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Applied ecology
BOOK
REVIEWS
McKinney takes head-on the questions of sociobiology and its implications for humanity, various aspects of the current crises in biodiversity and conservation, and anthropogenic, environmental changes. The writing is so good, and the structure so intriguing, that this book could be marketed for the educated lay audience as well as the textbook market. The volume edited by Skelton contains chapters written by faculty members and consultants who participate in the Open University’s evolution course. It reflects the interests and knowledge of the contributors, and makes extensive use of literature that is easy for British students to obtain, occasionally at the expense of significant literature from outside Britain. Chapters are uneven in scope and intensity, although the range of topics covered is immense (students taking this course must be busy!). Hafliday’s chap ters typify those that are world class, providing students with current information presented by a researcher on the cutting edge of behavioural ecology. In fact, this volume does an excellent job of weaving behavioural ecology into the mix of general evolutionary principles. The palaeontologicaf information presented to students is comparable to the neontological: no mean feat. The chapters on speciation, comparative biology, phylogenetic analysis, and biogeography, by contrast, reflect views derived from fairly narrow and local literature sources. If I could have only one of these books, this is the one I would buy and use as a resource. Ridley’s book could have been a successor to Futuyma’s ‘industry standard’. Ridley’s background includes expertise in microevolutionary phenomena as well as phylogenetic, macroevolutionary and comparative evolutionary studies. He has an engaging writing style and presents complex material in a manner undergraduates find easy to assimilate. His presentation of standard microevolutionary material found in Futuyma’s books is easier to communicate to students without any loss of information. The book falls short of what I would have liked to have seen from the author, however. There is a bias towards British authors which may impair its performance in an international market. It also appears that the book was written in stages over a period of years, and that early chapters were never updated. Ridley’s previous books about comparative evolutionary studies, and about phylogenetics, have been critiqued by the scholarly community, and he should have upgraded his presentation of those topics accordingly. The discussion of the philosophical and methodological underpinnings of phylogenetic analysis is painfully naive, giving the mistaken impressions that (1) molecular data provide truth while morphological and other forms of data do not, and that (2) molecular systematics is a 154
mature discipline. Little mention is made of numerous published studies in comparative biology produced in the past five years, which is somewhat stupefying given the standards of scholarship Ridley has established for himself in his previous work. I also found his virtual lack of attention to sexual selection completely befuddling in light of the recent growth in this area and its demonstrable importance in evolutionary biology. I was disappointed to find how little of what I see as the richness of phylogenetitally based evolutionary studies has made it into the academic stream. The last three books all address at feast some aspects of phylogenetics, indicating that they see some merit in the approach. In none of them, however, can a student discover what phyla genetics is really all about. Clearly, phylogeneticists have not reached out effectively to general evolutionary biologists. The books by McKinney, Skelton et al. and Ridley provide excellent yardsticks for measuring the success of different evolutionary ideas that have been proposed in the past 20 years or so. The academic landscape of our discipline now includes punctuated equilibrium, mass extinctions, asteroid impacts, chaos theory and theories of selforganization, developmental constraints and functional integration, phylogenetic systematics and a plethora of comparative evolutionary studies, and sophisticated ag plications of games theory and other costbenefit analyses, all supplemented by extensive use of molecular data. Our discipline has itself turned into a magnificent, tangled bank of rich intellectual diversity, and these books are excellent contributions for disseminating that information.
