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Mediterranean-type shrublands
148 Whatever the relevance of the Butser yields to prehistoric agriculture in Britain there is no doubt that their explanation offers an intriguing and perhaps important challenge to agricultural ecologists. It is for this reason that this book can be r e c o m m e n d e d to ecologists concerned with contemporary agro-ecosystems as well as to those whose interest is in the historical aspects. G. STANHILL (Agricultural Research Organisation The Volcani Center Institute of Soils and Water Ministry of Agriculture P.O. Box 6, Bet Dagan, Israel)
MEDITERRANEAN-TYPE SHRUBLANDS M e d i t e r r a n e a n - T y p e Shrublands. (Ecosystems of the World 11). F. de Castri,
D.W. GoodaU and R.L. Specht (Editors), Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam/Oxford/New York, 1981, 643 pp., Dfl. 280, US $136.50, ISBN 0-444-41858-X. This is the fourth volume to appear in a 29-volume series under the general editorial direction of D.W. Goodall. Six o f the "volumes will be devoted to man-managed ecosystems, five of them terrestrial agroecosystems and one aquatic. Although the mediterranean shrublands dealt with in this volume are neither man-managed nor a significant source of h u m a n food, fibre or fuel, it is one o f great significance to man. Historically, agriculture probably first developed in clearings within the maquis o f the eastern Mediterranean basin and certainly the m a n y great civilisations of the Mediterranean littoral fringe developed within this ecosystem. Today in Europe, North America and South Africa, mediterranean shrublands are being increasingly exploited for tourism, settlement and industry and, if only for this reason, a thorough understanding of this ecosystem's structure and function is important. The volume consists of 27 chapters by 32 authors drawn from the five regions in which this ecosystem occurs and is organised within four main divisions. The book is introduced by the first editor with an extensive overview of the contents which includes a section on current state of knowledge of the ecosystem, the history o f its biota and multidimensional study of its heteorogeneity. The first main division is entitled "The Physical Environemt". It consists of two short chapters, one on the physical geography of the mediterranean lands which very briefly reviews their geology, geomorphology and soils, and a second which, rather surprisingly, discusses the mediterranean climate from a purely biological and descriptive point of view. The second division is a major one consisting of surveys of the vegetation
149 for each of the five regions in which it appears. The largest o f these, the maquis o f the Mediterranean basin, has five chapters devoted to it, including one dealing with interactions between shrublands and its neighbouring ecosystems and one reviewing its history. The Californian chaparral, central Chilean matorral, South Australian maUee and renosterveld, strandveld and ghwarrjeveld of the Cape Province in South Africa are each described in a chapter. The third main division is concerned with functional aspects o f the ecosystem and consists of 12 chapters, seven o f them concerned with the flora and five with the fauna and its interaction with the flora. Among the plant aspects dealt with in individual chapters is primary productivity. From the data presented in this and other chapters it would appear that the contribution o f this ecosystem to the net primary productivity of the Earth's land surface is much less than the value appearing in recent reviews, i.e. 1.2 X 109 tonnes per annum or more than 1% of the terrestrial total. Other chapters in this division are devoted to the root structure and system, mineral cycling, phenology, adaptive strategies and vegetation dynamics and management. Chapters on the soil fauna, lizards, insects and birds o f the mediterranean shrublands complete this section. The final division o f this volume devoted to "Man and E c o s y s t e m " will probably be that o f greatest interest to readers of Agro-Ecosystems. It consists of three chapters. The first, a major review b y le Hou~rou, describes in detail the impact o f man and his animals on Mediterranean vegetation. After outlining the long history o f this interaction a brief sketch of the present vegetation background is presented. The effects of fire are described in detail as are those of grazing, crop cultivation, firewood collection, urban development and tourism. Finally the consequences of recent changes in the natural vegetation o f the Mediterranean basin in the developing and developed countries of the region are contrasted. In the developing countries, the doubling of the population in the last 30 years has been accompanied by the loss o f more than one third of the forested land -- mostly to agriculture -- resulting in severe erosion problems. During the same period the population of the developed countries o f the Mediterranean basin has remained stable and the area of forested land has increased while that grazed or used for crop production has decreased with rural depopulation. In such areas the major problems are the increase in fire and pollution associated with the increase in urban development and tourism. A short second chapter reviews the interactions between man and fire and their impacts on shrubland vegetation, b o t h in California and Chile, as well as in the Mediterranean basin. The final chapter b y Perelman deals with tourism in an interesting and innovative fashion by considering the perception o f Mediterranean landscapes, in particular those of the maquis. The visual impact o f the ecosystem is analysed, especially that on visitors whose normal background is the urban and suburban landscapes o f northern Europe. A brief supplementary note on the characteristics of tourism in California concludes this section on Man and Ecosystems.
