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Floodplain forest ecosystems. I. Before Water Management Measures
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To sum it all up, the proceedings of this symposium are of commendable quality. They contain a wealth of information and address issues highly relevant to the problems of deforestation and forestation in Third World countries. The volume will be worthwhile reading and a valuable reference to anybody concerned with forestation. R.K. HERMANN
Department of Forest Management, Oregon State University Corvallis, OR 97331, U.S.A. FLOODPLAIN FOREST ECOSYSTEMS
Floodplain Forest Ecosystems. I. Before Water Management Measures. M. Penka, M. Vyskot, E. Klimo and F. Vasicek (Editors), Developments in Agricultural and Managed-Forest Ecology 15 A, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1985. xii + 468 pp., hardcover, price Dfl. 275.0, US$101.75, ISBN: 0-444-99566-8. This book is an account of the natural conditions of floodplain forests and meadows along the rivers Dyje and Morava in Moravia, Czechoslovakia, more precisely at Breclav, N. Lednice. In this area, an extensive water-regulation and land reclamation plan has been established. This volume describes the situation prior to the major changes of the water regime. The work performed was linked to the IBP and MAB programmes, which aimed to investigate the biological basis of production and analyse man's relation to the environment, respectively. These floodplain studies are a good reflection of the ultimate goal of these two programmes. The contents of the volume follow the usual pattern of ecosystem studies today. It starts with a historical account of floodplain forests and man's impact on them, followed by general remarks on the vegetation and the research area. The major chapters are devoted to basic environmental factors {climate and soil), primary production of the different vegetation layers, secondary production, decomposition, and cycling of mineral elements. It is not possible to give a detailed review of each chapter here. The book gives a good account of the methods used and representative results for either parts of or the whole investigation period. Each section has a summary of the major findings. An examination of ecosystem books along with investigations from the 1960s and 1970s reveals that detailed descriptions of ecosystem structures are available. In addition there are also studies of processes such as photosynthesis, transpiration, litter fall, decomposition, soil respiration, leaching etc. Knowledge of these basic data and information now makes it possible to reassess the problem and further develop our understanding. It must now be a challenge to use this knowledge in order to develop theories and models of ecosystem functioning. We can then better predict the possible changes resulting from differ-
281
ent degrees and forms of land use. In this way we can contribute to a wiser use of our natural resources. This book is an English translation of the original volume and so it has now been made available to a wider public. FOLKE O. ANDERSSON
Department o[ Ecology and Environmental Research Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences P.O. Box 7072, S-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
BIOMASS
Biomass: Recent Economic Studies. J-C. Sourie and L. Killen (Editors), Elsevier Applied Science Publishers, Barking, 1986, 187 pp., hardcover, price £25.00, ISBN: 1-85166-028-3. This book contains the papers presented at an EEC meeting in Brussels in October, 1985, as a result of a study within the Community Energy and Agriculture Programme. The 16 papers are equally divided into two sections, namely, 'The Economics of Non-food Crop Production' and 'Macro-economic Aspects'. One of the most important points made in the early papers is that, if the cultivation of renewable resources for fuel is being considered for land which, for one reason or another, cannot be used for food production, then the economics have to be compared with the remaining alternatives. There is no point in saying that biomass is less profitable than food if you are not allowed to grow food on the areas being considered. The reason may well, in the future, be because over-production of food has led to restrictions of one sort or another. However, there are other reasons and this book illustrates some that concern land that is too polluted (e.g. by heavy metals) to grow food for human consumption. Several papers consider short-rotation forestry as an alternative land use, with varying conclusions. There is a lack of data, especially from commercial-scale plantations, but several calculations show that short-rotation forestry could be competitive, in one case where the plantation produced fuel for use in glasshouses. In the latter case, returns were better than from existing enterprises but, as with all forestry, there was a time-lag between establishing the plantation and getting any return at all. This is one of the reasons why agroforestry systems often prove to be better, since they provide an immediate return. In one case, poplar and maize appeared to be a particularly attractive system. In the U.K., it has been calculated that energy from tree crops could be more profitable than current uses on 4.7% of the agricultural land of Great Britain. However, more data are needed, on both technical and economic aspects. In some circumstances, however there is a lack of appropriate equipment and, in