ing matter of applying ecological knowledge. Students have one big advantage over many of the lecturing staff, in that they are (one hopes) being exposed to developments in a wide range of subject areas, and so can develop the kind of integrated view of pure and applied ecology that is easily lost with greater specialization. This may well explain why there has been no applied ecology textbook that has attempted to combine a breadth of coverage with an explicit development from pure ecology to its application. Newman’s book addresses this gap; expect others to follow. Newman’s approach is unashamedly wholesome. His outlook is rational, as are his attempts to persuade his ‘dear’readers that we can use ecological principles to help develop ways of sustaining our ecological resource base. The subjects include energy, food production, fisheries, forestry, pests, pollution and conservation, all illustrated by a well-considered collection of data. Did you know that the world has 7.5x 1015tonnes of carbon in rocks, or that the harvesting of wood increased at around 1.5% per year between 1970and 1990?Newman uses such figures to develop simple but useful analyses of whether we can sustain current levels of resource use. For example, the figures of wood harvesting are interpreted in the fight of estimates of forest area and productivity, leading Newman to suggest that sustainable global timber production is a reasonable goal, although he stresses the problems in data availabilityand interpretation. However, he deliberately draws the line at a detailed assessment of the human factors involved. A good textbook should be sufficiently useful to students that they don’t need to pester the staff too much, but should not be Daniel R. Brooks so comprehensive that the students need rely on no other sources. By these criteria, Dept of Zoology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Newman’s book works well, especially if Ontario M5S lA1, Canada read early during an ecology course. There is sufficient range to develop ideas, but the book rarely provides the depth needed for Ecological a full blown essay or seminar. The references and reading lists are good [albeit with a profusion of superfluous square brackets Applied Ecology beware undisciplined citation packages], by E.I. Newman not too long and up-to-date. What is lacking (deliberately, I suspect) Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1993. is a sense of urgency, on the one hand, and f17.50/$31.95 pbk (viii + 328 pages) chaos, on the other. It offers a rather English lSBN0603036575 gentlemanly view of the environmental crisis; ne of the great sources of hope to those yes, there are problems, but we are reasonconcerned with our environment is the able people and if we work together we can sheer enthusiasm of students joining ecol- sort it all out. Much as I appreciate this book, ogy and environment courses. A most im- and I look forward to its wide use in ecology pressive demonstration of the goodwill and environment courses, I can’t wait for its behind this attitude is that they are happy to Masters’ equivalent to go into the sheer accept that the first step in learning how messiness of practical applied ecology. to save the world is to throw little squares of L.G. Firbank metal around and count daisies. Of course, many ecology and environment courses Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Monks Wood, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon UK PE17 2LS lead students on to the much more demand-
enthusiasm
0
TREE vol.
9, no. 4 April
1.994
REVIEWS
McKinney takes head-on the questions of sociobiology and its implications for humanity, various aspects of the current crises in biodiversity and conservation, and anthropogenic, environmental changes. The writing is so good, and the structure so intriguing, that this book could be marketed for the educated lay audience as well as the textbook market. The volume edited by Skelton contains chapters written by faculty members and consultants who participate in the Open University’s evolution course. It reflects the interests and knowledge of the contributors, and makes extensive use of literature that is easy for British students to obtain, occasionally at the expense of significant literature from outside Britain. Chapters are uneven in scope and intensity, although the range of topics covered is immense (students taking this course must be busy!). Hafliday’s chap ters typify those that are world class, providing students with current information presented by a researcher on the cutting edge of behavioural ecology. In fact, this volume does an excellent job of weaving behavioural ecology into the mix of general evolutionary principles. The palaeontologicaf information presented to students is comparable to the neontological: no mean feat. The chapters on speciation, comparative biology, phylogenetic analysis, and biogeography, by contrast, reflect views derived from fairly narrow and local literature sources. If I could have only one of these books, this is the one I would buy and use as a resource. Ridley’s book could have been a successor to Futuyma’s ‘industry standard’. Ridley’s background includes expertise in microevolutionary phenomena as well as phylogenetic, macroevolutionary and comparative evolutionary studies. He has an engaging writing style and presents complex material in a manner undergraduates find easy to assimilate. His presentation of standard microevolutionary material found in Futuyma’s books is easier to communicate to students without any loss of information. The book falls short of what I would have liked to have seen from the author, however. There is a bias towards British authors which may impair its performance in an international market. It also appears that the book was written in stages over a period of years, and that early chapters were never updated. Ridley’s previous books about comparative evolutionary studies, and about phylogenetics, have been critiqued by the scholarly community, and he should have upgraded his presentation of those topics accordingly. The discussion of the philosophical and methodological underpinnings of phylogenetic analysis is painfully naive, giving the mistaken impressions that (1) molecular data provide truth while morphological and other forms of data do not, and that (2) molecular systematics is a 154
