- Email: [email protected]
Cladocera as model organisms in biology
310
Book reviews I .I. Exp. Mar. Bid.
Ecol. 209 (1997) 309-315
Several papers are concerned with ontogenic changes in ecomorphology. Wainright and Barton (“Predicting patterns of prey use from morphology of fishes”) is an especially useful chapter that considers constraints of mouth size and jaw architecture at different stages of the life history of numerous species of biting and ram-suction feeding fish. The paper is full of ingenuity (e.g. in devising a simple diet scoring method) and in identifying problems and constraints (e.g. how to deal statistically with phylogenetically closely-related species that cannot be regarded as truly independent in a statistical sense). of retinal structures One European contribution (van der Meer et al.; “Ecomorphology in zooplanktivorous haplochromine cichlids (Pisces) from Lake Victoria”) stood out as meeting the hypothesis-testing ideals of ecomorphology. This fine paper demonstrated optical (particularly retinal) differentiation amongst the haplochromine species-flock of Lake Victoria, which results in resource partitioning by different modes of visual prey detection, rather than niche partitioning by habitat - it therefore does much to explain the sympatry of numerous closely-related species that appear not to compete for food or space. Ironically this marvellous cichlid resource has largely been lost as a result of the depradations of the Nile perch. Of the ‘off the point’ papers, one by Cech and Massingill (“Tradeoffs between respiration and feeding in Sacramento blackfish, Orthodon microlepidotus”) is a nice piece of ecophysiology, while Long’s chapter on swimming and the notochord in sturgeon is a most useful addition to our knowledge of the evolution of swimming in fish - but one of the purest biomechanics papers imaginable! The volume closes with a summary of the role of ecomorphological studies written by three of the editors (Norton, Luczkovich and Motta). Somewhat repetitive of earlier material, it has a turgid, often impenetrable style and sometimes expresses the blindingly obvious in as obscure a manner as possible. However, it also contains numerous perceptive concepts and useful ideas for future study. In conclusion, this book will be valuable to fish biologists of several persuasions but, given its high price, it is likely to be found only in a few, specialised libraries.
John Davenport University Marine Biological Millport Isle of Cumbrae Scotland KA28 OEG UK
PII
Station
SOO22-0981(96)02620-2
Cladocera as Model Organisms in Biology, edited by P. Larsson and L.J. Weider; Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht; 1995; 307 pp.; Dfl 300.00, US$ 219.00, GBP 135.00; ISBN O-7923-3471-X
Book reviews
I _I. Exp. Mar. Bid.
Ed.
209
(1997)
309-315
311
This publication assembles the papers presented at the Third International Symposium on Cladocera held in August 1993. In an era where research is increasingly directed along conceptual lines, the cyclic aggregations of scientists who share only a taxonomic fixation seems oddly anachronistic. In fact the cladoceran community was one of the last to organize such pilgrimages, a surprising fact given the broad interest in these organisms. Ironically a paper at the first conference concluded that the Cladocera were a polyphyletic assembly with no taxonomic significance. Although this view has now gained broad acceptance, cladoceran wakes continue to attract a crowd. In fact twice as many researchers attended this conference as the first assembly eight years before. Unexpectedly the collection of papers from this meeting is thinner than its predecessor, suggesting that only the ranks of the audience was reinforced. As with other taxon-orientated symposia, this publication provides a good overview of the general areas of research activity on these organisms. It shows that the warp and weft of the cladoceran community has remained fairly static over the past decade, as evidenced by the general congruence of the major themes in the symposia proceedings over this interval. One shift in emphasis struck me; the decline in taxonomic papers from 16 in 1985 to 6 in 1993 (half presented posthumously or by professors emeriti) bears witness to the loss of taxonomic expertise at a time when biodiversity issues loom large. This publication suffers from a generic problem of conference proceedings; the papers, while individually useful, fail to capture the excitement and dynamism of recent work on cladocerans. The publications from such conferences would be far more valuable if they simply charged their participants with selecting the top twenty papers of the preceding 3-5 year interval - a Festschrift for cladocerans. In the absence of this approach, the quality of papers is variable and the only glue which cements the contributions is taxonomic affinity. This collection is better than many of its genre; the inclusion of an index and the marks of a strong editorial impact have enhanced both the presentation and accessibility of information. However, given that these papers have already appeared in HydrobioEogia, their release as a separate publication is of limited value. It is hardly surprising, in an era where library budgets have been slashed, that few conference proceedings of this sort are selected for acquisition. Perhaps the need to provoke the interest of librarians explains the inappropriate title of this book, the contents of which do not represent an effort to explore the potential of cladocerans as model systems for biological research. A conference on this theme might well produce a publication which should be in every library, but this volume is only a necessity for well-heeled aficionados of the Cladocera. P.D.N. Hebert Department of Zoology College of Biological Science University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario Canada NlG 2Wl PII
SOO22-0981(96)02621-4
Book reviews I .I. Exp. Mar. Bid.
