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Flora of the Ravenscrag formation (paleocene), southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada
341
BOOK R E V I E W S
takes were found in the index. The appendix, however, on dating methods, is very useful. If you want a book with a good introduction to Quaternary environmental change, and are willing to supplement the book with a number of external readings to make up for the obvious deficits, this book is a passable text for a Quaternary Environments course. WENDY R. EISNER (Columbus, OH
Flora of the Ravenscrag Formation (Paleocene), southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada, by Elisabeth E. McIver and James F. Basinger. Canadiana, 10, 1993, pp. 01-167. Price CAN $47.00. ISSN 0821-7556.
Palaeontographica
Five years ago one might have thought that the floral monograph was an extinct form in Cenophytic paleobotany, but here is the third monograph on a Paleocene flora in the last four years. While the previous two (Boulter and Kva6ek, 1989; Crane et al., 1990) concerned late Paleocene floras, Mclver's and Basinger's treatment of the Ravenscrag flora will be of particular interest because it treats an early Paleocene flora from shortly after the K/T extinction, presumably during the period when terrestrial ecosystems were recovering from a major shock. In the last decade it has become clear that the early Paleocene is one of the most biologically interesting periods in earth history. Much ink has been spilled concerning the K/T extinctions, and their relationship to the bolide impact, but in spite of the efforts of a number of paleobotanists and palynologists, much remains to be done on the recovery from the extinction. This monograph will no doubt be an important building block in future syntheses of the post-extinction flora. The monograph itself is structured along traditional lines, with sections on stratigraphy, depositional environment, vegetational reconstruction, paleoclimate, and systematics. In its breadth of approaches this monograph illustrates both the strengths and weaknesses of the traditional floral monograph. The greatest strength is that results from each method of investigation have implications for the others, e.g. depositional environments are important for understanding paleovegetation.
Furthermore, it is just plain useful for anyone interested in biostratigraphy, paleoecology, paleoclimate, or biogeography to have a whole flora described in one publication. The photographs are excellent, and there is also a nice integration of descriptive morphology of leaves, cuticles, and spores. The authors give stratigraphic positions of the localities, along with brief descriptions of the lithology, as well as separate floral lists for each locality. The typical weakness of the monographic approach, and of this monograph in particular, is that each section of the monograph tends to be more superficial than would a journal article on the same topic. For example, there is no quantitative analysis of species distributions among localities such as would be expected in a paper on paleovegetation or paleoecology, nor is there any discussion of the broader systematic implications of the species described. The paleoclimatic analysis is also relatively primitive, not taking into account much of the literature of the last 20 years. Perhaps this is because the full treatment is being reserved for journal articles that will have a wider audience. This raises the question of what should be in a floral monograph. Perhaps the floral monograph of the future should simply document what has been found and how similar it is to what has been found elsewhere, leaving out discussions of paleovegetation, paleoclimate, and inference about habit and habitat. The logical extreme of this would be a CD or other electronic publication of images and descriptive text, a kind of electronic catalogue. Thematically oriented research results would be published in journals that specialize in a research area such as systematics, paleoecology, etc. There, state-of-the-art work would be expected, This would be good for the quality of our science and also visibly increase the contribution of paleobotany to other disciplines. References
Boulter, M.C., and Kva6ek, Z. 1989. The Palaeocene flora of the Isle of Mull. Spec. Pap. Palaeontol., 42: 1-149. Crane, P.R., Manchester, S.R. and Dilcher, D.L. 1990. A preliminary survey of fossil leaves and well-preservedreproductive structures from the Sentinel Butte Formation (Paleocene)near Almont, North Dakota. Fieldiana,Geology, 20: 1-63. SCOTT WING (Washington, DC)
BOOK R E V I E W S
takes were found in the index. The appendix, however, on dating methods, is very useful. If you want a book with a good introduction to Quaternary environmental change, and are willing to supplement the book with a number of external readings to make up for the obvious deficits, this book is a passable text for a Quaternary Environments course. WENDY R. EISNER (Columbus, OH
Flora of the Ravenscrag Formation (Paleocene), southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada, by Elisabeth E. McIver and James F. Basinger. Canadiana, 10, 1993, pp. 01-167. Price CAN $47.00. ISSN 0821-7556.
Palaeontographica
Five years ago one might have thought that the floral monograph was an extinct form in Cenophytic paleobotany, but here is the third monograph on a Paleocene flora in the last four years. While the previous two (Boulter and Kva6ek, 1989; Crane et al., 1990) concerned late Paleocene floras, Mclver's and Basinger's treatment of the Ravenscrag flora will be of particular interest because it treats an early Paleocene flora from shortly after the K/T extinction, presumably during the period when terrestrial ecosystems were recovering from a major shock. In the last decade it has become clear that the early Paleocene is one of the most biologically interesting periods in earth history. Much ink has been spilled concerning the K/T extinctions, and their relationship to the bolide impact, but in spite of the efforts of a number of paleobotanists and palynologists, much remains to be done on the recovery from the extinction. This monograph will no doubt be an important building block in future syntheses of the post-extinction flora. The monograph itself is structured along traditional lines, with sections on stratigraphy, depositional environment, vegetational reconstruction, paleoclimate, and systematics. In its breadth of approaches this monograph illustrates both the strengths and weaknesses of the traditional floral monograph. The greatest strength is that results from each method of investigation have implications for the others, e.g. depositional environments are important for understanding paleovegetation.
Furthermore, it is just plain useful for anyone interested in biostratigraphy, paleoecology, paleoclimate, or biogeography to have a whole flora described in one publication. The photographs are excellent, and there is also a nice integration of descriptive morphology of leaves, cuticles, and spores. The authors give stratigraphic positions of the localities, along with brief descriptions of the lithology, as well as separate floral lists for each locality. The typical weakness of the monographic approach, and of this monograph in particular, is that each section of the monograph tends to be more superficial than would a journal article on the same topic. For example, there is no quantitative analysis of species distributions among localities such as would be expected in a paper on paleovegetation or paleoecology, nor is there any discussion of the broader systematic implications of the species described. The paleoclimatic analysis is also relatively primitive, not taking into account much of the literature of the last 20 years. Perhaps this is because the full treatment is being reserved for journal articles that will have a wider audience. This raises the question of what should be in a floral monograph. Perhaps the floral monograph of the future should simply document what has been found and how similar it is to what has been found elsewhere, leaving out discussions of paleovegetation, paleoclimate, and inference about habit and habitat. The logical extreme of this would be a CD or other electronic publication of images and descriptive text, a kind of electronic catalogue. Thematically oriented research results would be published in journals that specialize in a research area such as systematics, paleoecology, etc. There, state-of-the-art work would be expected, This would be good for the quality of our science and also visibly increase the contribution of paleobotany to other disciplines. References
Boulter, M.C., and Kva6ek, Z. 1989. The Palaeocene flora of the Isle of Mull. Spec. Pap. Palaeontol., 42: 1-149. Crane, P.R., Manchester, S.R. and Dilcher, D.L. 1990. A preliminary survey of fossil leaves and well-preservedreproductive structures from the Sentinel Butte Formation (Paleocene)near Almont, North Dakota. Fieldiana,Geology, 20: 1-63. SCOTT WING (Washington, DC)