mature discipline. Little mention is made of numerous published studies in comparative biology produced in the past five years, which is somewhat stupefying given the standards of scholarship Ridley has established for himself in his previous work. I also found his virtual lack of attention to sexual selection completely befuddling in light of the recent growth in this area and its demonstrable importance in evolutionary biology. I was disappointed to find how little of what I see as the richness of phylogenetitally based evolutionary studies has made it into the academic stream. The last three books all address at feast some aspects of phylogenetics, indicating that they see some merit in the approach. In none of them, however, can a student discover what phyla genetics is really all about. Clearly, phylogeneticists have not reached out effectively to general evolutionary biologists. The books by McKinney, Skelton et al. and Ridley provide excellent yardsticks for measuring the success of different evolutionary ideas that have been proposed in the past 20 years or so. The academic landscape of our discipline now includes punctuated equilibrium, mass extinctions, asteroid impacts, chaos theory and theories of selforganization, developmental constraints and functional integration, phylogenetic systematics and a plethora of comparative evolutionary studies, and sophisticated ag plications of games theory and other costbenefit analyses, all supplemented by extensive use of molecular data. Our discipline has itself turned into a magnificent, tangled bank of rich intellectual diversity, and these books are excellent contributions for disseminating that information.
ing matter of applying ecological knowledge. Students have one big advantage over many of the lecturing staff, in that they are (one hopes) being exposed to developments in a wide range of subject areas, and so can develop the kind of integrated view of pure and applied ecology that is easily lost with greater specialization. This may well explain why there has been no applied ecology textbook that has attempted to combine a breadth of coverage with an explicit development from pure ecology to its application. Newman’s book addresses this gap; expect others to follow. Newman’s approach is unashamedly wholesome. His outlook is rational, as are his attempts to persuade his ‘dear’readers that we can use ecological principles to help develop ways of sustaining our ecological resource base. The subjects include energy, food production, fisheries, forestry, pests, pollution and conservation, all illustrated by a well-considered collection of data. Did you know that the world has 7.5x 1015tonnes of carbon in rocks, or that the harvesting of wood increased at around 1.5% per year between 1970and 1990?Newman uses such figures to develop simple but useful analyses of whether we can sustain current levels of resource use. For example, the figures of wood harvesting are interpreted in the fight of estimates of forest area and productivity, leading Newman to suggest that sustainable global timber production is a reasonable goal, although he stresses the problems in data availabilityand interpretation. However, he deliberately draws the line at a detailed assessment of the human factors involved. A good textbook should be sufficiently useful to students that they don’t need to pester the staff too much, but should not be Daniel R. Brooks so comprehensive that the students need rely on no other sources. By these criteria, Dept of Zoology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Newman’s book works well, especially if Ontario M5S lA1, Canada read early during an ecology course. There is sufficient range to develop ideas, but the book rarely provides the depth needed for Ecological a full blown essay or seminar. The references and reading lists are good [albeit with a profusion of superfluous square brackets Applied Ecology beware undisciplined citation packages], by E.I. Newman not too long and up-to-date. What is lacking (deliberately, I suspect) Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1993. is a sense of urgency, on the one hand, and f17.50/$31.95 pbk (viii + 328 pages) chaos, on the other. It offers a rather English lSBN0603036575 gentlemanly view of the environmental crisis; ne of the great sources of hope to those yes, there are problems, but we are reasonconcerned with our environment is the able people and if we work together we can sheer enthusiasm of students joining ecol- sort it all out. Much as I appreciate this book, ogy and environment courses. A most im- and I look forward to its wide use in ecology pressive demonstration of the goodwill and environment courses, I can’t wait for its behind this attitude is that they are happy to Masters’ equivalent to go into the sheer accept that the first step in learning how messiness of practical applied ecology. to save the world is to throw little squares of L.G. Firbank metal around and count daisies. Of course, many ecology and environment courses Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, Monks Wood, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon UK PE17 2LS lead students on to the much more demand-
enthusiasm
0
TREE vol.
9, no. 4 April
1.994