a relatively minor niggle and I can recommend this volume to anybody concerned with the fascinating range of interactions between microorganisms and leaves.
Jim M. lynch
1992
Microbial and Crop Protection Dept, Horticulture Research International, Littlehampton, UK BN17 6LP References 1 Preece, T.F. and Dickinson,
C.H., eds
( 1971) Ecology of Leaf Surface Microorganisms, Academic Press 2 Fokkema, N.J. and Van den Heuval, J. (1986) Microbiology of the Phyllosphere, Cambridge
University
Press
wobal cnange: climate anci Economics Climate Variability,
Climate Change and Fisheries
edited by Michael H. Glantz, Cambridge University Press, 1992. f45.OOfi69.95 hbk (450 pages) ISBN 0 52141440 7 Confronting Climate Change: Risks, Implications and Responses edited by Irving M. Mintzer, Cambridge University Press, 1992. f50.00 hbk, f19.00 pbk (xiv + 382 pages) ISBN 0 521 4209 I l/O 521 42109 8 Rio 1992 brought the environment, as a key issue, to centre stage. The reasons for this new awareness are twofold: first, considerable and sustained action by many pressure groups had forced politicians to take note; secondly, a steady commitment on the part of scientists had provided sufficient evidence to indicate that the environmentalists’ concerns, even if not necessarily proven beyond reasonable doubt, ought to be taken seriously. Environmentalist pressure supported by a strong science base had achieved the breakthrough. High expectation in the months before Rio slowly became more and more diluted as world leaders began to realize the complexity and political enormity of the situation. I don’t know whether Confronting Climate Change was available to delegates at Rio; if it wasn’t it should have been because it looks at the problem from a variety of different directions. To me, the obvious starting point is to look for evidence of, and causes of, change; this is well covered in the early chapters and leads into the impacts of climate change. After this, the research scientist might be inclined to stop, having concluded that the problems and their causes have been adequately addressed. There are two difficulties here; first,
that the monitoring record is sometimes equivocal and frequently incomplete; secondly, there are enormous costs - financial and sociological - associated with making changes. The sections on energy use and technology, economics and the role of institutions, and equity considerations and future negotiations cover the topics which, because they have no simple answer, caused greatest problems in Rio. Faced with this dilemma the natural response is to highlight the problems in somebody else’s backyard. Criticism has the advantage that it costs little, but it is an irresponsible management option. The reasoned advice would be, therefore, for people to read those chapters of immediate relevance to their chosen discipline but scrutinize more closely those of other disciplines in order to understand the underlying problems of each situation. This approach is not new - it is described in parable form in the Bible (Matt. 7:3) - but remains of considerable relevance in this context. Confronting Climate Change deals with a broad spectrum of interests within the general subject area of climate change. Climate Variability, Climate Change and Fisheries, on the other hand, looks in detail at one particular industry. While the preface indicates that the various chapters show ‘how we might be able to respond to the consequences of future environmental changes induced by a potential global warming’, this rather lofty ideal is not matched by the contents. The book is a useful account of the history of a number of fisheries worldwide and how they have fluctuated, mainly due to human intervention. Climate is frequently mentioned but the relationship between this and the harvested resources is rarely developed in anything like the way that the title of the book suggests. The socio-
economic impacts of a fluctuating industry such as fishing do get back to some of the underlying problems discussed in Confronting Climate Change, a volume containing many valuable reviews that will form a useful basis for a reasoned debate. lnigo Everson British Antarctic
Survey, NERC, Madingley Road, Cambridge, UK CB3 OET
-An&inbreeding
Systems-
Evolution and Function of Heterostyly edited by Spencer C.H. Barrett, Springer- Verlag, 1992. f 70.50/ DM 198.00 hbk {xi + 279 pages) ISBN 3 540 521 IO 0 A difficulty for this book is that, apart from the 12 authors of its chapters, perhaps less than a dozen botanists work on the function and evolution of heterostyly. It is therefore even more important than usual to show that the topic is interesting. Why should one care about a strange pollination and fertilization arrangement that occurs in perhaps only 25 of the 300-odd angiosperm families? In heterostylous species, flowers of different morphs differ reciprocally. Anthers of one morph are positioned to transfer their pollen with greatest probability to equivalently positioned stigmas, which are found only in the reciprocal morph. Pollen from one position usually fails to fertilize ovules when it pollinates a stigma of a different position. Thus, self, and also same-morph (illegitimate), fertilization fails. Despite hermaphrodite flowers, each morph mates almost exclusively with one or more others. The existence of two morphs in populations, as in primroses and
area of neglect in the book is the most extensive application of biocontrol in the phyllosphere - the use of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). The editors might argue that Bt does not grow as such on the leaf surface, and the bacterium is delivered only as the source of toxin. However, this is not fully proven and I should certainly
like to see this topic included in future meetings and books on the phyllosphere. That is a relatively minor niggle and I can recommend this volume to anybody concerned with the fascinating range of interactions between microorganisms and leaves.