Ecol. 209 (1997) 309-315
Several papers are concerned with ontogenic changes in ecomorphology. Wainright and Barton (“Predicting patterns of prey use from morphology of fishes”) is an especially useful chapter that considers constraints of mouth size and jaw architecture at different stages of the life history of numerous species of biting and ram-suction feeding fish. The paper is full of ingenuity (e.g. in devising a simple diet scoring method) and in identifying problems and constraints (e.g. how to deal statistically with phylogenetically closely-related species that cannot be regarded as truly independent in a statistical sense). of retinal structures One European contribution (van der Meer et al.; “Ecomorphology in zooplanktivorous haplochromine cichlids (Pisces) from Lake Victoria”) stood out as meeting the hypothesis-testing ideals of ecomorphology. This fine paper demonstrated optical (particularly retinal) differentiation amongst the haplochromine species-flock of Lake Victoria, which results in resource partitioning by different modes of visual prey detection, rather than niche partitioning by habitat - it therefore does much to explain the sympatry of numerous closely-related species that appear not to compete for food or space. Ironically this marvellous cichlid resource has largely been lost as a result of the depradations of the Nile perch. Of the ‘off the point’ papers, one by Cech and Massingill (“Tradeoffs between respiration and feeding in Sacramento blackfish, Orthodon microlepidotus”) is a nice piece of ecophysiology, while Long’s chapter on swimming and the notochord in sturgeon is a most useful addition to our knowledge of the evolution of swimming in fish - but one of the purest biomechanics papers imaginable! The volume closes with a summary of the role of ecomorphological studies written by three of the editors (Norton, Luczkovich and Motta). Somewhat repetitive of earlier material, it has a turgid, often impenetrable style and sometimes expresses the blindingly obvious in as obscure a manner as possible. However, it also contains numerous perceptive concepts and useful ideas for future study. In conclusion, this book will be valuable to fish biologists of several persuasions but, given its high price, it is likely to be found only in a few, specialised libraries.
John Davenport University Marine Biological Millport Isle of Cumbrae Scotland KA28 OEG UK
PII
Station
SOO22-0981(96)02620-2
Cladocera as Model Organisms in Biology, edited by P. Larsson and L.J. Weider; Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht; 1995; 307 pp.; Dfl 300.00, US$ 219.00, GBP 135.00; ISBN O-7923-3471-X
Book reviews
I _I. Exp. Mar. Bid.
Ed.
209
(1997)
309-315
311
This publication assembles the papers presented at the Third International Symposium on Cladocera held in August 1993. In an era where research is increasingly directed along conceptual lines, the cyclic aggregations of scientists who share only a taxonomic fixation seems oddly anachronistic. In fact the cladoceran community was one of the last to organize such pilgrimages, a surprising fact given the broad interest in these organisms. Ironically a paper at the first conference concluded that the Cladocera were a polyphyletic assembly with no taxonomic significance. Although this view has now gained broad acceptance, cladoceran wakes continue to attract a crowd. In fact twice as many researchers attended this conference as the first assembly eight years before. Unexpectedly the collection of papers from this meeting is thinner than its predecessor, suggesting that only the ranks of the audience was reinforced. As with other taxon-orientated symposia, this publication provides a good overview of the general areas of research activity on these organisms. It shows that the warp and weft of the cladoceran community has remained fairly static over the past decade, as evidenced by the general congruence of the major themes in the symposia proceedings over this interval. One shift in emphasis struck me; the decline in taxonomic papers from 16 in 1985 to 6 in 1993 (half presented posthumously or by professors emeriti) bears witness to the loss of taxonomic expertise at a time when biodiversity issues loom large. This publication suffers from a generic problem of conference proceedings; the papers, while individually useful, fail to capture the excitement and dynamism of recent work on cladocerans. The publications from such conferences would be far more valuable if they simply charged their participants with selecting the top twenty papers of the preceding 3-5 year interval - a Festschrift for cladocerans. In the absence of this approach, the quality of papers is variable and the only glue which cements the contributions is taxonomic affinity. This collection is better than many of its genre; the inclusion of an index and the marks of a strong editorial impact have enhanced both the presentation and accessibility of information. However, given that these papers have already appeared in HydrobioEogia, their release as a separate publication is of limited value. It is hardly surprising, in an era where library budgets have been slashed, that few conference proceedings of this sort are selected for acquisition. Perhaps the need to provoke the interest of librarians explains the inappropriate title of this book, the contents of which do not represent an effort to explore the potential of cladocerans as model systems for biological research. A conference on this theme might well produce a publication which should be in every library, but this volume is only a necessity for well-heeled aficionados of the Cladocera. P.D.N. Hebert Department of Zoology College of Biological Science University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario Canada NlG 2Wl PII
SOO22-0981(96)02621-4