- Email: [email protected]
Ecosystems of the World, vol. 2A: Dry coastal ecosystems: Polar regions and Europe
BOOK REVIEWS
295
a condemnation of the book, but more a reflection of the bias towards freshwater subjects; 23 papers specifically deal with freshwater fish compared two marine fish papers. M.D. J. Sayer DunstafInage Marine Laboratory P.O. Box 3 Oban, Argyll PA34 4AD UK
Ecosystems of the World, Vol. 2A: Dry Coastal Ecosystems: Polar Regions and Europe, edited by E. van der Maarel; Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam; available in U.S. and Canada from Elsevier Science Publishing Co. Inc, P.O. Box 882, Madison Square Station, New York, N.Y. 10159; 1993; 600 pp.; Dfl430.00, US $268.75; ISBN 0-44487348-1 (Vol. 2A). This latest volume in the series “ecosystems of the World” appears hard on the heels of Volume 24, ~though it has in fact been under way since 1976. Volume 24 dealt with the intertidal systems, and Volumes 2A and 2B (to follow) are intended to fill in on the terrestrial side so to speak where the other left off. As such, the habitats covered are defined by the maritime climate, in which salt spray is a major influence, but where the principal water input is precipitation rather than inundation by the sea. As a result of this definition, one finds habitats as different as cliffs and sand dunes being considered together in some chapters. Volume 2A concerns itself with the polar regions and Europe, with another volume, which will cover the remaining continents, still in preparation. As such, the geographical coverage is impressive, with a comprehensive listing of almost all European countries with the exception of Ireland and Iceland, which rate only a sugary paragraph or two in the final retrospective chapter. The approach is unashamedly botanical, with the bulk of the information on piant communities and their synecology. Any reader approaching this volume from a systems point of view is going to be disappointed. The editor does point out that much of our knowledge of succession has come from the studies quoted, although this has arrived by way of deduction from spatial changes, and it is a pity that a contribution on say, colonisation of newly emerged land in Iceland could not be found. Information of the functioning of these systems is very limited. There are some data on primary productivity but, with a few exceptions, none at all on secondary productivity or energy flow or nutrient dynamics. Phosphorus, for example, is listed in the general index as appearing only once (as phosphate) in the volume. Inevitably the organisation of the volume by country leads to duplication in parts. Although some attempt has been made to group similar systems, one can find the same
296
BOOK
REVIEWS
communities, the same information and sometimes even the same locations and references in different chapters. Nevertheless, the strength of this volume lies in the comprehensiveness of its geographical coverage, and as such it provides an invaluable starting point for any such investigations. I suspect that this will not be a volume which will be widely used by the majority of marine biologists. It deals with habitats which traditionally marine biologists have considered outside their realm, it uses terminology with which they are unfamiliar (for example, “geolittoral” to describe the zone between MHW and EHWS), and it deals largely with non-marine species. What would have been nice to know would have been how these systems impacted on contiguous marine systems but, as the Editor himself remarks in his preface, if the volume has succeeded in exposing and focusing our attention on the gaps in our knowledge, then much will have been achieved. James G. Wilson Environmental Science Unit Trinity College Dublin 2 Eire
Larvae and Evolution - Toward a New Zoology, by D. I. Williamson; Chapman & Hall;
1992; 232 pp.: GBP 29.95; ISBN 0-412-03081-O. This is a difficult book to review. It is written in a style suitable for the generalist and student, but to understand it requires some application by the reader, especially those whose education did not include some knowledge of systematic zoology and descriptive embryology. It expands on earlier articles to show why the author feels there are non-Darwinian mechanisms that are preferable to natural selection or Haeckelian recapitulation as explanations of the many oddities of marine planktonic larval stages. Don Williamson is well-qualified to question some of the conventional ideas about larvae. He has studied plankton for over 40 years, but is no bench-bound systematist, and has captured alive and studied at sea the varied larval stages of decapod crustaceans. What he is not is a geneticist or molecular biologist, but because of his long and “hands-on” experience his views on evolution of marine larvae need to be examined with tolerance and not dismissed out of hand. Although the crustacean larvae are considered, the main focus of the book is on the tornaria/pluteus-type larva that is found in many phyla but especially in the Echinodermata. The echinoderms, as is well-known, are radially organised in the adult and have many features in common with the phyla grouped into the Protostomia or Spiralia. Yet they have a bilaterally symmetrical larva, derived by radial cleavage and showing enterocoely, characters that indicate deuterostome affinities. The typical plankton-
