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Antarctic paleobiology. Its role in the reconstruction of Gondwana
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Antarctic Paleobiology. Its Role in the Reconstruction of Gondwana by T. N. Taylor and E. L. Taylor (Editors), Springer, Heidelberg, 1990. Hardcover. 261 pp. Price DM 198.00. ISBN 3-540-97006-1. This book grew out of a meeting held at The Ohio State University in June 1988 entitled "Workshop on Antarctic Paleobotany and its Relationship to Reconstructions of Gondwana" and consists of fifteen review papers and a bibliography. Two of the contributions provide a background to the remaining papers. James Collinson sketches the "Depositional setting of Late Carboniferous to Triassic biota in the Transantarctic Basin", while Judith Parrish discusses "Gondwanan paleogeography and paleoclimatology". These are followed by two papers on vegetation. Robert Spicer compares the northern Alaskan and Antarctic Cretaceous record in "Reconstructing highlatitude Cretaceous vegetation and climate: Arctic and Antarctic compared" and Geoffrey Creber surveys "The south polar forest ecosystem". The palaeobotanical theme is interrupted at this point by William Hammer's review of "Triassic terrestrial vertebrate faunas of Antarctica". The remainder of the book deals with palynology and palaeobotany. Geoffrey Playford's paper "Proterozoic and Paleozoic palynoiogy of Antarctica: a review" and Elizabeth Truswell's paper "Cretaceous and Tertiary vegetation of Antarctica: a palynological perspective" between them review the status of Antarctic palyv.ostratigraphy. The palaeobotanical papers are: Dianne Edwards' "Silurian-Devonian paleobotany: problems, progress, and potential"; Sergio Archangelsky's "Plant distribution in Gondwana during the Late Paleozoic"; M. N. Bose, Edith Taylor, and Thomas Taylor's "Gondwana floras of India and Antarctica: a survey and appraisal"; Edith Taylor and Thomas Taylor's "Structurally preserved Permian and Triassic floras from Antarctica"; Kathleen Pigg and Thomas Taylor's "Permineralized Glossopteris and Dicroidium from Antarctica"; T. Delevoryas' "Comments on the role of cycadophytes in Antarctic fossil floras"; Ruth Stockey's
BOOK REVIEWS
"Antarctic and Gondwana conifers"; and Andrew Drinnan and Peter Crane's "Cretaceous paleobotany and its bearing on the biogeography of austral angiosperms". These papers are all useful reviews and, together with Edith Taylor and Thomas Tayior's "Bibliography of Antarctic paleobotany and palynology", contain a comprehensive set of references on Antarctic paleobotany and palynology. As is usual in such complications, the papers vary markedly in style and approach. Most are well written and readable. Many are well illustrated: Playford figures numerous spores from the Bainmedart Coal Measures in the Prince Charles Mountains; Archangelsky figures a variety of macroplants, mainly from Argentina; by contrast Bose et al. do not illustrate any taxa. Some maps are more informative than others: for a book dealing primarily with the Antarctic the stereographic projection used in Edward's paper is more useful than the elliptical projection adopted by Archangelsky. The book is well produced and I detected few spelling mistakes (although the editors have the workshop lasting a day longer in the bibliography than in the introduction). I was surprised to see no reference to Philip Darlington's "Biogeography of the southern end of the world" in any of the papers (or in the bibliography). Although dated, the book was published in 1965, it is a useful survey that sets Antarctica in a palaeogeographic and biogeographic perspective. While the workshop had a unifying theme, which is reflected in fourteen of the contributions, the paper on vertebrate faunas seems oddly out of place and has necessitated the change from "Antarctic paleobotany" to "Antarctic paleobiology" in the title of the published proceedings. It is a pity that a useful paper on vertebrate palaeontology is bibliographically "buried" in a palaeobotanical book. Despite its title, the book provides a great deal of information on other Gondwana continents - particularly India and South America - - in addition to Antarctica, thus emphasising the unity of Gondwana. This leads me to ask "what is the role of Antarctica in the reconstruction of Gond-
BOOK REVIEWS
wana?". Undoubtedly it had a key position geographically. However, with the difficult field conditions in Antarctica, much of our knowledge of Gondwana has come from other continents. Antarctic Paleobiology goes a long way towards
[ 77