150
In summary this attractively produced volume can be recommended as providing an extensive and authoritative account of the mediterranean shrubland ecosystem. Inevitably opinions will differ concerning the relative weight given to individual aspects of the subject. To this reviewer a number of topics appear to be inadequately covered, in some cases to the point of neglect. This is unfortunate especially in view of the o p p o r t u n i t y presented b y this ambitious series to obtain b o t h a complete and a comparative ecosystem coverage. With a view to avoiding such lacunae in future volumes it m a y be worthwhile identifying them. Firstly, more detailed, quantitative and recent information on the characteristics of the soils and climates of the region would be most desirable as would the inclusion o f information available on the physical characteristics of the vegetation, b o t h radiative and aerodynamic. Together with more details of the anatomical and physiological characteristics of the vegetation this would enable the fluxes of carbon and water to be calculated using the recently developed methods. The lack of attention to the hydrological characteristics of mediterranean shrublands is especially surprising in view of its growing importance and the mass of information available. Another topic of both current and historical interest is that of secondary production through controlled grazing and this would appear to merit fuller treatment. Finally if man is to be included as part of the ecosystem then provision of anthropological information would be helpful. G. STANHILL
(Bet Dagan, Israel)
BIOLOGICAL EFFICIENCY IN AGRICULTURE
Biological Efficiency in Agriculture. C.R.W. Spedding, J.M. Walsingham and A.M. Hoxey, Academic Press, London, 1981, 383 pp., £18.40, US $44.50, ISBN-0-12-656560-0. 'The problem of e c o n o m y in husbanding resources will not rise to its full importance until the available resources are more completely trapped than they are today. Every indication is that man will learn to utilize some of the sunlight that n o w goes to waste. The general effect will be to increase the rate of energy flux through the system of organic nature with a parallel increase in the total mass of the great world transformer or its rate of circulation, or both' -- A.J. Lotka, Elements of Physical Biology, 1926. The shift in emphasis during the last decade from technological to biological efficiency in agriculture forecast by Lotka more than half a century ago makes the appearance of a b o o k with the above title a very timely one. However, biological efficiency as defined by the authors of this volume refers to the totality of the production processes which make up agriculture
MEDITERRANEAN-TYPE SHRUBLANDS M e d i t e r r a n e a n - T y p e Shrublands. (Ecosystems of the World 11). F. de Castri,
D.W. GoodaU and R.L. Specht (Editors), Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam/Oxford/New York, 1981, 643 pp., Dfl. 280, US $136.50, ISBN 0-444-41858-X. This is the fourth volume to appear in a 29-volume series under the general editorial direction of D.W. Goodall. Six o f the "volumes will be devoted to man-managed ecosystems, five of them terrestrial agroecosystems and one aquatic. Although the mediterranean shrublands dealt with in this volume are neither man-managed nor a significant source of h u m a n food, fibre or fuel, it is one o f great significance to man. Historically, agriculture probably first developed in clearings within the maquis o f the eastern Mediterranean basin and certainly the m a n y great civilisations of the Mediterranean littoral fringe developed within this ecosystem. Today in Europe, North America and South Africa, mediterranean shrublands are being increasingly exploited for tourism, settlement and industry and, if only for this reason, a thorough understanding of this ecosystem's structure and function is important. The volume consists of 27 chapters by 32 authors drawn from the five regions in which this ecosystem occurs and is organised within four main divisions. The book is introduced by the first editor with an extensive overview of the contents which includes a section on current state of knowledge of the ecosystem, the history o f its biota and multidimensional study of its heteorogeneity. The first main division is entitled "The Physical Environemt". It consists of two short chapters, one on the physical geography of the mediterranean lands which very briefly reviews their geology, geomorphology and soils, and a second which, rather surprisingly, discusses the mediterranean climate from a purely biological and descriptive point of view. The second division is a major one consisting of surveys of the vegetation