Jim M. lynch
1992
Microbial and Crop Protection Dept, Horticulture Research International, Littlehampton, UK BN17 6LP References 1 Preece, T.F. and Dickinson,
C.H., eds
( 1971) Ecology of Leaf Surface Microorganisms, Academic Press 2 Fokkema, N.J. and Van den Heuval, J. (1986) Microbiology of the Phyllosphere, Cambridge
University
Press
wobal cnange: climate anci Economics Climate Variability,
Climate Change and Fisheries
edited by Michael H. Glantz, Cambridge University Press, 1992. f45.OOfi69.95 hbk (450 pages) ISBN 0 52141440 7 Confronting Climate Change: Risks, Implications and Responses edited by Irving M. Mintzer, Cambridge University Press, 1992. f50.00 hbk, f19.00 pbk (xiv + 382 pages) ISBN 0 521 4209 I l/O 521 42109 8 Rio 1992 brought the environment, as a key issue, to centre stage. The reasons for this new awareness are twofold: first, considerable and sustained action by many pressure groups had forced politicians to take note; secondly, a steady commitment on the part of scientists had provided sufficient evidence to indicate that the environmentalists’ concerns, even if not necessarily proven beyond reasonable doubt, ought to be taken seriously. Environmentalist pressure supported by a strong science base had achieved the breakthrough. High expectation in the months before Rio slowly became more and more diluted as world leaders began to realize the complexity and political enormity of the situation. I don’t know whether Confronting Climate Change was available to delegates at Rio; if it wasn’t it should have been because it looks at the problem from a variety of different directions. To me, the obvious starting point is to look for evidence of, and causes of, change; this is well covered in the early chapters and leads into the impacts of climate change. After this, the research scientist might be inclined to stop, having concluded that the problems and their causes have been adequately addressed. There are two difficulties here; first,
that the monitoring record is sometimes equivocal and frequently incomplete; secondly, there are enormous costs - financial and sociological - associated with making changes. The sections on energy use and technology, economics and the role of institutions, and equity considerations and future negotiations cover the topics which, because they have no simple answer, caused greatest problems in Rio. Faced with this dilemma the natural response is to highlight the problems in somebody else’s backyard. Criticism has the advantage that it costs little, but it is an irresponsible management option. The reasoned advice would be, therefore, for people to read those chapters of immediate relevance to their chosen discipline but scrutinize more closely those of other disciplines in order to understand the underlying problems of each situation. This approach is not new - it is described in parable form in the Bible (Matt. 7:3) - but remains of considerable relevance in this context. Confronting Climate Change deals with a broad spectrum of interests within the general subject area of climate change. Climate Variability, Climate Change and Fisheries, on the other hand, looks in detail at one particular industry. While the preface indicates that the various chapters show ‘how we might be able to respond to the consequences of future environmental changes induced by a potential global warming’, this rather lofty ideal is not matched by the contents. The book is a useful account of the history of a number of fisheries worldwide and how they have fluctuated, mainly due to human intervention. Climate is frequently mentioned but the relationship between this and the harvested resources is rarely developed in anything like the way that the title of the book suggests. The socio-
economic impacts of a fluctuating industry such as fishing do get back to some of the underlying problems discussed in Confronting Climate Change, a volume containing many valuable reviews that will form a useful basis for a reasoned debate. lnigo Everson British Antarctic
Survey, NERC, Madingley Road, Cambridge, UK CB3 OET
-An&inbreeding
Systems-
Evolution and Function of Heterostyly edited by Spencer C.H. Barrett, Springer- Verlag, 1992. f 70.50/ DM 198.00 hbk {xi + 279 pages) ISBN 3 540 521 IO 0 A difficulty for this book is that, apart from the 12 authors of its chapters, perhaps less than a dozen botanists work on the function and evolution of heterostyly. It is therefore even more important than usual to show that the topic is interesting. Why should one care about a strange pollination and fertilization arrangement that occurs in perhaps only 25 of the 300-odd angiosperm families? In heterostylous species, flowers of different morphs differ reciprocally. Anthers of one morph are positioned to transfer their pollen with greatest probability to equivalently positioned stigmas, which are found only in the reciprocal morph. Pollen from one position usually fails to fertilize ovules when it pollinates a stigma of a different position. Thus, self, and also same-morph (illegitimate), fertilization fails. Despite hermaphrodite flowers, each morph mates almost exclusively with one or more others. The existence of two morphs in populations, as in primroses and