295
a condemnation of the book, but more a reflection of the bias towards freshwater subjects; 23 papers specifically deal with freshwater fish compared two marine fish papers. M.D. J. Sayer DunstafInage Marine Laboratory P.O. Box 3 Oban, Argyll PA34 4AD UK
Ecosystems of the World, Vol. 2A: Dry Coastal Ecosystems: Polar Regions and Europe, edited by E. van der Maarel; Elsevier Science Publishers, Amsterdam; available in U.S. and Canada from Elsevier Science Publishing Co. Inc, P.O. Box 882, Madison Square Station, New York, N.Y. 10159; 1993; 600 pp.; Dfl430.00, US $268.75; ISBN 0-44487348-1 (Vol. 2A). This latest volume in the series “ecosystems of the World” appears hard on the heels of Volume 24, ~though it has in fact been under way since 1976. Volume 24 dealt with the intertidal systems, and Volumes 2A and 2B (to follow) are intended to fill in on the terrestrial side so to speak where the other left off. As such, the habitats covered are defined by the maritime climate, in which salt spray is a major influence, but where the principal water input is precipitation rather than inundation by the sea. As a result of this definition, one finds habitats as different as cliffs and sand dunes being considered together in some chapters. Volume 2A concerns itself with the polar regions and Europe, with another volume, which will cover the remaining continents, still in preparation. As such, the geographical coverage is impressive, with a comprehensive listing of almost all European countries with the exception of Ireland and Iceland, which rate only a sugary paragraph or two in the final retrospective chapter. The approach is unashamedly botanical, with the bulk of the information on piant communities and their synecology. Any reader approaching this volume from a systems point of view is going to be disappointed. The editor does point out that much of our knowledge of succession has come from the studies quoted, although this has arrived by way of deduction from spatial changes, and it is a pity that a contribution on say, colonisation of newly emerged land in Iceland could not be found. Information of the functioning of these systems is very limited. There are some data on primary productivity but, with a few exceptions, none at all on secondary productivity or energy flow or nutrient dynamics. Phosphorus, for example, is listed in the general index as appearing only once (as phosphate) in the volume. Inevitably the organisation of the volume by country leads to duplication in parts. Although some attempt has been made to group similar systems, one can find the same
296
BOOK
REVIEWS
communities, the same information and sometimes even the same locations and references in different chapters. Nevertheless, the strength of this volume lies in the comprehensiveness of its geographical coverage, and as such it provides an invaluable starting point for any such investigations. I suspect that this will not be a volume which will be widely used by the majority of marine biologists. It deals with habitats which traditionally marine biologists have considered outside their realm, it uses terminology with which they are unfamiliar (for example, “geolittoral” to describe the zone between MHW and EHWS), and it deals largely with non-marine species. What would have been nice to know would have been how these systems impacted on contiguous marine systems but, as the Editor himself remarks in his preface, if the volume has succeeded in exposing and focusing our attention on the gaps in our knowledge, then much will have been achieved. James G. Wilson Environmental Science Unit Trinity College Dublin 2 Eire
Larvae and Evolution - Toward a New Zoology, by D. I. Williamson; Chapman & Hall;
1992; 232 pp.: GBP 29.95; ISBN 0-412-03081-O. This is a difficult book to review. It is written in a style suitable for the generalist and student, but to understand it requires some application by the reader, especially those whose education did not include some knowledge of systematic zoology and descriptive embryology. It expands on earlier articles to show why the author feels there are non-Darwinian mechanisms that are preferable to natural selection or Haeckelian recapitulation as explanations of the many oddities of marine planktonic larval stages. Don Williamson is well-qualified to question some of the conventional ideas about larvae. He has studied plankton for over 40 years, but is no bench-bound systematist, and has captured alive and studied at sea the varied larval stages of decapod crustaceans. What he is not is a geneticist or molecular biologist, but because of his long and “hands-on” experience his views on evolution of marine larvae need to be examined with tolerance and not dismissed out of hand. Although the crustacean larvae are considered, the main focus of the book is on the tornaria/pluteus-type larva that is found in many phyla but especially in the Echinodermata. The echinoderms, as is well-known, are radially organised in the adult and have many features in common with the phyla grouped into the Protostomia or Spiralia. Yet they have a bilaterally symmetrical larva, derived by radial cleavage and showing enterocoely, characters that indicate deuterostome affinities. The typical plankton-