149 for each of the five regions in which it appears. The largest o f these, the maquis o f the Mediterranean basin, has five chapters devoted to it, including one dealing with interactions between shrublands and its neighbouring ecosystems and one reviewing its history. The Californian chaparral, central Chilean matorral, South Australian maUee and renosterveld, strandveld and ghwarrjeveld of the Cape Province in South Africa are each described in a chapter. The third main division is concerned with functional aspects o f the ecosystem and consists of 12 chapters, seven o f them concerned with the flora and five with the fauna and its interaction with the flora. Among the plant aspects dealt with in individual chapters is primary productivity. From the data presented in this and other chapters it would appear that the contribution o f this ecosystem to the net primary productivity of the Earth's land surface is much less than the value appearing in recent reviews, i.e. 1.2 X 109 tonnes per annum or more than 1% of the terrestrial total. Other chapters in this division are devoted to the root structure and system, mineral cycling, phenology, adaptive strategies and vegetation dynamics and management. Chapters on the soil fauna, lizards, insects and birds o f the mediterranean shrublands complete this section. The final division o f this volume devoted to "Man and E c o s y s t e m " will probably be that o f greatest interest to readers of Agro-Ecosystems. It consists of three chapters. The first, a major review b y le Hou~rou, describes in detail the impact o f man and his animals on Mediterranean vegetation. After outlining the long history o f this interaction a brief sketch of the present vegetation background is presented. The effects of fire are described in detail as are those of grazing, crop cultivation, firewood collection, urban development and tourism. Finally the consequences of recent changes in the natural vegetation o f the Mediterranean basin in the developing and developed countries of the region are contrasted. In the developing countries, the doubling of the population in the last 30 years has been accompanied by the loss o f more than one third of the forested land -- mostly to agriculture -- resulting in severe erosion problems. During the same period the population of the developed countries o f the Mediterranean basin has remained stable and the area of forested land has increased while that grazed or used for crop production has decreased with rural depopulation. In such areas the major problems are the increase in fire and pollution associated with the increase in urban development and tourism. A short second chapter reviews the interactions between man and fire and their impacts on shrubland vegetation, b o t h in California and Chile, as well as in the Mediterranean basin. The final chapter b y Perelman deals with tourism in an interesting and innovative fashion by considering the perception o f Mediterranean landscapes, in particular those of the maquis. The visual impact o f the ecosystem is analysed, especially that on visitors whose normal background is the urban and suburban landscapes o f northern Europe. A brief supplementary note on the characteristics of tourism in California concludes this section on Man and Ecosystems.
150
In summary this attractively produced volume can be recommended as providing an extensive and authoritative account of the mediterranean shrubland ecosystem. Inevitably opinions will differ concerning the relative weight given to individual aspects of the subject. To this reviewer a number of topics appear to be inadequately covered, in some cases to the point of neglect. This is unfortunate especially in view of the o p p o r t u n i t y presented b y this ambitious series to obtain b o t h a complete and a comparative ecosystem coverage. With a view to avoiding such lacunae in future volumes it m a y be worthwhile identifying them. Firstly, more detailed, quantitative and recent information on the characteristics of the soils and climates of the region would be most desirable as would the inclusion o f information available on the physical characteristics of the vegetation, b o t h radiative and aerodynamic. Together with more details of the anatomical and physiological characteristics of the vegetation this would enable the fluxes of carbon and water to be calculated using the recently developed methods. The lack of attention to the hydrological characteristics of mediterranean shrublands is especially surprising in view of its growing importance and the mass of information available. Another topic of both current and historical interest is that of secondary production through controlled grazing and this would appear to merit fuller treatment. Finally if man is to be included as part of the ecosystem then provision of anthropological information would be helpful. G. STANHILL
(Bet Dagan, Israel)
BIOLOGICAL EFFICIENCY IN AGRICULTURE
Biological Efficiency in Agriculture. C.R.W. Spedding, J.M. Walsingham and A.M. Hoxey, Academic Press, London, 1981, 383 pp., £18.40, US $44.50, ISBN-0-12-656560-0. 'The problem of e c o n o m y in husbanding resources will not rise to its full importance until the available resources are more completely trapped than they are today. Every indication is that man will learn to utilize some of the sunlight that n o w goes to waste. The general effect will be to increase the rate of energy flux through the system of organic nature with a parallel increase in the total mass of the great world transformer or its rate of circulation, or both' -- A.J. Lotka, Elements of Physical Biology, 1926. The shift in emphasis during the last decade from technological to biological efficiency in agriculture forecast by Lotka more than half a century ago makes the appearance of a b o o k with the above title a very timely one. However, biological efficiency as defined by the authors of this volume refers to the totality of the production processes which make up agriculture