summarising the current state of knowledge and helps to fill a gap in our understanding of this part of Gondwana. A. E. C O C K B A 1 N (Perth)
Antarctic Paleobiology. Its Role in the Reconstruction of Gondwana by T. N. Taylor and E. L. Taylor (Editors), Springer, Heidelberg, 1990. Hardcover. 261 pp. Price DM 198.00. ISBN 3-540-97006-1. This book grew out of a meeting held at The Ohio State University in June 1988 entitled "Workshop on Antarctic Paleobotany and its Relationship to Reconstructions of Gondwana" and consists of fifteen review papers and a bibliography. Two of the contributions provide a background to the remaining papers. James Collinson sketches the "Depositional setting of Late Carboniferous to Triassic biota in the Transantarctic Basin", while Judith Parrish discusses "Gondwanan paleogeography and paleoclimatology". These are followed by two papers on vegetation. Robert Spicer compares the northern Alaskan and Antarctic Cretaceous record in "Reconstructing highlatitude Cretaceous vegetation and climate: Arctic and Antarctic compared" and Geoffrey Creber surveys "The south polar forest ecosystem". The palaeobotanical theme is interrupted at this point by William Hammer's review of "Triassic terrestrial vertebrate faunas of Antarctica". The remainder of the book deals with palynology and palaeobotany. Geoffrey Playford's paper "Proterozoic and Paleozoic palynoiogy of Antarctica: a review" and Elizabeth Truswell's paper "Cretaceous and Tertiary vegetation of Antarctica: a palynological perspective" between them review the status of Antarctic palyv.ostratigraphy. The palaeobotanical papers are: Dianne Edwards' "Silurian-Devonian paleobotany: problems, progress, and potential"; Sergio Archangelsky's "Plant distribution in Gondwana during the Late Paleozoic"; M. N. Bose, Edith Taylor, and Thomas Taylor's "Gondwana floras of India and Antarctica: a survey and appraisal"; Edith Taylor and Thomas Taylor's "Structurally preserved Permian and Triassic floras from Antarctica"; Kathleen Pigg and Thomas Taylor's "Permineralized Glossopteris and Dicroidium from Antarctica"; T. Delevoryas' "Comments on the role of cycadophytes in Antarctic fossil floras"; Ruth Stockey's
BOOK REVIEWS
"Antarctic and Gondwana conifers"; and Andrew Drinnan and Peter Crane's "Cretaceous paleobotany and its bearing on the biogeography of austral angiosperms". These papers are all useful reviews and, together with Edith Taylor and Thomas Tayior's "Bibliography of Antarctic paleobotany and palynology", contain a comprehensive set of references on Antarctic paleobotany and palynology. As is usual in such complications, the papers vary markedly in style and approach. Most are well written and readable. Many are well illustrated: Playford figures numerous spores from the Bainmedart Coal Measures in the Prince Charles Mountains; Archangelsky figures a variety of macroplants, mainly from Argentina; by contrast Bose et al. do not illustrate any taxa. Some maps are more informative than others: for a book dealing primarily with the Antarctic the stereographic projection used in Edward's paper is more useful than the elliptical projection adopted by Archangelsky. The book is well produced and I detected few spelling mistakes (although the editors have the workshop lasting a day longer in the bibliography than in the introduction). I was surprised to see no reference to Philip Darlington's "Biogeography of the southern end of the world" in any of the papers (or in the bibliography). Although dated, the book was published in 1965, it is a useful survey that sets Antarctica in a palaeogeographic and biogeographic perspective. While the workshop had a unifying theme, which is reflected in fourteen of the contributions, the paper on vertebrate faunas seems oddly out of place and has necessitated the change from "Antarctic paleobotany" to "Antarctic paleobiology" in the title of the published proceedings. It is a pity that a useful paper on vertebrate palaeontology is bibliographically "buried" in a palaeobotanical book. Despite its title, the book provides a great deal of information on other Gondwana continents - particularly India and South America - - in addition to Antarctica, thus emphasising the unity of Gondwana. This leads me to ask "what is the role of Antarctica in the reconstruction of Gond-
BOOK REVIEWS
wana?". Undoubtedly it had a key position geographically. However, with the difficult field conditions in Antarctica, much of our knowledge of Gondwana has come from other continents. Antarctic Paleobiology goes a long way towards
[ 77
summarising the current state of knowledge and helps to fill a gap in our understanding of this part of Gondwana. A. E. C O C K B A 1 N (Perth)