To sum it all up, the proceedings of this symposium are of commendable quality. They contain a wealth of information and address issues highly relevant to the problems of deforestation and forestation in Third World countries. The volume will be worthwhile reading and a valuable reference to anybody concerned with forestation. R.K. HERMANN
Department of Forest Management, Oregon State University Corvallis, OR 97331, U.S.A. FLOODPLAIN FOREST ECOSYSTEMS
Floodplain Forest Ecosystems. I. Before Water Management Measures. M. Penka, M. Vyskot, E. Klimo and F. Vasicek (Editors), Developments in Agricultural and Managed-Forest Ecology 15 A, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1985. xii + 468 pp., hardcover, price Dfl. 275.0, US$101.75, ISBN: 0-444-99566-8. This book is an account of the natural conditions of floodplain forests and meadows along the rivers Dyje and Morava in Moravia, Czechoslovakia, more precisely at Breclav, N. Lednice. In this area, an extensive water-regulation and land reclamation plan has been established. This volume describes the situation prior to the major changes of the water regime. The work performed was linked to the IBP and MAB programmes, which aimed to investigate the biological basis of production and analyse man's relation to the environment, respectively. These floodplain studies are a good reflection of the ultimate goal of these two programmes. The contents of the volume follow the usual pattern of ecosystem studies today. It starts with a historical account of floodplain forests and man's impact on them, followed by general remarks on the vegetation and the research area. The major chapters are devoted to basic environmental factors {climate and soil), primary production of the different vegetation layers, secondary production, decomposition, and cycling of mineral elements. It is not possible to give a detailed review of each chapter here. The book gives a good account of the methods used and representative results for either parts of or the whole investigation period. Each section has a summary of the major findings. An examination of ecosystem books along with investigations from the 1960s and 1970s reveals that detailed descriptions of ecosystem structures are available. In addition there are also studies of processes such as photosynthesis, transpiration, litter fall, decomposition, soil respiration, leaching etc. Knowledge of these basic data and information now makes it possible to reassess the problem and further develop our understanding. It must now be a challenge to use this knowledge in order to develop theories and models of ecosystem functioning. We can then better predict the possible changes resulting from differ-
281
ent degrees and forms of land use. In this way we can contribute to a wiser use of our natural resources. This book is an English translation of the original volume and so it has now been made available to a wider public. FOLKE O. ANDERSSON
Department o[ Ecology and Environmental Research Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences P.O. Box 7072, S-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
BIOMASS
Biomass: Recent Economic Studies. J-C. Sourie and L. Killen (Editors), Elsevier Applied Science Publishers, Barking, 1986, 187 pp., hardcover, price £25.00, ISBN: 1-85166-028-3. This book contains the papers presented at an EEC meeting in Brussels in October, 1985, as a result of a study within the Community Energy and Agriculture Programme. The 16 papers are equally divided into two sections, namely, 'The Economics of Non-food Crop Production' and 'Macro-economic Aspects'. One of the most important points made in the early papers is that, if the cultivation of renewable resources for fuel is being considered for land which, for one reason or another, cannot be used for food production, then the economics have to be compared with the remaining alternatives. There is no point in saying that biomass is less profitable than food if you are not allowed to grow food on the areas being considered. The reason may well, in the future, be because over-production of food has led to restrictions of one sort or another. However, there are other reasons and this book illustrates some that concern land that is too polluted (e.g. by heavy metals) to grow food for human consumption. Several papers consider short-rotation forestry as an alternative land use, with varying conclusions. There is a lack of data, especially from commercial-scale plantations, but several calculations show that short-rotation forestry could be competitive, in one case where the plantation produced fuel for use in glasshouses. In the latter case, returns were better than from existing enterprises but, as with all forestry, there was a time-lag between establishing the plantation and getting any return at all. This is one of the reasons why agroforestry systems often prove to be better, since they provide an immediate return. In one case, poplar and maize appeared to be a particularly attractive system. In the U.K., it has been calculated that energy from tree crops could be more profitable than current uses on 4.7% of the agricultural land of Great Britain. However, more data are needed, on both technical and economic aspects. In some circumstances, however there is a lack of appropriate equipment and, in