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Algal biofouling
Environmental Pollution 47 (1987) 165-168
Book Reviews
Algal Biofouling. Edited by L. V. Evans and K. D. Hoagland. Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam, 1986. Pp. 328, ISBN 0 444 42705 8. Price: US$84.50, Dfl.190.00. Ships' hulls, and other man-made structures immersed in water, provide novel habitats for aquatic species. Colonisation, or 'fouling', of those habitats can have undesirable practical consequences, and is discouraged where possible. This volume contains eleven papers on this topic from a symposium held in Gainesville, Florida, in August 1985, plus another seven invited papers to cover aspects not adequately considered at the symposium. The book benefits from a variety of approaches, from the relatively academic, such as studies on nutrient uptake and algal growth in an oligotrophic lake, via comparative studies on the physico-chemical determinants of toxicity to straightforward tests on the comparative effectiveness of different antifouling paints. The book does lack firm guidance from the Editors. The first chapter, by Callow, gives an excellent introduction, describing the dominant species at 15 seawater sites around the world, and the current technology to inhibit their settlement: 'self-polishing copolymer' paints, which release biocides, usually tributyl tin and copper compounds, at a rate dependent on factors such as temperature, pH, salinity and rate of water movement over the surface. Conditions are usually less than optimal, when a significant degree of fouling still occurs, especially by diatoms. Thereafter the chapters come in a seemingly haphazard sequence, some chapters lack summaries, and 165 Environ. Pollut. (47) (1987)--~ Elsevier Applied Science Publishers Lid, England, 1987.
Printed in Great Britain
166
Book reviews
introductory material is repeated. A little co-ordination would have given much more coherence, to yield a book rather than a series of chapters. One of the middle chapters anticipates current prohibitions on the use of tributyl tin by discussing possible non-toxic methods of preventing fouling. However, the effects of tributyl tin on natural populations are not considered, and one interesting question is therefore not asked: given past experience, with other environmental contaminants, should we have anticipated that unwanted effects could arise when biocides such as tributyl tin are deliberately released into the environment? Acid Rain: What is it and what is it doing to us? By Fred Pearce. Penguin Books, London, 1987. Pp. 162, ISBN 0 14 052380 4. Price: £3"95. No scientific research is complete until it has been published. Scientists may perhaps be competent at writing for fellow-scientists, but are not usually considered to be very successful with wider, less-informed, audiences. Acid rain--never called deposition in this book--is of great practical importance, and involves political decisions and financial costs that affect us all. It is therefore highly desirable for laymen to become wellinformed about it. This book has been written for laymen by a professional journalist on scientific matters, who is currently News Editor for N e w Scientist. How effective is it? The book is very up to date, with some references to events that occurred a mere six months before publication, and the author is clearly well aware of much of the current European research. The main themes are all discussed: smog and its effects on human health, corrosion of buildings and other artifacts, effects on fish, forest die-back and crop yields, the importance of other pollutants and of chemical interaction. Moreover, the doubts and arguments about rates and processes come across very clearly. The style is very different from that which most scientists would adopt, on at least three counts. The narrative is personalised a great deal: character A is lanky, fastthinking and slow-talking; character B has developed a taste for big experimenters; what happened to picnickers in Oxfordshire one summer's day in 1976? Secondly, the style tends to be dramatic: the atmosphere contains a complex cocktail of chemicals, we should be frightened--which strikes me as singularly bad advice--and so on. Finally, the details of the scientific arguments are often not all that clear. Probably the details are irrelevant. With so much uncertain, the important point is to convey the tentative conclusions, likely or possible consequences of acid rain and possible means of alleviation. The book succeeds by these criteria, and I doubt whether many research scientists could, or perhaps would have wished to, have written it.
Book Reviews
Algal Biofouling. Edited by L. V. Evans and K. D. Hoagland. Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam, 1986. Pp. 328, ISBN 0 444 42705 8. Price: US$84.50, Dfl.190.00. Ships' hulls, and other man-made structures immersed in water, provide novel habitats for aquatic species. Colonisation, or 'fouling', of those habitats can have undesirable practical consequences, and is discouraged where possible. This volume contains eleven papers on this topic from a symposium held in Gainesville, Florida, in August 1985, plus another seven invited papers to cover aspects not adequately considered at the symposium. The book benefits from a variety of approaches, from the relatively academic, such as studies on nutrient uptake and algal growth in an oligotrophic lake, via comparative studies on the physico-chemical determinants of toxicity to straightforward tests on the comparative effectiveness of different antifouling paints. The book does lack firm guidance from the Editors. The first chapter, by Callow, gives an excellent introduction, describing the dominant species at 15 seawater sites around the world, and the current technology to inhibit their settlement: 'self-polishing copolymer' paints, which release biocides, usually tributyl tin and copper compounds, at a rate dependent on factors such as temperature, pH, salinity and rate of water movement over the surface. Conditions are usually less than optimal, when a significant degree of fouling still occurs, especially by diatoms. Thereafter the chapters come in a seemingly haphazard sequence, some chapters lack summaries, and 165 Environ. Pollut. (47) (1987)--~ Elsevier Applied Science Publishers Lid, England, 1987.
Printed in Great Britain
166
Book reviews
introductory material is repeated. A little co-ordination would have given much more coherence, to yield a book rather than a series of chapters. One of the middle chapters anticipates current prohibitions on the use of tributyl tin by discussing possible non-toxic methods of preventing fouling. However, the effects of tributyl tin on natural populations are not considered, and one interesting question is therefore not asked: given past experience, with other environmental contaminants, should we have anticipated that unwanted effects could arise when biocides such as tributyl tin are deliberately released into the environment? Acid Rain: What is it and what is it doing to us? By Fred Pearce. Penguin Books, London, 1987. Pp. 162, ISBN 0 14 052380 4. Price: £3"95. No scientific research is complete until it has been published. Scientists may perhaps be competent at writing for fellow-scientists, but are not usually considered to be very successful with wider, less-informed, audiences. Acid rain--never called deposition in this book--is of great practical importance, and involves political decisions and financial costs that affect us all. It is therefore highly desirable for laymen to become wellinformed about it. This book has been written for laymen by a professional journalist on scientific matters, who is currently News Editor for N e w Scientist. How effective is it? The book is very up to date, with some references to events that occurred a mere six months before publication, and the author is clearly well aware of much of the current European research. The main themes are all discussed: smog and its effects on human health, corrosion of buildings and other artifacts, effects on fish, forest die-back and crop yields, the importance of other pollutants and of chemical interaction. Moreover, the doubts and arguments about rates and processes come across very clearly. The style is very different from that which most scientists would adopt, on at least three counts. The narrative is personalised a great deal: character A is lanky, fastthinking and slow-talking; character B has developed a taste for big experimenters; what happened to picnickers in Oxfordshire one summer's day in 1976? Secondly, the style tends to be dramatic: the atmosphere contains a complex cocktail of chemicals, we should be frightened--which strikes me as singularly bad advice--and so on. Finally, the details of the scientific arguments are often not all that clear. Probably the details are irrelevant. With so much uncertain, the important point is to convey the tentative conclusions, likely or possible consequences of acid rain and possible means of alleviation. The book succeeds by these criteria, and I doubt whether many research scientists could, or perhaps would have wished to, have written it.